As I pull myself atop the soap box again…

Today, the entire medical insurance world has me bewildered AND angry.  I want to send this out into the vast expanse of the Internet, hoping that ONE DAY it will be seen by someone in government who isn’t tied to special interests or bound by political jargon.  This is to the candidate (Republican, Democrat, Independent, Socialist, etc.) who secures the position of PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, or at the very least, the VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, not leaving out any member of the Cabinet, Congress, or State/Local government.  I’m a nativist, a person born in this country to parents who were born in this country to people who immigrated here from another country so that they could IMPROVE their lives and the lives of their family.

From where I’m sitting, there is not a lot of improvement occurring.

For instance:
My grandfather, at age 8, boarded a ship bound for New York City with his mother.  They left behind family, friends, and the only world they’ve ever known for the fantasy of being an American.  After my grandfather arrived at Ellis Island, his mother was not deemed well enough to be released to family living in New York, so she was quarantined in the hospital unit.  She died from a dangerous strain of influenza in 1906.

During his lifetime, my grandfather worked hard.  With little education, as this was not necessarily afforded to poor immigrants, he worked hard to become a CITIZEN of the United States, only to have to work the most menial tasks and duties.  Eventually, he became a Teamster and drove a truck.  When I was born, he lay dying in the hospital from brain cancer.  My grandmother, his wife, struggled to make ends meet after he died, eventually moving in with my aunt and becoming her “domestic.”  It was only after my parents moved to a two-family home with a cabinet making shop for the backyard that they were able to move her into the tiny one room apartment in the back of the house, which faced the shop.  She lived there until we moved into our own house.  Thereafter, she moved into a seniors building and remained there until her mind could not allow her to live alone any longer.

My point is this:  Every day I get to listen to people talk about how we, as a country, can deal with illegal immigrants.  Currently, in New Jersey, they are allowed to have a driver’s license and apply for Medicaid.  For those who have learned HOW to manipulate the system, their kids receive foodstamps, WIC, and other services as well as the opportunity to DRIVE A CAR in a state that has ENOUGH cars.  Certainly, most live in abject poverty, however, so are thousands upon thousands of CITIZENS. 

My grandfather, great-grandparents, and other relatives did NOT move here to become LEGAL citizens so that their family could suffer for BEING Americans.

I’m tired, God-awful tired, of putting our hard-earned money into the hands of these big insurance company rapists who own big fancy houses, vacation homes, and expensive cars.  I don’t wear coutour, nor have expensive purses or jewelry, and I certainly do not drive a fancy car.  What I am doing is paying for insurance (whether we need it or not) so that I get the extra-fun of paying a CO-PAY… which is then added to what the insurance company pays, only to be given a BILL later on that tells me that I owe more.

Do I not bleed red?  Am I not patriotic enough?  Maybe I should rip down my flag, renounce my membership as an American citizen, and join a cult.  Is that what it would take for the government to notice us?  What if the ENTIRE middle class decided to leave… to quit being Americans and move to a place where they would be received better and treated like gold?  What would the government do?  Would they even notice?

Probably not.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “democracy” as: “government by the people; especially : rule of the majority.”

I’m sorry, but I do not count Congressional Representatives (which includes Congressmen and Senators), the President, VP, or any member of government to BE a citizen for the sole reason that they removed themselves from that role to BE the governmental representative.  They are all, for the most part, wealthy individuals who receive hefty pensions and incredible benefits for the course of their tenure until the day they die.  They want for nothing.  They need not.  They suffer little, except at the hands of their opposition. 

WE, my friends, the non-representatives are the MAJORITY… the group that is supposed to matter. 

Sure, Hillary said she’d make sure we ALL had Congressional benefits.  How would the government pay for that?  By raising taxes on other things.  Sure, Obama said he wanted universal healthcare, also, but has he defined WHERE exactly the money is going to come from?  I can’t tell what Edwards is saying because he just babbles… incessantly.  Then, there are the Republicans, and not ONE has said anything about insurance costs and the painful financial gouging of every single person who makes less than $100,000/year. 

For once, I want the American people to be a private interest group that matters.  I do not want to hear about campaign contributions, black tie dinners, or celebrities begging the populace for money so that little poor kids in India can eat whatever it is that they eat.  I want celebrities to tell the politicans that if they want to be voted for, and make that vote matter, that they NEED to throw themselves on the proverbial prye and sacrifice their life for the citizenry of the United States.

I want to matter.  I want my family to matter.  I want you and YOUR families to matter.  I want the poor kids in Appalachia to matter.  I want the senior citizens living on Medicare to matter.  I want those displaced by hurricanes, tornadoes, and other disasters to matter.  I want survivors to matter.  I was families of victims to matter. I want people who are homeless because they cannot acquire government aid for whatever reason to MATTER.  I want lost children to matter.  I want the core root of this country, it’s people, to MATTER. 

I will never be wealthy, nor would I want the burden that goes with it.  Because if I were wealthy, and I mean REALLY wealthy, I would make sure that it mattered.  That somehow, I would try to do what I could to make it matter.  To cloth and feed orphans who HAVE no one to make sure they matter.  To help kids on the streets who think that they don’t matter.  To take the downside of our country and all its idiosyncracies, negative or positive, and grab it by its lapel and heave it until it’s standing proper.  I want our country to mend itself.

Who is the government representing?  The people or the businesses that make money?

I can tell you this much…

People are greedy.  They need, they want, and they desire.  We live well beyond our means, offering our souls to credit cards, banks, and lending services… and all the while, someone else is reaping the benefit while we struggle to survive in a world that is rapidly changing around us.

Raise the standards of pay.  Declare that insurance companies can no longer charge co-pays when a person or company pays for insurance coverage.  Protect the doctors and help them cover their malpractice insurance.  Cap insurance payments by the citizenry and tell the insurance companies to use the money they’ve banked for the past fifty or more years and use THAT to pay the bills. 

While we’re at it…

Cap tuition costs and fees… so that ordinary people can send their kids to college without going into debt to their bank or a loan company with its fancy schmancy fine print and large, confusing jargon.

Pay teachers more and administration less.  For the $120,000+ annual salary that many school superintendents earn in New Jersey, districts could SAVE by consolidating their districts under the county superintendent’s office, thereby erradicating the need to oversaturate the schools with anywhere from one to five high-salaried administrators.

Allow the people to put forth motions to have politicans removed who do NOT have the people’s best interest in mind.  For those who hire their family and friends, pay them ENORMOUS salaries for jobs they are not qualified for, further putting their region/county/state in debt.

Take drug money and put it into the schools.  Every red cent. 

Criminals… during their internment, have them make the items that are being OUTSOURCED to Third World countries… shoes, clothing, toys, dog food, and various other items… so that we don’t have to worry about the possibility that our children could die from licking a matchbox car that was made in China and they can take pride in something that they did that helped OTHERS.

There’s a lot of work to be done.  Like a house that hasn’t been cleaned in a hundred years.  There’s clutter here and there and around the corner is a cob-web the size of Alaska taking up another room that is filled with dust and dirt.

What we need is a government that cleans up the clutter and makes everything work… and makes it all make sense. 

So, for all of the candidates who will never see this plea from an American citizen of the lower-middle-middle class… if there is one thing that you can do for the people you are supposed to be representing, clean up the mess that the others have made and make things make sense for everyone. Focus on the faces, not the checkbook and make it matter.  Just make it matter.

*climbs off of her soapbox*