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Why stop at HealthCare?
Must-see television tonight will
not be a sitcom, a comedy or a reality show, it will be Obama TV. With the
Administration, the media and virtually the entire country preoccupied with
the HealthCare bill slogging its way through Congress, President Obama will
deliver his "new-and-improved" HealthCare pitch to the nation.
But if Obama truly wants to be
a revolutionary leader, he should not overlook other major issues plaguing our people. After
he installs nationalized HealthCare, there are many other programs he might consider
adding. Why should Obama stop with Government HealthCare?
health care, but you can’t live without food. What is Congress doing about
making sure that every American has three meals a day?
program. But it’s complicated and doesn’t cover everybody. If you’re talking
about “rights” instead of privileges, I would think “food” would be on top of the
list.
So I propose FoodCare, an essential
government service to make sure that no American goes hungry. Naturally, we
would want to keep the cost as low as possible and avoid the paperwork that is
strangling the food-stamp program. So I propose a flat monthly food allowance
for every American.
Nothing fancy, of course. Checking
the cost of hot dogs, hamburgers, macaroni & cheese and canned corn, I
figure about $6.50 a day should do it. Rounding things off, that’s $200 the
FoodCare Administration could send in the form of a check once a month to every
American. It’s a right, not a privilege.
Then there’s the weather which we
can’t do anything about. But what we can do something about is to make sure
every American has a roof over his or her head. What’s the use of a full
stomach if you’re freezing to death or catching pneumonia in the rain?
So I propose ShelterCare, a program
to make sure every American has not only a place to live, but also a place to
eat his or her macaroni & cheese in decent surroundings.
What would that cost, you might be
thinking. It’s true that house costs vary considerably from region to region
and it’s also true that some ShelterCare recipients would have to move out of
expensive places like New York and San Francisco, but that might be a good
thing, too, in terms of reducing overcrowding.
Here in Atlanta, a family of four
can find an apartment (on the Spartan side, to be sure) for about $1,000 a
month. So perhaps the ShelterCare Administration can send every person a $250
check once a month to handle things. Remember: It’s a right, not a privilege.
It’s comforting to think that the HealthCare Administration will be taking care
of your medical needs, but what if you have no clothes? What would you wear
when you went to see the doctor?
To solve that problem, I propose
ClothesCare, a program to make sure every American has enough clothes to wear. Especially
when they go to see a doctor. The ClothesCare Administration could be set up to
search for less-expensive alternatives to Nordstrom and Saks, much like the
Food & Drug Administration strives to promote generic alternatives to
name-brand prescription drugs.
You’re not an animal. You can’t
live your life naked. Clothes are a right, not a privilege.
term. What’s the one thing a country needs if that country is going to have a
future?
Right, children. Any slacking off
in procreation is bound to have a deteriorating effect on the future of America.
The new administration in Japan, for example, has promised to give families
cash handouts of $270 per month per child.
So I propose something similar,
ChildCare. Since things are less expensive here than they are in Japan, I would
cut the subsidy for a taxpayer-in-training to $200 a month. That will still buy
plenty of peanut butter to keep a kid alive and happy.
Then there’s information, the life
blood of a democracy. Without an open government and the free flow information
between the government and its citizens, democracy would be impossible.
But there’s a problem. Newspapers
are going bankrupt. Magazines are being shut down. Radio stations are fading
out. Because of the Internet, radio and television outlets face an uncertain
future.
Information is still available, but
today you need a computer and a broadband connection to stay on top of the
news. And that’s a problem for some families.
So I propose ComputerCare, a
program to provide every family with a relatively inexpensive netbook (around
$300) and a monthly stipend to handle the telecom charges.
What would that cost? The first
year ($300 plus $20 a month) would cost $540. The savings would start in the
second year when the ComputerCare Administration would only have to issue $240
checks, plus cost-of-living adjustments, of course.
This is getting complicated.
Perhaps we should get people to watch over all of these new agencies and
programs. I suggest we install another agency to manage all the other agencies.
We can called it PeopleCare. Motto: "These are your rights, not your privileges."
Of course, we'll need to install an ObamaCare Czar to watch
over PeopleCare to make sure it is properly “caring” for all the people in the
United States of America.