USA in Distress

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.