To the editor:
Make no mistake about what's happening in America today. Republicans lost miserably in 2008 after perhaps one of the worst administrations in history, two failed wars, $5 trillion added to the national debt, bitter foreign relations, and a complete collapse of Wall St. and our economic system. Despite their stinging loss, immediately after Obama's ascendency, Republicans, led by the pervasive voices of Limbaugh, et al, established the strategy for a Republican comeback, which was that they wanted Obama to fail, regardless of consequences to America. And, boy, have they played that plan to the hilt!
The current issue on the horizon, health care, is an excellent example of the determination by Republicans to stop any meaningful Obama legislation that can be considered a victory. Meanwhile Americans are suffering with a health care system that ranks 37th by the National Institute of Health; insurance companies making coverage unaffordable and deciding which procedures they will pay for while CEOs take millions home; Big Pharma charging Americans the highest prices in the world for drugs; and millions without coverage, as evidenced by recent free clinics in Tennessee and Missouri in which thousands turned out to see a doctor.
Unquestionably, while America has the finest and most modern care for some, outcomes for too many are not acceptable.
To further muddy the waters, special interests have spent hundreds of millions to fight the change we so badly need in order to enhance their the bottom lines and not for the sake of a healthier America. Already, Americans are up to their eyeballs with insurance costs: life, car, home, health, business, etc. How much can the average working American afford? How much more fruitful would it be if a nonpartisan commission had been formed to study every one-payer system, as practiced in every major and many lesser nations in the world, and come up with a plan that is best for all, without concern for labels of socialism or Marxism as thrown about by some. Helping someone in need should not be subject to ideology, but rather the human instinct.
Writer Neal Gabler recently stated that Americans suffer from willful amnesia. One could say that Americans have forgotten the lessons of the past and are doomed to repeat its mistakes. How many can reiterate the market crash of '29, the failed Hoover attempt to revive the economy and the long road to recovery under Roosevelt? Yet, many today expect a miraculous return to prosperity after one year. Does anyone believe that Republicans who were in charge at the time of the disaster would have made more progress in a recovery? That makes no sense because certain Republican principles, just as in the era of Calvin Coolidge that led to '29, caused this deep recession.
Sadly, as well-intentioned as President Obama is to bring succor to the American people, special interests loaded with big bucks will continue to rule the roost in America because when money talks, politicians listen.
Dante Ippolito
Norwell
