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Why all of this concern with health insurance over the past year or so? Such concerns generally surface in the mass media because there is an agenda afoot. What could that agenda be? It certainly could not be about caring for the health of millions of Americans, because those with influence over what appears in the circus we call the mass media don't generally have the concerns of Americans at heart. They constitute business and political interests, which are generally focused on consolidating wealth and power. It becomes quite apparent that the reason the healthcare debate surfaced in the first place is because somebody wanted something now. A good guess would be that it is really about trimming government healthcare costs, and perhaps about insurers getting a bigger piece of the economic pie. If this is true, then isn't this healthcare debate a bit of a sham? I wonder, then, why people are even taking it seriously. Do we hop, skip and jump to such agendas? It seems so.
A good example of this sort of agenda was the sale in 2005 of Asher Durand's "Kindred Spirits," an important 19th Century painting from the collection of the New York Public Library. The library said it needed the money from the sale to put into other programs, and that as an institution, it should not be in the art collecting business. Of course the painting in question was donated to the library for the enjoyment of the people of New York City. To say that it was an unnecessary part of the library's collection was just a bit off target, particularly in light of the countless books written on the subject of art, many of which have cited that painting in particular. So why was there a sudden interest in selling the painting? Likely, because somebody wanted it. Who? There were two major museums--the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City--that hoped to acquire it for their collections. They were going to partner up to get it, and they were likely the driving force for the sale, and not the needs of the library. But when it came to the auctioning off of the art work, the museums were outbid by Alice Walton, heir of the Wal-Mart fortune. Ah, the best laid plans! The rise of the healthcare issue is reminiscent of what happened with the sale of "Kindred Spirits"--how something can surface as an issue for all the wrong reasons.
Isn't it apparent to all that, between the banker bailouts and funding for the wars of aggression in the Middle East, there is no money for healthcare? This country is rapidly being transformed into a poor debtor nation, akin to what some of the South American dictatorships looked like in years past. What is happening is not a depression, but a structural adjustment. The nation's agenda has been so driven by borrowing that there is no way to make a fiscally sound decision on policies such as international interventions, weapons stockpiling, and a host of other matters. Nobody asks how much anything costs anymore, or seems even to care. This has led to chaos in markets and in the day-to-day functioning of businesses, because the pricing structure has been totally undermined. The dairy business, for example, on which my part of the world--upstate New York--is particularly dependent, is on the verge of extinction, torn asunder by the crosscurrents of government subsidies and foreign competition.
There has been a massive and illegal redistribution, not only of wealth, but of the power that accompanies it. The "too big to fail" policy is inherently anti-democratic and unconstitutional, not only in the manner in which it is being implemented but also in its overall effect, and ought to be challenged immediately. The bailouts came, of course, on top of the tax breaks for the wealthy implemented during the G.W. Bush Administration--another bold power-grab on behalf of elite interests by Dick Cheney and his crew. Even if intervention in the collapse of the banks, insurance companies and auto manufacturers was necessary from an economic point of view--and there is much debate on that point-- it should not have been implemented because of its implications for the balance of power issue. These bailouts have rended the fabric of an already badly tattered constitutional republic. The weaker the electorate is financially, the less capable it will be of affecting public policy. It's about balance of power, and that balance has shifted dangerously against the general population. This shift is being enacted in the form of a heist, because the grab for wealth and power was at the barrel of a gun, brought to you by the Patriot Act and legislation established supposedly for quelling terrorism, but which could as easily been used against dissenting Americans, particularly since there are virtually no real terrorists. These days, even the most meager form of protest can easily be construed to fall under the category of "homegrown terrorism." Don't complain, or you may be tasered, or shot.
What should we do? Redouble our efforts in every avenue of life. Our own productive power will splinter the agendas of these bad players into shards. While opposing these injustices, let's show that we can move forward in a productive fashion that will dwarf whatever the forces of selfishness throw at us. In this way, we can take back our country and make it once again a beacon of hope to the world. Let's push the courts to put war criminals in prison, reverse the Patriot Act, and show that we are a force to contend with. Let's stop the unsustainable hemorrhaging of our taxpayer dollars into profligate spending on the military industrial complex, banker bailouts and other redistribution-of-wealth schemes. Lets return to a constitutional gold and silver monetary system that will block abuses of the nation's currency for illicit gain. Let's address the national indebtedness. Let's continue to push aggressively for a withdrawal of our troops from the Middle East, which is becoming a manufacturing zone for mentally and physically disabled veterans. Let's keep up the good fight! And while we're at it, since it's on the table for whatever reason, let's fight for a credible healthcare program for all Americans. It just may be that the people of this country are "too big to fail."
