by Carla Sutherland

Created on: August 22, 2009   Last Updated: August 23, 2009

The United States of America, the land of opportunity, where everyone is treated equally and where freedom prevails.... Such was the dream of the country's founding fathers. Centuries later it is still just that: a dream. Instead the United States of America is a land where being healthy or staying healthy isn't a right, but a privilege for those that can afford it. For those that can't afford it, too bad. The United States of America is a land where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The poor most often suffer the consequences of the mistakes of the rich. The United States of America is a land where freedoms are lost for the illusion of security. Holding people indefinitely and without charge, a tactic well practiced in Nazi Germany, thrives and grows under the Obama administration. The United States of America is a land where its political leaders act as many stage magicians do, distracting with one hand while pursuing tricks with the other. Breaking laws and lying while under oath, or refusing to go under oath in order to avoid prosecution is just one of the many tactics.

How is it that this can continue to go on? Or more to the point, why can't anything be done about it? Governments are supposed to protect the people they govern, yet denying them affordable healthcare, stealing their hard earned money to fill the wallets and bonus cheques of CEOs of large companies, hiring expensive private military firms to do the same jobs that the armed forces of which some are blackmailed and guilt-tripped to get into, is not how a government is to take care of its people.

I realize that I'm ranting, but let's look at the facts. Affordable universal health care is pretty much off the table in the White House. Those against it claim that universal health care programs such as those used in Canada and many countries throughout Europe removes a patient's right to choice and harms more people than it helps. Affordable prescription drugs are also a threat to the American people. But these are all false statements and nothing but rhetoric designed to promote fear in the minds of the average American. The real fear is what the health insurance companies and pharmecutical companies have for healthcare systems such as those in Canada and Europe. Under these programs, health insurance and pharmecutical companies are kept under a watchful eye of the governments to be sure that they are not fleecing the general public with outrageous prices and fees. They

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