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Here in 2009, We the People find before us a monumental task of not only surviving the disaster made of our economy by short-sighted greed and Republican power-politics, but in seeing that this utopian vision of a post-partisan political world doesn't sacrifice everything we hold dear upon the alter of political expediency.
We have so many expectations, so many desires, and so little power to do anything about us. Our fate as a people is to be determined by a very small minority of us--primarily those wealthy or influential enough to acquire the money needed to run for political office, to be our "chosen" representatives in the vaunted halls of Congress. Yet it becomes clearer every day that our concerns are not necessarily their concerns.
How many of them truly understand our struggle with the health insurance industry and how much of our resources go toward making sure we have the option of going to the doctor if we need to? Those of us who can AFFORD health insurance, that is. How many others are forced to use the ER doc as their "Primary Care Physician" and simply ignore the bills as they rain down on them like boulders in an avalanche?
How many of them truly understand (or remember) what it means to be under a mountain of debt and see no recourse to escape it, to have mortgaged their very future to banks and other lending institutions in order to get an education and gain a foundation upon which to build a life worth living?
Some years back I remember hearing a question in a political debate regarding the price of a quart of milk. My immediate thought was "who the hell buys a quart of milk?" Someone without a family to feed, or someone who's spending way too much on moo juice. The question was meant to indicate whether or not the candidate understood the needs of the common folk. It might be interesting to note that neither of the candidates questioned actually knew the answer. At least one of us, the little people, might have had a clue--extrapolating from the cost of a half gallon or whole gallon. But it struck me that the people sitting there on the stage probably had others to do their shopping for them--housekeepers or maids, something that very few of the rest of us have. But also, it seemed as though the questioner was also removed from our experience by some large degree.
While these people sit up on Capitol Hill, making decisions that could impact us for years--maybe generations--to come, we see the decisions they make and wonder "Do they think of us at all?" When they're sitting down with the insurance company representatives, do they recognize the fact that they are OUR representatives in the negotiations, or are their eyes filled with the knowledge that these people are the wellspring from which their campaign contributions flow? We may provide the votes that see them into office, but it's industry that primarily provides them the means to enter the battle in the first place.
For twelve of the last fourteen years (by my calculations), those of us with a more progressive mindset had NO voice to speak of in Congress, dominated as it was by the Republicans--who make no bones about working for moneyed interests. Basically that's who they represent, since nearly everyone else that puts them in office do so not because of what they might do on their behalf, but what they might do to oppose other things. One might say that they're not so much representatives as hired guns, put in place to shoot down anything that might actually benefit the people as a whole.
But now, having won back the Presidency and a majority in Congress, we allowed ourselves some expectations, some hope that the right decisions would be made on our behalf. And yet... We find many of the usual suspects circling Washington like a crowd of carrion crows, waiting to descend and pick the bones of our democracy clean. Industry will have its say, and its voices carry in a way that ours cannot. For even as strong as we are in numbers, we do not have the cohesion to stand by a basic set of principles, telling our representatives that we understand betrayal and will not tolerate it.
We are mice, trying to out-roar lions. Our only chance would be to roar in unison, a million voices to drown out even a cadre of lions. But there are some of us who say "hey, they've got our back."
Do they? Do they really?
Well, we'd better hope so, because the lions are laying mousetraps, and in our angry milling about, we're likely to step in a few.
I myself have written, sent faxes with the help of certain agencies, making my opinions on such things as health care "reform" known. How loud have we been? It's hard to say. The nearby roars of the predator beasts might well have drown out our squeaky voices completely.
What do YOU think?
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