A Nutshell Case for Expansive American Health Care

   (dedicated to Congressman Joe Kennedy iii)            

          The progress of American civilization has largely been the struggle of the civilized human spirit against the weary and barbarous austerity of bestial nature: the striving of the expansive or spiritual world-view against the fascist meme of 'survival of the fittest,' a barbaric misinterpretation of the honorable scientist Darwin, whose theories intentionally addressed only the animals and not man...  who suffered most of his life from a severe medical affliction, and whose work would not have been possible without human peace and generosity, and the noble art of medicine...  

                to which we also owe the perserverance and accomplishments of Presidents Kennedy and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the first of whom led the building of the foundation of the relative world peace we've enjoyed for some decades(as opposed to the ghastly alternative we perpetually wrestle the nuclear football away from...) the second of whom from a wheel-chair most effectively led the world war against fascism...  that still powerful force which is the real as opposed to the perceived rebellion of the bestial against the progress of civilization and democracy.  

                   The stories of many of the greats have been made possible by the noble field of medicine, but it should not only be for the rich and powerful. All citizens, in their struggles for survival and advancement, should have what considerable advantage the stethoscope can avail them of.  

                 After all, a healthy worker is more productive and conscientious of his employers interests, as he is not distracted by untreated ailment or issue.  And even regarding that population of American citizens who are not employed, as they exist they mix with the rest of the population...  Proper medical services and advice will keep down the rates of infectious diseases, which history teaches us is a substantial merit.  These arguments for universal health care are ultimately peripheral- the most germane argument being that it is the morally correct social decision, as upheld by the teachings of Christ and Buddha, by Kant's 'moral imperative' etc etc.

              Moving on, let us not think only of physical afflictions, but also of the countless patients who, 'dancing to the beat of a different drum,' find relief and sanctuary in psychiatric care institutions.  For the modern world, with all its grand monuments, industries and achievements, does not call us to live safe and spartan lives....  but to strive and to risk...  to fall and to rise again with the aid of our fellow man!

                  This is why American health care should expand and not contract...  and why we should do what we can to make the noble science of medicine available not only to the prosperous but to the working class, to the poor, and to those whose once well established social status has been so decimated by illness that they are not in a position to privately arrange for their medical care.  

                 It is the civilized, and certainly the Christian thing to embrace this higher order of civilization by which the standard of living of all American citizens is raised by access to medicine, and by which the afflicted have access to the care, drugs and advice by which they might either be returned to a normal state, or by which they might not suffer too much on their way out of this world and into the next.  

           Every homeless addict and patient is also a mother's child, a friend and cousin, and the creation of a loving divinity.

addendum: This is not to ignore the need for philosophical and practical reform in our medical system, which is the subject of another essay.  Neither is my emphasis on the need to aid American citizens a message that immigrants should not be cared for, although I feel that citizens have a more potent claim on the public than do newcomers