Thursday, June 14, 2007
Michael Moore
I know it’s fashionable to sneer at Michael Moore, but watching him speak to the CA legislature shows an activist who has come a long way toward focusing his message, this time about our criminal healthcare system. You can read the transcript at Democracy Now.
That is the system that we have. The reason why, as our friend here said, the reason why we have to eliminate health insurance companies, I mean, they literally have to be removed from the equation, the reason for this is that there is no room for them. Because there should never be room for the word “profit” when you are trying to make a decision whether or not to provide somebody care when they get sick. Bottom line. You can never allow this to happen. They can’t make a profit unless they deny care, unless they deny claims, unless they keep people off the rolls who have preexisting conditions or kick people off the rolls who have diseases that become too expensive for them. They can’t make a profit.
So, let me just pause for a second and say something on behalf of the health insurance corporations in America. Our laws state very clearly that they have a legal fiduciary responsibility to maximize profits for the shareholders. If they don’t do that, they could be put in jail. They’re required by law to turn as big a profit as they can. And the only way that can turn the big profit is to not pay out the money, is to not provide the care.
Here is video of part one of his speech:
Part two if you click “more”.
What is wrong with us? That’s not who we are, that’s not what we used to be about! This every man for himself attitude, pull yourself up by your bootstraps. You got your problems, I got mine. Don’t bother me. This Me, me, me. That’s not how they exist in these other countries – in Canada, Britain, Ireland, France, these other places. They believe in we, we. They believe we’re all in the same boat and we sink or swim together. They believe that if too many people fall between the cracks, their society suffers as a result of it. What happened to us? I think we used to believe that somewhere along the line, somewhere way, way back.
Well, I’d quibble with the idea that this isn’t what we’ve always been about ... but it is smart to play on what people THINK we’re about, our beloved Norman Rockwell myths. It’s a cracked mirror, but it’s a mirror nonetheless.
I don’t know that I can work up much hope for change anytime soon, but pressure is building. It is good, it is encouraging, to see more and more people fed up with the way things work, the institutionalized imbalances that cause needless suffering and death, the continuation of the exploitation of the many for the enrichment of the few.
Sneer at him, as so many do, but he’s at least raised some questions over the din of corporate cash and empty celebrity gossip and overblown fearmongering. I look forward to seeing Sicko. Perhaps it will help give the people a fighting chance ... it certainly couldn’t make things much worse than they already are.