"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs". That probably sends chills down the spines of most red blooded Americans, at least the ones who actually know where the quote comes from, Karl Marx, the father of Communism. I have to say that personally, I'm not completely against this very basic concept, nor I suspect are most people. It is the way this ideal plays out in humankind that is less than agreeable to most, especially when taking into account the tendency of people in the U.S. to take advantage of any and all opportunities to get something for nothing. For this reason, I am not a Communist or Socialist per se, however I am definitely not a Capitalist either, I think recent events have proven that they are just as likely to destroy a country as anyone else. But before I go off on any other tangents, allow me to get to the subject of today's rant- Socialized Health care.
I know a lot of folks are really against this idea but I can't seem to wrap my brain around why, of all the things that really should be "socialized", I believe health care is the one. Access to decent affordable health care (not the sick care we currently have) should be a staple in any supposedly advanced society such as we have here. I've heard the argument that the Capitalization drives competition in the health care "market" and is what keeps the science advancing and is the reason we have such good health care in this country. Hmmmm, I'm not buying it. I think that's why we have daily needed medications that people (especially the elderly) can barely afford and why there are so many treatments and medications for simple vanities such as bigger boobs fuller lips and fewer wrinkles around the eyes (warning: side effects may include inability to smile, frown, wink, blink or resemble normal human beings for a limited time).
Simply put, we are more concerned with treating the symptoms than with curing the diseases, otherwise I'm sure we would have come up with some better options for cancers by now and fewer options for penis enlargement or how to make your eyeliner perfect. We continue to flood store shelves with a veritable cornucopia of headache medications but never do anything to make sure that the massive quantities of chemicals being pumped into our foods are really safe after decades of consumption. To rip on my new favorite commercial-Oh yes, of course High Fructose Corn Syrup is similar to sugar (because that's so freakin healthy!) and is perfectly safe when consumed in moderation. Well for one, this is the U.S. and our nutrition education for kids pretty much ends after first grade so no one knows how to eat healthy, and two, how do you determine moderation when the government subsidizes inedible commodity corn production so much that we have mountains of the stuff being turned into corn syrup and then pumped into nearly every processed food on the shelf. Why is it that kids born in 2000 are to be the first generation to live shorter lives than their parents? Why is it that Obesity has become a nationwide epidemic in the past ten years? and why is it that Adult onset diabetes had to be renamed Type II diabetes due to the overwhelming number of children diagnosed with the disease? Oh yeah! It's because we value money more than human lives, That's right! It's more important to have a marketable product than a beating heart because that's what helps keep the economy strong and makes us a powerful nation, that's what keeps up the competition in the medical world so they will work harder to find the next miracle pill that will cost so much that you have to decide what you need more on pharmacy day, groceries or medications. Luckily for us, or food is becoming more chemical than food, so perhaps eventually we won't have to decide between the two, they will be the same thing, No wonder we made it the Food and Drug Administration! But now I'm starting to go into a whole other realm, so I'll stop there and bid you you all-good corn eating!
I know a lot of folks are really against this idea but I can't seem to wrap my brain around why, of all the things that really should be "socialized", I believe health care is the one. Access to decent affordable health care (not the sick care we currently have) should be a staple in any supposedly advanced society such as we have here. I've heard the argument that the Capitalization drives competition in the health care "market" and is what keeps the science advancing and is the reason we have such good health care in this country. Hmmmm, I'm not buying it. I think that's why we have daily needed medications that people (especially the elderly) can barely afford and why there are so many treatments and medications for simple vanities such as bigger boobs fuller lips and fewer wrinkles around the eyes (warning: side effects may include inability to smile, frown, wink, blink or resemble normal human beings for a limited time).
Simply put, we are more concerned with treating the symptoms than with curing the diseases, otherwise I'm sure we would have come up with some better options for cancers by now and fewer options for penis enlargement or how to make your eyeliner perfect. We continue to flood store shelves with a veritable cornucopia of headache medications but never do anything to make sure that the massive quantities of chemicals being pumped into our foods are really safe after decades of consumption. To rip on my new favorite commercial-Oh yes, of course High Fructose Corn Syrup is similar to sugar (because that's so freakin healthy!) and is perfectly safe when consumed in moderation. Well for one, this is the U.S. and our nutrition education for kids pretty much ends after first grade so no one knows how to eat healthy, and two, how do you determine moderation when the government subsidizes inedible commodity corn production so much that we have mountains of the stuff being turned into corn syrup and then pumped into nearly every processed food on the shelf. Why is it that kids born in 2000 are to be the first generation to live shorter lives than their parents? Why is it that Obesity has become a nationwide epidemic in the past ten years? and why is it that Adult onset diabetes had to be renamed Type II diabetes due to the overwhelming number of children diagnosed with the disease? Oh yeah! It's because we value money more than human lives, That's right! It's more important to have a marketable product than a beating heart because that's what helps keep the economy strong and makes us a powerful nation, that's what keeps up the competition in the medical world so they will work harder to find the next miracle pill that will cost so much that you have to decide what you need more on pharmacy day, groceries or medications. Luckily for us, or food is becoming more chemical than food, so perhaps eventually we won't have to decide between the two, they will be the same thing, No wonder we made it the Food and Drug Administration! But now I'm starting to go into a whole other realm, so I'll stop there and bid you you all-good corn eating!
