During these times of campaigning and debates I hear so much talk about universal health care for all Americans. While I agree that those who desire and treasure a happy and healthy lifestyle should have an opportunity to pursue such an objective, I wonder if it can be offered without stipulations or certain conditions. Considering the current lifestyles of most people in our culture if universal health care would be offered, in my view it would be abused and consequently, futile.
Let us consider possible abuses. At the top of the list of abuses are unprotected sex, drugs and smoking cigarettes; conditions that have been proven to be harmful to the health of an individual. Next, consider diet. So many Americans either over eat or eat the wrong foods on a regular basis. Parents condition their kids to fast, unhealthy foods by taking them to a fast food restaurant as a reward for good behavior or good grades. They grow up eating that stuff as a matter of habit. Next, Americans are, for the most part, sedentary and inactive, getting no exercise for their bodies, which contributes to various diseases. In that sedentary condition they watch all manner of violence on the TV that poisons their minds and render them excessively negative, causing all manner of diseases, including stress and high blood pressure. These are a few examples of the abuses we inflict on ourselves. In light of these few examples of unhealthy lifestyles I believe it is ludicrous to offer universal health care. Hospitals and doctors' offices would be flooded by people who's lifestyles are so unhealthy.
I will share with you an extremely painful personal experience that will hopefully, explain what I mean. My youngest of four sons at the age of fifteen decided he would experiment with drugs. As a result of that experiment he was never to be free of drugs again. I became an enabling parent because I used my influence in the communities in which we lived to bail him out of his many, many transgressions. I invested thousands of dollars getting him out all manner of difficulties. Though personally stricken with cancer and being very weak I never missed a day visiting him in jail. I always had the hope that this next deed would get him over his addiction and restore him to the life I hoped he could live. I wont go on and on citing examples of the enabling I afforded him. Suffice it to say that I spent nearly all I had in terms of money, emotion and energy to try to save him. Nothing worked.
In the end I was nearly bankrupt and he was no better. At my wits end I had to turn him into the streets where he lived for another ten years, getting no better, while at the same time using government resources in city after city trying to recover and survive. nothing worked and at the rich age of 36 he overdosed.
Please understand that I am not a doom sayer and the last thing I would want to do is to cast a negative pall over the good we should seek to do for each other in this culture. But I have to believe that if we don't require people to change their lifestyles, America will suffer the same fate that I cite in my one example. I waited too long to set conditions for my son and in the end I was nearly broke and he was in the street living off of the government. I conclude by saying that I was an enabler of the worst kind but I learned one great lesson: we must be held accountable for our actions and no amount of enabling will help if there are no established, firm conditions.
I believe that universal health care without conditions will bankrupt America. There will be immeasurable abuses such as hospital and doctors visits for the least of reasons. Commercials will continue to beckon us to unhealthy ways of life while the government covers the tab. The right hand will see what the left hand is doing while it pays for it.
Please share your thoughts with me.
Will America Be An Enabler Through Health Care?
During these times of campaigning and debates I hear so much talk about universal health care for all Americans. While I agree that those who desire and treasure a happy and healthy lifestyle should have an opportunity to pursue such an objective, I wonder if it can be offered without stipulations or certain conditions. Considering the current lifestyles of most people in our culture if universal health care would be offered, in my view it would be abused and consequently, futile.
Let us consider possible abuses. At the top of the list of abuses are unprotected sex, drugs and smoking cigarettes; conditions that have been proven to be harmful to the health of an individual. Next, consider diet. So many Americans either over eat or eat the wrong foods on a regular basis. Parents condition their kids to fast, unhealthy foods by taking them to a fast food restaurant as a reward for good behavior or good grades. They grow up eating that stuff as a matter of habit. Next, Americans are, for the most part, sedentary and inactive, getting no exercise for their bodies, which contributes to various diseases. In that sedentary condition they watch all manner of violence on the TV that poisons their minds and render them excessively negative, causing all manner of diseases, including stress and high blood pressure. These are a few examples of the abuses we inflict on ourselves. In light of these few examples of unhealthy lifestyles I believe it is ludicrous to offer universal health care. Hospitals and doctors' offices would be flooded by people who's lifestyles are so unhealthy.
I will share with you an extremely painful personal experience that will hopefully, explain what I mean. My youngest of four sons at the age of fifteen decided he would experiment with drugs. As a result of that experiment he was never to be free of drugs again. I became an enabling parent because I used my influence in the communities in which we lived to bail him out of his many, many transgressions. I invested thousands of dollars getting him out all manner of difficulties. Though personally stricken with cancer and being very weak I never missed a day visiting him in jail. I always had the hope that this next deed would get him over his addiction and restore him to the life I hoped he could live. I wont go on and on citing examples of the enabling I afforded him. Suffice it to say that I spent nearly all I had in terms of money, emotion and energy to try to save him. Nothing worked.
In the end I was nearly bankrupt and he was no better. At my wits end I had to turn him into the streets where he lived for another ten years, getting no better, while at the same time using government resources in city after city trying to recover and survive. nothing worked and at the rich age of 36 he overdosed.
Please understand that I am not a doom sayer and the last thing I would want to do is to cast a negative pall over the good we should seek to do for each other in this culture. But I have to believe that if we don't require people to change their lifestyles, America will suffer the same fate that I cite in my one example. I waited too long to set conditions for my son and in the end I was nearly broke and he was in the street living off of the government. I conclude by saying that I was an enabler of the worst kind but I learned one great lesson: we must be held accountable for our actions and no amount of enabling will help if there are no established, firm conditions.
I believe that universal health care without conditions will bankrupt America. There will be immeasurable abuses such as hospital and doctors visits for the least of reasons. Commercials will continue to beckon us to unhealthy ways of life while the government covers the tab. The right hand will see what the left hand is doing while it pays for it.
Please share your thoughts with me.
Posted by: Douglas Roderick Lanier | March 16, 2009 at 12:27 PM