As I reflect on Independence Day it is obvious to the
observer that the USA is certainly in distress (unless you have a six or seven
figure income) as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The rich can
afford to remain healthy by buying healthy food and regular medical checkups,
while the poor get and remain unhealthy because they cannot afford healthy
food, thereby relying on cheap heavy starches and sugar laden foods, never mind
seeing their doctor for regular body maintenance.
When the poet Emma Lazarus penned The New Colossus,
part of the sonnet reads:
… Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!...
It was an invitation to those being subjugated in other
lands to come to the USA to seek religious and political freedom, not an
indication that they should continue their station and remain …
tired, … poor, …huddled masses yearning to
breathe free...[or] wretched refuse of …the
homeless.
Indeed many did cast off their political, moral and
religious chains and started dynasties of their own, replacing being suppressed
to being the suppressors of their own employees. This trend continues today in
the USA, the latest barrage to hit the …
tired, … poor, …huddled masses, is a ruling by the Supreme Court that
allows an employer’s religious beliefs to restrict medical insurance payment of
medication and medical procedures, thereby overruling medical decisions by
licensed physicians. Without medical insurance, physicians can charge
astronomical fees for their services, and pharmaceutical companies can charge
whatever the market will bear for medication.
It is sad that President Obama and his Democrats did not
have the power necessary to have a social medical system such as Canada,
England, Australia, New Zealand, or India. At every step, the opposition
Republicans raised their Bibles with one hand declaring that certain procedures
are against the words of a 1700 year old book, and stock portfolios with the
other demanding that the wealthy who could afford insurance had the right to do
so, while those working poor who could not afford insurance … oh well, it sucks
to be you … get a better job where you can afford insurance.
As I reflect on Independence Day it reminds me of what a
great country Canada is by comparison. We don’t wrap ourselves in our flag, but
are no less proud of who we are. Universal health care may mean waiting your
turn for surgery when there are more urgent cases before you, but until, during
and after, there is no cost for medical services. Medical insurance is provided
without restrictions based on your employer’s religious beliefs because we have
true division between “Church and State” – a concept lost in US corporations.
