I watched a bit of This Week with George Stephanopoulis on ABC. He was interviewing Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services. His question was stupid. Something to the effect of "why have you failed the American people by not getting H1N1 vaccines into their hands?" I find this obscene. Since the speed of deployment depends on how quickly companies can manufacture the vaccine, there really is nothing that the government has "failed" to do.
Consider this. Where was George Stephanopoulis when US troops in Iraq were crying for better armour. When the Secretary of Defense came up with the pathetic answer "you go to war with what you have, not what you want" I didn't hear Stephanopoulis ranting about any "failure" there.
There is a complete double standard in the media. The Republicans got a "pass" for all their idiotic decisions and failings. The Democrats are scourged and berated for any failing and even for any perceived "weakness" whether it is real of not. Nutty!
The other issue that bent me beyond belief: Stephanopoulis hosted a couple of talking heads whose issue was "the President says 'no money for medical care for illegal immigrants', is he lying or is this something that the Democrats really stand up for?". Why do I find this nutty? It is obscene. The underlying assumption is that the government and the people will stand by while somebody dies of disease because their status is "illegal". Where is the mercy and justice in that? What is all this nonsense about a "Christian" nation when the ethic is "I've got mine bud, where's your's?" and the growl of a dog over a bone, no sharing, no mercy, just ugly threats.
Nobody in this "debate" raised the ethical question: should we let somebody die because they are "illegal"? This is the famous question the Germans faced under Hitler, and they failed the ethical test. They shut their eyes and let six million be gassed. Well, it sure seems to me that Americans appear willing and eager to fill those shoes and let innocents die because of their "status". Not because they are "Jews" but because they are "illegal immigrants". Nuts!
The unreality of the "debate" bugs me. These people want to deny health care to those whose status is "illegal". Are they planning to put armed thugs at every hospital emergency room with the job to drag those of questionable status out onto the street to die in agony? Right now hospitals will treat those in imminent threat of death no matter what their financial or legal status. It is the ethics of the medical community. The politicians, in their infinite wisdom, have claimed to have found a "higher ethic" which says bar the doors and let the sick die at the door.
OK, maybe Americans really do embrace this new ethic. When I was a kid it was a shock and a moral shame to find a homeless person on the street. The memories of the Great Depression were still too raw. But sometime in the 1970s politicians decided to discharge the mentally ill from institutes for them to live "free lives" in the community. Suddenly you had the infamous cases of people pushing shopping carts around muttering to themselves. Americans simply turned their heads. So in that proud tradition, Americans of both political parties now shout their eagerness to make sure that "not one red penny" will be spent on medical care for those of inappropriate "status". Americans have toughed up. They now accept their homeless. They accept the highest incarceration rate in the world, and they are now preparing to watch stoically as people die outside doors of hospitals from which they have been barred. Incredible!
The US likes to pride itself as being special, a "light on a hill". Well, I've finally come around. Yes, they are a lamp unto the nations for showing how greed, low politics, and selfishness have made the US "great". A great big example of self indulgence and mean spiritedness. A "Christian" nation that is not the least bit aware of its own dogma. A farce of a nation. Armed to the teeth, dangerous, and completely greedy and unethical. A disgrace.
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2 comments:
No matter one's ethics or morals or reasoning; allowing people to die at the door is a bad thing. If you only consider your image; it is a bad policy. If you only consider your own selfish interests; it is a bad policy (objectively reason it through). It definitely is wrong if you are religious or a mystic. So, what leads us to think this way? MONEY? Even that reasoning is wrong and will lead to economic disaster.
Thomas, you are right. People need to have a heart, to feel for those less fortunate. Sadly, money hardens the heart. It is so easy to get into the rat race of money, keeping up with the Joneses. People need to step back and take a look around. Life is short and needs to be enjoyed. If you get into the money race there is no stopping, no off ramp. There will always be somebody else with more. Why chase after that?
The things that are really important are already at hand. Family and friends. Enjoying each day. Finding ways to help those around you. Just appreciating this life we have. It is a one-way trip and we all end up at the same place: dead. If you keep that in perspective, the madness over money makes no sense.
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