CALLING OUT THE MOST DIRE FAILURE OF ALL
Pictured above is Marina Tsaplina as she addressed the crowd at the Picket The Profiteers rally at the New York Public Library, March 3rd. Born with Type 1 Diabetes, sbe has been not only been struggling to stay alive, but has also founded several international activist organizations dedicated to making insulin available to everyone who needs it. In her short, up-beat address, she said that she had noticed in some of the people she had encountered "a huge and acute lack of imagination about what is possible," and urged us to stir "the public imagination" to embrace the idea that Medicare for All is indeed possible.
This talk about imagination struck home with me. In my career as a programmer, I discovered that the challenge I faced was not knowing how to code something-- anybody can learn that -- it was rather having the imagination to conceive of something new. I learned that if I could dream up something, making it real was merely mechanical. How empowering that felt! The most important thing was not the coding -- it was the dream. I learned that if I could dream it, I could do it.
We must share our dream. But before we can convince others, we must first convince ourselves that change will happen; we must convince ourselves that all the reasons advanced by doubters -- the ineptitude of government, the unwillingness of the healthcare industrial establishment to give up their profits, the power of the almighty dollar to corrupt weak politicians, the paucity of politicians honest enough to resist being bought, the fear of change, the seeming inability of those with money to be empathetic to the plight of those without, the complexities of program design, etc. etc. etc. -- will in the end NOT prevail against THE INELUCTABLE RIGHTNESS OF WHAT MUST IN THE END COME TO PASS. We cannot predict when it will happen. But if we ourselves are not confident that it will happen, whom can we persuade?
My father of blessed memory used to say, "in life, you must sell yourself a bill of goods." And the bill of goods we need to sell ourselves, tell ourselves, consciously, every day, is that Single Payer is the right thing to do, and that its time has come.
My earlier post -- A Taste of What We Could Have Here In The U.S. (1/03/19) -- using the French example, makes it easy for us to imagine how profoundly Universal Health Care will change the dynamic and the texture of life after its passage. We must convey such details to those with imagination deficits so they will be able to see what a positive effect these changes will make in our lives. When any of us gets sick, our first question we will no longer be: Can I afford it? It will be: Where can I find the best care? There will no longer be networks restricting our access to the best doctors. And those who already have what they suppose is good corporate insurance will no longer have to worry about their employers' changing health insurance providers, thus changing the insurance protocols or requirements, such as co-payments and deductibles.
Likewise, those who have trouble imagining should be told what will happen if Single Payer is NOT passed. Prices will continue to skyrocket, so that in Detroit for example, the thousand dollars of healthcare costs now built in to every automobile will seem trivial compared to the formidable figure it will become. And fewer and fewer in the middle class will feel insulated from the on-coming horror. Even the myopic will blink at the future rushing at them.
The truth is that all the reasons advanced by doubters are really excuses: At bottom, they don't believe in Single Payer because they don't really want it.
Hopefully, sooner with our help, or later inevitably, even the unimaginative will realize that they do want Single Payer.
And when they want it, they'll find a way to do it.
Dio
PS: If you'd like to leave a comment -- and I encourage you to do so -- simply click on the "number of comments" area, and share your thoughts in the "comment rectangle" that appears.
PPS: We know that there are plenty out there who have stories to tell -- stories of your trying to cope with our dysfunctional healthcare system. Trouble is, we don't know what these stories are! That's where you come in. If you have a story to tell, you can email me at indivisible12401@gmail.com. You can be as anonymous as you like. Thanks!
We must share our dream. But before we can convince others, we must first convince ourselves that change will happen; we must convince ourselves that all the reasons advanced by doubters -- the ineptitude of government, the unwillingness of the healthcare industrial establishment to give up their profits, the power of the almighty dollar to corrupt weak politicians, the paucity of politicians honest enough to resist being bought, the fear of change, the seeming inability of those with money to be empathetic to the plight of those without, the complexities of program design, etc. etc. etc. -- will in the end NOT prevail against THE INELUCTABLE RIGHTNESS OF WHAT MUST IN THE END COME TO PASS. We cannot predict when it will happen. But if we ourselves are not confident that it will happen, whom can we persuade?
My father of blessed memory used to say, "in life, you must sell yourself a bill of goods." And the bill of goods we need to sell ourselves, tell ourselves, consciously, every day, is that Single Payer is the right thing to do, and that its time has come.
My earlier post -- A Taste of What We Could Have Here In The U.S. (1/03/19) -- using the French example, makes it easy for us to imagine how profoundly Universal Health Care will change the dynamic and the texture of life after its passage. We must convey such details to those with imagination deficits so they will be able to see what a positive effect these changes will make in our lives. When any of us gets sick, our first question we will no longer be: Can I afford it? It will be: Where can I find the best care? There will no longer be networks restricting our access to the best doctors. And those who already have what they suppose is good corporate insurance will no longer have to worry about their employers' changing health insurance providers, thus changing the insurance protocols or requirements, such as co-payments and deductibles.
Likewise, those who have trouble imagining should be told what will happen if Single Payer is NOT passed. Prices will continue to skyrocket, so that in Detroit for example, the thousand dollars of healthcare costs now built in to every automobile will seem trivial compared to the formidable figure it will become. And fewer and fewer in the middle class will feel insulated from the on-coming horror. Even the myopic will blink at the future rushing at them.
The truth is that all the reasons advanced by doubters are really excuses: At bottom, they don't believe in Single Payer because they don't really want it.
Hopefully, sooner with our help, or later inevitably, even the unimaginative will realize that they do want Single Payer.
And when they want it, they'll find a way to do it.
Dio
PS: If you'd like to leave a comment -- and I encourage you to do so -- simply click on the "number of comments" area, and share your thoughts in the "comment rectangle" that appears.
PPS: We know that there are plenty out there who have stories to tell -- stories of your trying to cope with our dysfunctional healthcare system. Trouble is, we don't know what these stories are! That's where you come in. If you have a story to tell, you can email me at indivisible12401@gmail.com. You can be as anonymous as you like. Thanks!
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