America, the Beauty and the Beast, where change is the only sensible action

Being an immigrant to this country, now holding citizenship, I still am amazed at its natural beauty, the grit and idealism of its people, and it sometimes grandiose efforts to save those in need. However, I am also sad and disappointed about the close ties between the government of this country and big business. Even this depression, which was mainly caused by big business, seems not to have done much to diminish the influence big business has on our lives. Look at the current health debate and ask who is financing the acrimonious struggle towards efforts that support a public health plan? Obviously there is no money for such efforts relative to those who actually need it.


Big Business is still very much alive and well! And no I do not blame the Obama administration as a lot of people seem to do. You cannot make changes in an environment where the change has to be motivated and adopted by Congress and the Senate and business there is as usual.

The majority of Congressmen and Senators are backed by big business, and so their decisions are usually closely connected to this support. There are good ones and they do stand out, but a majority of them have done this job for ages and are set in their way. Hence this is a system that needs to be changed (Campaign Reform laws) but based on previous efforts and the current climate, most likely won’t. This is the system with which Obama has to work and I am sure he is finding out quickly that affecting change is not as easy as it seemed during his campaign.

Secondly, it seems that the majority of Americans seem to have become one sound bite people. They make decisions and judgments based on trigger words or they take words out of their context and form instant opinions, which are most of the time, totally irrelevant to the issue at hand.

The issue is that those who need it cannot get health care. When you do get health care, even with health insurance coverage, costs for an emergency hospital visit can rise as high as 10,000USD of which you still have to pay a hefty $750 yourself. Well, folks these costs for basic health care services are not feasible for people who, are unemployed, hold low wage jobs or are otherwise bankrupt. Our rising health care costs are part of the unhealthy state of our nation, part of which is made up of people who are overweight and who suffer from related health issues. And yes, Virginia, our government health care system, called Medicare, as I can testify, runs much smoother and the costs to providers are a tenth of others covered by other health insurances. You cannot operate a health system that charges incredible high fees for any service, with a high unemployment rate and a great amount of people, who cannot afford to pay these fees. Eventually the system will break and we all will be on boats without a paddle.

I am sure that the ideological and overblown fears have largely been created by whom else than “large business concerns” who wield enormous power in this country. These people are so arrogant that they cannot see that eventually they too will need to face reality, when people have no way to pay for anything at all.

What can you do?

1. Make sure you understand the facts before you attend a session on the issue of health insurance?

2. Ask those who receive government assistance how they feel about it and how it works?

3. Do think, if you are employed, about others who aren’t and the fact that it might happen to you as well.

4. Do make sure that you understand all the facts not just what others tell you. Make sure there is no politically motivating entity whether democratic or republican influencing your action

5. Think about trust, our government through thick and thin has always been there for you, hasn’t it? But what about all those large concerns that it has aided in the last year or so? Where would you put your money?