Poor People

“God must love poor people, because he made so many of them.” I’d tell you who said this if I knew. Right now, poor people are the lodestar of the political differences. The Republicans paint them as lazy, dependent on the largesse of government for their existence, sucking the lifeblood out of the hardworking taxpayers. The Democrats view them as temporarily down on their luck, due in part to the recession caused by the Republicans and their wars and tax cuts for the rich. I see them as you and me, at least compared to the rich. Whatever happened to the middle class? 

I don’t understand why there is such animosity about this issue. Is it that we fear a world in which food, rent, health care are a luxury?  Don’t we know that no one chooses to live on the street or beg for basic necessities? There is just a basic smugness about the “I’ve got mine” attitudes that I see even among friends and relatives. 

This attitude is in play with those who are against universal health care. Is it not empathy and compassion for us to want to help prevent or lessen human suffering? Or is it sentimental liberalism leaning toward socialism? Ask the parent of a sick child if he isn’t worried about becoming too dependent on government.

Why are we the one civilized nation that is still ambivalent about this issue? Why is our health care the most expensive in the world, while the results are embarrassing? Why can’t a healthy population become a goal to be reached by reasonable people, not a cause for partisan bickering? Is it because we are afraid that the poor and lazy might take it away from the rest of us?

It can happen, you know. TB is on the rebound. Unvaccinated children or adults are a risk to all of us. Untreated bacterial or viral infections know no social distinctions. We are all better off in a healthy country.