Clarion Call for The Great USed

health care photo

USers (better known as “Americans”) have been expressing a preference in survey polls for access to a universal health care system for quite some time. Considering their frustration with so-called representatives who do not advocate in their interests and expressed desires, perhaps they should be called The Great USed.

In the late Reagan years, 70 percent of the adult population thought that health care should be a constitutional guarantee, and 40 percent thought it already was written into the Constitution. Almost 100 percent of the folks I talk to each day feel it is — obviously — a legitimate right, but there’s no movement toward making that a reality in sight… as I write.

I’m being light with my words because the trauma I witness routinely is so heartbreaking, I’ve got to relieve my tension somehow; I speak of the “trauma” that is a function of a dysfunctional healthcare system. Something that has been written about incessantly without the words producing change thus far.

I say “thus far” and use “as I write,” though, because I have hope that readers will mobilize to create a third party centered on healthcare. Quickly. And on the gubernatorial level, where a difference can be implemented to some degree immediately, not anything for the federal level at the moment. That’s lost to us, and we must get up off of bent knee begging for psychopaths and selfish souls to come around, and do what’s right. The urgent need to mobilize along fresh lines is so utterly clear that I’m not going to even provide links in this article for further reading; I much prefer that readers contact me post haste to get something new into gear. One-on-one dialogue, not more reading, is what’s required at this juncture. Soon the powers that be will prevent the possibility of a “radical” third party forming. Both major parties have a vested interest in that, of course; they want to continue to not represent without interference.

Poll results are contingent upon wording and nuance, of course. That said, however, reputable polls have — quite consistently over the years — shown strong and often large majority support for universal health care; I can provide many examples, upon request. [Pause.] You can only neglect overwhelming majorities for so long on a given issue.

The early Affordable Care Act proposals called for a “public option.” It was supported by almost two-thirds of the population, but was dropped without serious consideration, presumably as part of a compact with financial institutions… the very ones that Obama rescued not too long ago. The legislative bar to government negotiation of drug prices was opposed by 85 percent, but that was also disregarded right away to head off dissatisfaction on the part of our pharmaceutical giants.

The “preference” for universal health care is particularly remarkable in light of the fact that there is almost no support or advocacy in sources that reach the general public, and virtually no discussion in the public domain.

I maintain that The Great Used begin to build bridges between themselves — for themselves — so that differences on various issues are put aside — momentarily — to get the ball rolling behind the potentially unifying issue of decent healthcare. We can no longer afford to bicker about platform the way we do routinely. We must change our routine, our electoral habits. Debate about differences can be ironed out later, once people have set up the basis for proper healthcare for one and all. Doing so, too, will go a long way toward stirring up all sorts of hopeful and creative juices, generating fresh ideas about how to forge ahead on other issues. Everything doesn’t have to be worked out ahead of time, there can be plenty of unknowns in the mix. Clarity is not of the utmost importance now in forming the kind of party I’m proposing. Rather, a clarion call is all we need.

Yes, The Health Party. Why not?

Rachel Oxman can be reached at [email protected].

 

 

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