Yesterday I watched SiCKO with my friend. I have never cried so much in a movie in my entire life. I am so frustrated not just with the politics of this country right now but everything in general. Gore is right, we are as a nation more concerned about how drunk Paris Hilton got than actually caring about the general welfare of our society as a whole.
2008 is the final election for me, if we can't bring real change to this country by then, we may never. This experiment called democracy is still new to our country. People have given up, they don't believe that those in power will actually do what they are supposed to. That they will actually fight for those in the bottom.
People in power, in America take care of themselves.
We are afraid, we don't speak up. We are afraid to protest, to dissent. Not as a online community certainly not, but as a country by all means yes. What kind of democracy are we? What kind of a people are we?
I don't know anymore.
We are one of the most diverse places in the world, we have done great things. We have freed people, we have ended fascism, we have landed on the moon, but we can't get this right?
It's not just up to me though, it's up to you. It's up to all of us to collectively band together for our future, for our children's future. Is this the America you want you kids growing up in? Is this the America you want you grand kids growing up in? The kind of America that is more concerned about making an extra buck than to feed the homeless?
This is not the America that I want my 6 month old son growing up in. So, I sat in the theatre after watching SiCKO letting everyone else leave thinking do I stay and fight or do I leave and find a better place?
I don't know.
I do know, that something must change. We are going in a very dangerous direction as a country, as a "democracy". We have let the corporations and the free market that I believe in take over our government. We can have enterprise, but we need restraint.
Is letting people die because they can't afford health care worth your Iphone? Is it worth your fascination with Paris Hilton? We are better than this, we are better.
To the point of the title of this post today, If Gore doesn't run and I have to choose a candidate it will be John Edwards. I love Barack Obama, I think he was right to oppose the war from the start. I don't have anything to say bad about him. I think he will be President someday. But I want true universal health care.
It's a moral issue.
People shouldn't have to choose between life and death because they can't afford health care. We are a wealthy nation, but our wealth today is consumed by greed. We must have universal health care, we must make poverty history. We can't even begin to solve the problems overseas if we can't solve our problems here at home.
This is the moment in our history where we see who we are as a nation, who we are as a society. Will we let millions of Americans, Men, Women, Children, fall through the cracks of our health care system? How many people have to die because of poverty and lack of health coverage in this country?
I recommend everyone to watch this movie, today I am watching it again and taking as many people as I can find to go with me. Do the same, demand change and protest. Enough is enough already, we need real change.
People shouldn't be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people.