There's an old saying, that I'm sure most everyone has heard, that goes something like this -
Don't presume to judge someone or to understand someone (something) until you've walked in their shoes.
The philosophical spirit behind this saying, it would seem, is to encourage sympathy and understanding - maybe even empathy - for the plights, the realities of others. It cautions against "being holier then thou" and echoes the sentiments of "there but for the grace of God go I."
Taking a cue, then, from these good ole axioms, I would like to suggest (insist) the following. That every single member of the House and of the Senate and health care lobbying groups and their employers - irrespective of party affiliation - be forced to spend a year living WITHOUT health insurance if they fail to do the right thing, the compassionate thing, the moral thing in a timely fashion and pass health care legislation that gives the god almighty PRIVILEGE of health care to all.
Yes you out-of-touch individuals in Washington and you sanctimoniously greedy health care lobbyists and those health care executives you work for - it is that simple. Wear the shoes of the uninsured and underinsured and find out how it feels. How it REALLY feels. How it impacts your quality of life.
Then sit back, folks, and watch how fast they come up with legislation when it suddenly becomes about THEM.
What I would like to see happen is this.... For all those representatives in Congress that think this health care plan so wonderful, use it yourself. If they have such faith in it, then the public might follow along.
ReplyDeleteNo? I didn't think so!
I wouldn't mind the same plan Cheney has. He would have been uninsurable without it.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I read, the AMA, the Hospitals, the Nurses all think the plan is good. It's mostly the politicians opposing it.
The cephalopod pessimist within your midst is of the opinion that "empathy" has fallen out of political favor ... witness how the Republicants disparaged the word during the Sotomayor hearing. No, no no ... we shall not have "empathy" or "wisdom" or any other trait that used to connote decency and honesty.
ReplyDeleteBut I do have a humble alternative idea. Lets switch roles. Have the Republicants and their lobbyists become us, and we become them. We'll make the laws for the next year while they are forced to live by them.
Lets see how that works out.
Correct me if my memory is wrong - but wasn't it John Kerry who said something during his run for the white house about every american deserving the same level of health care that congress had? that he had? that Cheney and co. had?
ReplyDeleteOctopus - empathy & compassion have been the victims in these our political wars within our ideologically burdened "democracy." We have become a nation of people who are so paranoid about our own selves that we forget about others. Every issue is processed with the mindset of "how does this effect ME" without an equal thought to how it effects others.
Oh - I could go on - so in answer to your proposal - yes!! By all means - though I would also send a number of democrats packing out of washington with them.
FOGG!! I just noticed the new picture! not sure I can handle it. I've gotten used to smiling at you whenever I pass by the Groton section of the frozen food aisle at my grocery store!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am starting to favor the concept that the world IS going to end in 2012...
ReplyDeleteI do hope that it happens at night while I am asleep...
This insanity that passes for political debate has just got to stop.....
It serves no purpose, it leads nowhere, and it just demeans us as a nation and a people...
There are times, my dear fellow cephalopod, when returning to the reef and camouflaging ourselves among crinoids and sea fans constitutes a needed mental health break.
ReplyDeleteThe Repugnants in Congress are no longer about democracy but about obstruction and destruction. Their operatives divert attention from issues of concern to us and force media attention on delusional stuff like birth certificate conspiracies and other madness.
Meanwhile corporatists, hell-bent on preserving their greedy franchises, spend $1 million a day on lobbying to make sure we do not get the health reform, contrary to the wishes of voters.
A good cephalopod should take comfort in the thought that global warming will raise sea levels and increase our habitat, thus relieving us of excess humans and their stupidity, but one thought nags: Octopus and Squid are fictive constructs, and there is no escaping Repugnant craziness.
Maybe TAO is right: An asteroid or supernova during sleep … quick, painless, and good night.
The Captain is however not constructed fictively, other than in the name, but like Squid, I'm not sure I can handle the real image either -- but I have no choice.
ReplyDeleteI think it's safe to say that none of us will see the end of the world and even safer to say the end of mankind isn't nigh enough, but the end of the kind of USA I want to live in seems just around the corner.