If you had paid attention at all to the happenings in DC the past week, you'd know that the hot-button issue has been Immigration Reform. Well, at least it was, since the bill was attempting it got shot down in flames, hardcore.
There was another issue that got some press, mainly because some fat guy in a baseball cap made a movie about it. Yup, Michael Moore sparked some talk about our nation's problematic health care system with his new movie Sicko. However, this discussion was limited basically to magazine writers and newspaper columnists who filled op-ed pages, pushing an agenda one way or another (I'm not naming sides here).
My point is this: while immigration has been the number one priority issue, it has unfairly relegated the more important problem of health care to the backburner. But Nic, you say, the Mexicans are invading our country! We are at risk! How can you say that health care is more important? Well, I can point it out with just plain numbers. The number of illegal immigrants in this country is around 12 million, while the number of uninsured Americans is close to 45 million, nearly 4 times as much. And that doesn't even take into the count the tens of millions of others that have had to navigate the nightmare of making do with atrocious coverage. It's a simplistic view, yes, but it should put the problem into perspective.
And perspective is a huge problem with these issue. So over the next two days I'm going to look at these issues in-depth, and while not offering any dramatic solutions (I am only slightly educated), it should serve as a better primer for discussing these contentious issues.
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming: juvenile humour.
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