PLOP, PLOP, FIZZ, FIZZ

     "Oh what a relief it is!"
     Remember that? So simple. A bellyache? Just get those Alka Seltzer tablets, plop them in, fizz grows and down the hatch and evidently, bye - bye to the bellyache. Simple. Fast and not costly at all.
     But medical issues are not that simple and in fact, none of the many issues that pertain to the health and welfare of people is simple. There are moral issues as well as economic ones all tied together and there are some ideas that simply will not disappear into the mists of history no matter how much we think the human race has evolved.
     So yes, taking care of people is costly in terms of money. But also yes, taking care of people, or rather not taking care of them, is also costly, this time in terms of being "human and humane" and all that those words mean. We have had more benighted periods of time in  history when the prevailing thought was that if one were poor, if one got sick and was poor, well, that was G-d's judgement on that person. He/she, old or young, must have done something wrong for otherwise G-d would never have permitted this to happen. Right? Wrong! But it never occurred to people that their engrained mistaken and cruel ideas were just that, for they were of the privileged and evidently blessed group who were being watched over by Divine providence.
     So if one did not work, well, that person did not deserve anything. A child of the lower economic class who sold things on the streets, in the markets, who ran errands, who dragged heavy bundles, who swept streets for the privileged to walk on, well, such was fate, but the kids of higher economic classes, well, they got to go to school and look forward to a future and were lucky enough to be blessed with a childhood.
     Think that backward thinking is over and done with? You are quite mistaken. When we have Congressmen who can say or agree with the statement that nobody ever died from lack of healthcare, or that healthcare is not a human right, or that only those who work are deserving of some monetary aid, or that the chronically ill are deserving of it because evidently "they did not do the right thing". Really! Truly! Such are the sentiments coming out of the mouths of Republican Congressmen who are supposed to take care of the peoples of America rather than just insure that they themselves have the best care ever while others can go to hell in a handbasket!
     There is a moral question here, a huge one. Are we to put money over people? At we to take upon ourselves the decision as to whom is deserving of aid and whom not? Who are we to judge this? Are we not here to reach out and help those needing help and perhaps in doing so we will benefit society, raise its status and the economic benefits will generate funds? But no, evidently not, or so the Republicans have chosen.
     What follows is a principle that states that it is better to never have given anything so that these poor and ignorant and undeserving souls will never have realized that there is another way, that there is actually help that could be given, that they do not have to die and suffer in poverty and ignorance, that there are people who are humane, a simple act of adding an "e" and all that it means to the word human.
     Can people die from lack of healthcare? Of course! My grandmother died because the healthcare of that time was inadequate to her needs but at least she did get care. I, myself, would have died several times if healthcare had not reached me, if the medical personnel had not figured out what the hell was wrong and it was not simple and in certain cases took several years with accompanying damage so does that mean that I should have died according to Republican thinking, that I am undeserving of medical care and coverage because I have a chronic situation, that I must have done something wrong in this life or a past life to have these issues? Follow these thoughts to their logical. or rather illogical, conclusions and that, my friends, is the world that Paul Ryan et al wish for us to inhabit. Well, he can keep it and G-d willing, people will wake up and smell the rot of disease and uncaring power people and vote them the hell out of office in 2018 and take their miserable leader, Trump, with them.
     So my father, whose birthday it is today, died because healthcare was not adequately versed in taking care of his heart issues and perhaps today more could have been done. This man did not die because he was lacking in humane qualities and in fact was one of the best people I ever met - but not according to these cruel people in Congress who would now so callously condemn so many millions of people to death and so many millions of others to unemployment as the man who would "provide" jobs actually takes them away. It is not a sin to help others,. It is not a wasteful idea to spend money to help others. It is not morally acceptable to damn people to a living hell because of one's twisted and cruel thinking.
     How and why have we fallen back to a way of thinking, a selfish and cruel way of thinking that should have long ago lost its power to exist yet we find that privilege seems to be the ruling thought in so many countries today. Changing names from Communism to unnamed dictatorships does not change the fact that there are privileged classes and classes that are trod upon. Look at India, Russia, Communist China, African Republics, the nations of Venezuela and Brazil and yes, right here in good old USA.
     What is even worse is when that way of thinking extends into more far reaching areas such as perverting the power of the law, perverting those who work as law enforcement officers, and encourage and no, demand, that they be cruel to people, that they "follow orders', and even threaten them if they do not. So where there are 'sanctuary cities", where people actually care for others, where they understand these people coming from the Land of No Hope (see yesterday's posting) there are now to be no such places and any thinking this way, any acting upon those thoughts are illegal, - Deutschland, Deutschland.... Anyone hear the tune? Texas evidently does for it has passed a law - signed by their benighted governor - that " lets police ask during routine stops whether someone is in the U.S. legally and threatens sheriffs with jail if they don't cooperate with federal immigration agents."
     And this attitude of 'I am better than you" is growing here and in the world. The French seem to have come to their senses, at least partially, and elected Macron. No Trump or worse for them, but look at the hate generated there and even right here in America. We had far right organizations here that worked to boost Le Pen. The hatred is out there folks and one can sniff it in the air, hear it in the words and see it in the behaviorisms of people. Even petty dictators of some states or cities or small divisions think they can rule the roost with  no thought of others save that they exist to be ruled. Look at our own CV and look again.
     We, the people, have allowed this situation, in fact all these situations because we became immune to what was happening. It was not us so there ya go. It was someone else's problem so let them take care of it. But we should have remembered, must always remember, that the arrogance of the privileged never seems to lose itself somewhere along the line and in fact, grows exponentially with every 'victory' they achieve.
     We are at a crossroads. Morality, humanity, or privilege for the few. Excuses that mean nothing or the truth, harsh as that might be. Which do we choose? Which do you choose? Remember, there is no plop, plop medicine for it all. It needs unselfishness and hard work. Sacrifice and heart. Please G-d let that heart be there.