Out of Focus and Touch or Out of Reach?

A November 18, 2009 editorial, “Hungry in the United States”, posted in The New York Times, raised a few questions for me. Has the responsibilities of our government to its citizen changed? Has Congress lost focus; is it out of touch with the needs of the people? Or perhaps the question is: have our national issues grown beyond an executive resolution? If Congress is the factory where America takes its problems to, the output or product is indicating something is broke.

It is amazing to see the factory focused on producing a bailout product for big businesses when a study conducted inside the factory by the Department of Agriculture shows a record number of Americans struggling with getting sufficient food. This is nothing new to the factory worker. Before economists identified the beginning of the recession, two-thirds of families with children did not receive adequate nutrition. It interesting to see the most powerful country in the world going broke and its children going hungry. What’s even more interesting, whether you agree or disagree, is that the factory has produced a plan to address its financial woes but not to address the food insecurities of its people.

The workers, within the Congressional factory, seem to be out of touch with the needs of those whom they are supposed to be producing a product for. The new and improved Health Care product that millions need and are waiting on is being held up on an option that will benefit all. All with the exception of the competing private businesses whose voice can be heard by those working inside the factory over the cry of its citizen in need.

The rise in the number of people, according to factory data, who lack access to adequate nutrition rose to 49 million in 2008, raising the banner that every American is going to need some form of health care. Skipped meals and cheap food with low to no nutritional value are contributors to poor health. Are the factory workers so out of touch they can’t see the urgency to pass a health care bill with a public option, freeing up the factory to work on other products such as hunger in Americans? President Obama has made a commitment to wipe our child hunger by 2015; I hope we are not still bailing out and reforming.

Are our issues beyond the factory’s ability? Will the factory be able to retool itself in time to efficiently and effectively produce a product that is right for all America? Or will we sell out to the highest bidder?

Another look at Health Care

I recently read a blog titled “Health Care Legislation” posted by S. Williams at Proud to be an American. I found the post to be quite interesting. It was challenging to tell from the author’s opening sentences whether or not the author had a definitive opinion regarding the proposed health care reform legislation. The author supported this position of ambiguity by pointing out the various variables to consider and in his mind there were still too many unanswered questions.

The post conveyed a stronger concern for the private insurance companies and employers than for the millions of American who have no hope of receiving and paying for quality health care. I’m sorry, but I have no empathy for the insurance companies that have for years made a hefty profit by draining the pocket of American families, leaving them still ill and in poverty.

While there was some indecisiveness in the author’s view, he did take a strong position regarding the issues of fining Americans who don’t purchase coverage. To this though I would like to know how the author would feel if they were involved in an auto accident with a motorist who did not have government required auto insurance. Levying fines for the uninsured, which we have been doing for years, worked out favorably for all.

In closing, the author appears to lean toward limited government involvement and states that “government should mind their own business.” That’s an interesting statement, considering that government is supposed to be in place to manage the issues of the people they have been elected to serve. I strongly support the government effort to reform our Health Care System.