American Escape?

American-style democracy: The voters can almost unfailingly be counted on to vote against their own interests.

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(Pender Island, British Columbia) - A few years ago I had a TIA—Transient Ischemic Attack—or mini-stroke. An ambulance arrived a few minutes later and I was transported to the Foothills Hospital in Calgary. (My out-of-pocket cost for this trip was $110 although I didn’t have to pay it until later.)

At the hospital a few hours later I had an MRI. I was in hospital for a total of five days. I did not have to pay anything for this—my out-of-pocket cost was $0. There was no deductible or co-pay.

It’s called “universal health care”. Health care in the United States remains the most expensive in the world, and coverage remains out of the financial reach of many Americans.

The Republican goal of repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (although they won’t be honest enough to admit it) is to reduce or deny health care to millions of their fellow citizens—even many who vote republican.

This is one of the reasons I don’t believe in democracy—particularly American-style democracy. The voters can almost unfailingly be counted on to vote against their own interests. Just pretend it has something to do with freedom, liberty, independence, choice or free will.

In my last article, “American Militarism” (salem-news.com/articles/march222017/american-militarism-dj.php), I learned that some individuals who were wrongfully wounded by police action were subsequently given financial settlements of several million dollars. Much of the settlements were eaten up by lawyers.

These are people who were given tickets to freedom if they could have only recognized them. They were given the economic freedom to escape to civilized nations like Canada, the U.K., France, Norway or Sweden, to name only a few.