OddBeliefs.com

I’m glad Barack Obama got the nomination. I think, however, that he has his work cut out for him if he gets elected president and tries to reform the health care system.

The corruption in the American health care industry would make any third world resident blush. Current news items about the difficulty of obtaining individual health insurance policies don’t begin to cover the scope or enormity of the problem. Editors and pundits have hardly addressed the problem of the damage to the American economy done by the health insurance companies as they deny almost everyone access to affordable and reliable individual or even small group policies. Forget Walmart–the biggest killer of small businesses in the U.S. is the health insurance industry.

Back in the 1980’s I was working as a professional classical musician. My employer didn’t provide benefits, not even health insurance. I tried to buy an individual policy from a well-known insurance giant. I was required to provide a blood sample and a urine sample, which I felt was an invasion of my privacy, but I reluctantly complied. I passed those tests (I didn’t have a drug habit and wasn’t afflicted with AIDS or HIV) but I was still turned down. I found out that the insurance company, after combing through my medical history, thought that I had been to the gynecologist too many times. Frightened by minor female troubles, they deemed me uninsurable.

I have since changed careers, in part to obtain health insurance coverage. I’m way beyond bitter.

It is time for Americans to demand universal health care. The health insurance companies have lost their legitimacy and should not have any part in the next system. Although buying Congressmen and women worked splendidly for them for a long time, we can wake up and take back Congress.

The United States has 260 million people. If we were all one group, we could bargain for some pretty good deals on prescription drugs, long-term care, care for the mentally ill, and other things that many of us have come to think of as luxuries. We could even give people access to AIDS treatment and drug rehabilitation.

It’s time to stop clucking our tongues about our friends and neighbor’s unsolved medical troubles. As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Apathy about government must end. Relying on the market to fix things must end. The market is fixing us into the grave.

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The last few days, television news has been rife with discussion of Rev. Wright, Barak Obama’s former pastor and the effect Rev. Wright has brought to bear on the Democratic primaries. First the focus was on Rev. Wright’s cursing the nation from his pulpit, but now it has shifted to Rev. Wright’s capitalizing from his greatly increased public exposure, especially at the increasing peril of Sen. Obama’s election hopes. What a buddy, huh? A family friend. An esteemed religious leader. The reverend slapped Obama with the religion card and the race card in one lucky hand. I say “lucky” because Rev. Wright is rapidly cashing in his self-produced chips. The question is: should Sen. Obama fold?

Until I discovered that he went to a racist church, It had never crossed my mind that Barack Obama might secretly be “bird of a feather” with Rev. Wright. (BTW, sure there’s a racist reverend whose church isn’t racist, but I ain’t buying it. Here’s the FOX perspective.)

I don’t know what black America is thinking about Wright’s television coverage, but I have some idea about the majority of white America. Especially, the rev’s counterparts, the pastors of mainstream white Christian churches. They condemn taking God’s name in vain from the pulpit. But more importantly, even non-churching-going America resonates with the underlying racism of Rev. Wright’s message.

What a shock about the rev’s message, too. Mainstream white Christian America never suspected that black churches might be preaching Rev. Wright’s message of racial division. It begs the question, how can Sen. Obama be trusted if he listens (or ever listened) to Rev. Wright?

I have no doubt that Obama didn’t squirm uncomfortably in his pew during the infamous televised snippets; but squirming wasn’t enough. Barak should have immediately left the church in protest, preferably raising quite a bit of hell in process. Mainstream white Christianity sees no excuse for Obama’s even tacitly accepting racism or foul language coming from the pulpit of his home church. Many previous Obama supporters now believe he is a fraud. God was called upon to damn our nation from his home church’s pulpit.

Obama is defenseless. He has attended Wright’s church for 20 years; he admits that Wright has been a large influence on his life; his marriage was even performed by this insincere showboater. “Distancing” himself from Wright after their 20-year journey through Christendom and family friendship is like trying to distance yourself from your mother. The bond can’t break. Until a couple of weeks ago, these two were close friends. Wright likely had the ear of the next president.

Not now. The nation is not ready for a black president if he’s a racist. And if he’s not racist, why does he attend the one black church that preaches hatred - there is just this one, right? Aside: If the racial negativism of Rev. Wright’s message is de riguer for largely black churches, they should know that largely white churches don’t typically engage in this.

In a related note, Sen. Obama will find himself doubly condemned by Christians (of all stripes) if he actually believes that people turn to religion from frustration as he stated in his infamous campaign speech gaffe. That is to say lots of Christians now think that this guy could be a closet atheist, too.

At the beginning of his campaign, I thought that Sen. Obama represented the first chance for true reform since Kennedy. Now I find myself hoping he’s not just a really smart racist.

Posted in Politics, Religion, Social Commentary | Add A Comment »