Monday, July 18, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
15
JEFF ZUSCHLAG
E-MAIL JEFF AfTJEFFDZ@UMICH.EDU
_~
Health hypocrisy
Amid the illegal fireworks,
trips with the family, and back-
yard bar-
beques on
the Fourth,
there is a com-
mon senti-
ment about
the history of
this country.
Whether it is
the sacrifice MAX
of the soldiers LEVENSTEIN
fighting for
freedom or the
pride we have of being citizens
of this nation, we call ourselves
Americans and we are proud of it.
We are all a part of our coun-
try and share a unity through
this common bond. Our politi-
cians address us not as individu-
als, but by "fellow Americans."
We are a community of people
joined under a common good and
care about our fellow Americans.
Or at least on the Fourth of July.
Fast forward two weeks, past
the glamour of our holiday and
the pressure to act patriotic.
Debates still rage on among the
Republican presidential can-
didates as to who is the most
against the new healthcare plan.
"I will repeal Obamacare," says
Mitt Romney. On the other end,
the Minnesota twin dream team
of Bachmann and Pawlenty think
they would each be better suited
to repeal the terrible govern-
ment takeover of our lives and
let the free market do the work.
So much for caring about fellow
Americans.
I supposeitmayberighttodeny
tens of millions of Americans
access to health care, because
let's face it, if you can't afford it
you don't deserve to be healthy.
We need to stick to the free mar-
ket because it has never steered
us wrong. Money is what really
matters and we cannot afford to
maintain a healthy population if
we want to compete with China.
Unfortunately this sarcasm
isn't shared by Americans
opposed to Obamacare. They put
money before life and the free
market before humanity. Do they
care about others who live in
their country and are also Amer-
ican? I would venture to say they
do, but they are blinded by their
dogmatic political and economic
ideologies.
We have seen decades of proof
that suggests that the health care
industry in America has failed to
live up to the standards that we
require. It is time for a change:
something that not only makes
more economic sense, but is
more consistent with our vision
of what America is. We have to
care about the health of other
Americans and cannot simply
ignore the fact that millions are
undertreated.
Health care is different from
nice cars and fine wine. It is not
something we want to go out
and buy because it will make us,
happy, but something we need to
maintain in order for everything
else to matter. Without a healthy
life, what is there? We must have
a quality and comprehensive
health care system as the first pri-
ority in all policy decisions, never
putting money, tax breaks or
competition with China above it.
Without a
healthy life,
what is there?
Guaranteeing health care for
all Americans is by no means
economic suicide. In fact, of
the dozens of countries that
have successfully implemented
national health care systems, all
spend less per patient compared
to the United States, while still
maintaining the same status of
public health, if not better. There
is a lot of room for improvement
here, all we need to do is take
advantage of this opportunity.
No longer can we call our-
selves "fellow Americans" and
sit back while millions of people
around the country continue to
live unhealthy lives. Let us feel
the comradery that the fourth
of July brings to us. Let us feel
for other Americans who cannot
afford to be as healthy as their
rich peers. People do not deserve
health care because they can
afford it, they deserve it because
anyone who calls themselves an
American deserves the opportu-
nity for a happy and healthy life.
Max Levenstein can be
reached at medl@umich.edu.
Did you read about the study
they recently released saying
that search engines eay he
weakening our memory?
No, but it sounds like
a load of Bs.
Really? Why do you think that is?
Why what is?
Why it's a load of BS?
Why WHAT is
a load of BS?
The study about search engines
and our memory!
Oh, that sounds
interesting. Here,
let me Google it.
Yt UIMA I i Ill L M'3 I- - "-_. I Ill Umfrinj 1____-__ I It .M..,.Ix' - - _ l
Freedom isn't simple
With the coming and goingofthe
Fourth of July, one thing I've been
thinking about
is freedom. As
a twenty-year-
old American
woman, I've had
it pretty cushy.
More than that,
everything I
know about free-
dom has been VANESSA
shaped by every RYCHLINSKI
social studies _______
class I've taken
in every grade since elementary
school. That and bumper stickers. I
recently saw the phrase "Freedom
Isn't Free" slapped onto the back
of a fourteen person SUV - right
in between one equating being pro-
choice to being pro-death, and one
quoting a bible verse about the sanc-
tity of marriage. This five-by-eight
philosophy raised some questions.
Basically, what I really want to
know is - what the hell does any-
one really know?
The recent unrest in the Middle
East and Africa is almost unimagi-
nable. Accounts of governments
firing on their own citizens have
been appalling, but the violence
goes deeper. A June 16 CNN arti-
cle claims that soldiers loyal to
the Gaddafi regime have been tor-
turing prisoners, and there's cell
phone video to prove it. One alleg-
edly depicts soldiers sodomizing a
Libyan woman with a broomstick.
Libyan rebels claim that they have
a number of phones in their posses-
sion with similar recordings.
Then there's the plight of
Iman al-Obeidi, a lawyer who
was detained before being gang-
raped for two days by members of
Gaddafi's militia. After escaping,
al-Obeidi attempted to talk to for-
eign journalists in a Tripoli hotel,
only to be dragged away by hotel
staff and government personnel.
According to a March 27 Washing-
ton Post article, in a phone call to
al-Obeidi's mother, Libyan govern-
ment officials told her that if her
daughter reneged on all her claims,
they would provide her with "any-
thing she wanted." Al-Obeidi told
her mother, "I will die rather than
change my words."
Though there are more stories
arising from this conflict, these are
the two that get to me the most. The
Libyan people are collectively pay-
ing a high price in both happinness
and dignity - while most inthe U.S.
only have to deal with the high price
of gas.
As a student at the University of
Michigan, I've had it pretty easy.
Students have several great forums
in which to publicize pet issues. The
recent smoking ban is more of an
exercise in futility than a limit on
personal freedom - any official of
a learning institution ought to know
that we've all been taught to resist
"peer pressure." There's some kind
of organization to cater to almost
any student's interests or back-
ground - whatever issue gets your
goat, you're free to grandstand in
the Diag. Though tuition isn't free,
every day we have the opportunity
to make the choices indicative of
our true selves - from the clothes
we wear to the opinions we hold.
Back in February, I was annoyed at
a Facebook event page for an"Egypt
Liberation" themed rave. In May, I
was uncomfortable that students
partied in front of the White House
when Bin Laden was shot. Last
week, I was angered by a new blog
devoted to this current age of revo-
lution, cutely named Revolt Riot,
which sells clothing.
Getting to the point here, my
personal philosophy for situations
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
involving school, work, family and
even romantic relationships is that
if it isn't challenging, it isn't worth
pursuing. Anything ofvalue is going
to be difficult - the worth of any-
thing is measured by how much
bullshit you're willing to endure,
or in how many quarts of the pro-
verbial blood, sweat and tears you
can afford to lose. The triumph
of climbing a mountain lies in its
size - the payoff of the trek is the
What the hell
does anyone
really know?
view from the peak. My thoughts
move here from mountains to clubs,
White House merrymaking and
tasteless t-shirts. I'm not sure how
entitled I am to make any sort of
judgment here. I could easily exer-
cise my uncultivated, unearned
freedom in the same ways - I'm
just as free as any other American to
attend a rave, celebrate the death of
a terrorist or buy a "Keep Calm and
Riot On" wristband. I am a young
woman living in the freest nation
in the world, attending one of the
most accommodating schools in the
country, and yet I have not strug-
gled for any of it. Al-Obeidi would
rather die than change her words -
to me, "changing my words" means
editing this column. Freedom is not
free, so the stickers say, and I know
it is worth something, a big some-
thing. But what do I really know if I
haven't struggled for it?
Vanessa Rychlinski can be
reached at vanrych@umich.edu.
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