I contend that the events of 9/11 were an act of symbolic aggression.  If al-Quaeda (or whoever else) wants to disrupt Americans’ daily lives and instill fear among us, they would have done better and saved a lot of money simply by sending their 19 hijackers into 19 different American cities and towns and having them detonate in buses, public markets and subway cars.  There would be no stopping such a tactic.  Ask Britain or Israel.

In 2009, death counts as a pre-existing condition

If the biblical story of Lazarus took place in the United States in 2009, it would go a bit differently. For starters, Jesus would need to run some tests and make sure the boy’s really dead. Lazarus and his family will receive a separate bill for each test, all of which confirm what they already knew — he was, in fact, dead.

Next, Jesus asks the boy’s family how they intend to pay for the necessary procedures. Lazarus’ father gets insurance through his job, but the Son of God is out of network. So Jesus writes a strongly worded letter to the insurer. They refuse again. Death counts as a pre-existing condition. Lazarus’ family will have to pay out of pocket. To prove their good faith, our Lord and Savior asks them to pay some cash up front.

At great cost, Jesus performs the procedure and Lazarus awakens, only to feel guilty for being alive at all – his family is saddled with debt and routinely harassed by a collection agency.

Now, if you can understand what makes this story particularly blasphemous, you get the point. Republicans, typically over-eager to invoke the name of Christ and declare a mission in His name, on issues ranging from marriage rights and family planning to declaring a candidate fit for public office have been giving Him a curious silent treatment. Anyone familiar with the shouting match over health care reform might have noticed that the halls of Congress no longer echo with the righteousness of His cause.

When it comes to universal, guaranteed health coverage for all Americans, the self-styled party of Judeo-Christian moral correctness has no Judeo-Christian moral argument for upholding the status quo, roughly 50 million Americans uninsured and countless others denied services they thought they were paying for.

The Republican party has turned away from its Christian-based moral messages because any half-way intelligent American knows Jesus wouldn’t approve of an insurer-based system that places profitability ahead of the people in need. Instead Americans are told by Congressman Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, “We want to give them [the uninsured] the dignity of private health insurance that everybody else in America is enjoying.”

The Republican moral argument is based on providing a Americans with a sense of “dignity.” Rep. Ryan says it comes from the ability to purchase a product “everyone else” has. He left out the dignity we all feel when entering an emergency room and being immediately asked financial questions, or the great dignity that comes with being denied a claim. More interestingly, Rep. Ryan’s statement suggests a belief that American moral values are based on keeping up with the Joneses. These strong moral values come from a man who voted for Christian Coalition-supported items 90 percent of the time in 2007-2008 – that’s down from 100 percent in 2002.

In abandoning Christian-values talking points, Republicans instead tell us it’s too expensive and will lead to more government debt. Why weren’t these same lawmakers — and protesters — worried about fiscal responsibility when the United States rushed headlong into invading Afghanistan and Iraq? Four thousand dead soldiers and, according to the Washington Post, more than $3 trillion dollars later, one should wonder what our humble Lord and Savior must think of a government that commits so many public funds to the bombing of Afghani wedding parties while denying basic health care to a significant portion of the population?

Even if we found a way to pay for a universal, government-provided system of coverage, Americans were told by Republican party chair Michael Steele that it would smack of “socialism.” (Whatever that even means in 2009.) If publicly funded services equate to socialism then Mr. Steele no doubt intends to stop driving on the Interstate and let his home burn down should it ever catch fire. Based on his statements, dialing 9-1-1 for police and fire protection sounds like a scheme masterminded by Hugo Chavez himself! Of course, Mr. Steele has not sought to end farm subsidies or close national parks, public schools or libraries, so I guess he’s a socialist too!

This whole Republican concept of “big government” is selective, to say the least. Where was the rending of garments and gnashing of teeth over President Bush? He oversaw the largest government expansion of my lifetime, creating the curiously named Department of Homeland Security. And where is Mr. Steele, or his opponent for the hearts and minds of conservative Americans, Rush Limbaugh, in decrying the approximately 800 US military facilities located around the globe? It’s tough to see how government can get much bigger than that.

While there are valid arguments against universal, single-payer health care, those put forth by the GOP seem disingenuous in light of the party’s stances on other issues. What should be most appalling, however, is the way it casually drops all pretexts of being the party of Christian values. In doing so, the party displays arrogance and callous disregard for the deeply held beliefs of its most loyal constituents, somehow convincing many of them to support a cause antithetical to the teachings of Christ himself. Perhaps more puzzling, they see political capital in denying Americans the right of access to quality medicine.

At the Mayborn Literary-Nonfiction Conference this past weekend, I sat in on a presentation/lecture from Joy Sewing, a fashion reporter at the Houston Chronicle. After showing us (with some small amount of embarrassment) how newspapers have become increasingly trivial in their content through the embracing of top-10 lists and shopping suggestions, she dropped this little gem:

If Macy’s buys an ad then guess what?  Macy’s is in my story.

In a room of reporters and non-fiction writers, nobody but me and a friend thought the admission strange.  We looked around in amazement, marveling at the passive acceptance of this reality.  During Q&A, nobody brought it up.  We all know it goes on, but to hear it said out loud, unlamented and unquestioned was upsetting to both me and my friend.

(On a side note, props to This American Life’s Ira Glass for an amazing presentation after dinner.  He put a lot of work into what could have been a simple speech.  Instead he gave us a private version of his radio show, complete with audio clips and music, and all perfectly executed on two switch-boards by the man as he talked.)

Figure 7: CEOs’ average pay, production workers’ average pay, the S&P 500 Index, corporate profits, and the federal minimum wage, 1990-2005 (all figures adjusted for inflation)

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Then he lays down these points that sound good, but not the way he means them. As a bonus, he gives us the Boy Scout Law in a sidebar!  A revolution for sure!  Here are the nine points with my commentary in bold:

1. America is good.  That’s why we forcibly invade countries like Iraq and commit torture against foreign nationals.  In fact, it’s so good, 40 million of our citizens can’t afford health care!

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.  Gee whiz!  If everyone else in America sees that I believe God, we’ll take down those nasty ol’ communists for sure!

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.  Then you’d have to stop believing in point number one.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.  But if the government says your boys and girls need to die in Iraq, stop asking questions.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.  Then why aren’t you pushing to have Bush and Cheney, as well as their administrations, indicted for their roles in torturing foreign nationals?

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.  Translation: Those commies will all force us to have life and liberty, but what if I don’t want ‘em!?

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable. This is anti-health care propaganda, framing the argument as “forced charity” instead of every citizen’s right to life, which he says we have in point six.  Cognitive dissonance, anyone?

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.  Unless you think we should withdraw from Iraq.  Then you keep your mouth shut and put on this flag pin.

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.  Let’s hope the government never answers to Glenn Beck

The Republican diehards may be a shrinking crowd in the US, but they sure are tenacious.  It’s old news, but somehow, people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, despite providing no evidence, have convinced these people that “liberals” and the “liberal media” are coming to take away their Constitutional rights.
My  mother, one of these diehards, called last night to tell me all about the so-called “tea party” she attended in Charlotte. She sent me the above picture, in which, amazingly, someone said, “Can I trade my new Obama for a used Bush?”

That should tell you how ignorant 25 percent of Americans can be.  But in case you still need proof, here’s a snippet of the conversation I had with my mom.

My mother: “These people [liberals] want to take away our freedoms and constitutional rights. They rush through legislation so quickly that nobody can read it.”

Me: “You mean like the Patriot Act?” Mother:

“What are you talking about? How did that take away our rights? Did they rush that through?”

Today he sent my brother and I an email and I felt compelled to post it here myself, complete and unedited.

May we all appreciate those who bring us happiness, no matter their age.:

There in the compound, since moving in, has been the cutest little four year old boy. I learned his name once or twice, but because of it’s Indian dialect, pronounciation would escape my tonguge before I could sound out the first vowel.

Everyday upon getting off the bus and returning to the compound, the little fella would be there to greet me. The youngest son of our compound manager, Katar…    often times I would entice the boy to my door step so he could pet Maggie. He was so scared of Maggie. I even got him to walk her about the compound, reassuring him he would be rewarded with my usual bribe…  chocolate bars…

Last night around 7:30 PM my phone rang. It was my friend Fred. He sounded beat up and distant, yet managed to explain to me that there was some bad news. He followed on with the saddest words I have heard in my life. My little candy bar buddy had fallen into our compound pool and drown…

I told myself when I got home, to go jump into the pool for a dip. I had been in for ninety minutes just the day before. It was cold for the average thin blooded Arab. Some 67 degrees. But, with my lining of fat it was but brisk. If only I had taken that dip, perhaps this tragedy may of not unfolded. It haunted me all night and has depressed me deeply. Oh the pain poor Kartar must be going through…  he drown just shortly after I got home from work…

I have two sons and wish in my life that they outlive me my many a decade.

My heart is with you boys today.

Dad

I recall as a young teen, when my family moved from a small Rhode Island town, with no big box stores, to the St. Louis metro area and then to Charlotte, NC, when it was the fastest growing city in the US.  Everywhere we looked we saw new retail chain stores and restaurants and suburban sprawl, growing growing growing.  I’d never seen anything like it before.  It was like some kind of weird retail Disneyland.  We would go to Best Buy in our Sunday best.

Meanwhile, developers were pouring their beer too quickly and that was the foam forming.  Think about it, how many Wal-Marts are necessary in a rural county?  How many Chili’s restaurants?  And why was there so much demand for bland food and cheaply made products?  Now the curtain has been pulled back and we can see that this retail fantasy was just that.

What’s happening?  I call it the Great Contraction.  Here is one sign of it:  Deadmalls.com. The folks at Deadmalls.com will be updating their site quite frequently in the near future, I think.

But it will affect more than shopping malls.  Think of all the things that Americans complain have gotten too expensive.  Tickets to movies and sporting events are the two things that come to mind. What family will be able to afford nine dollars per ticket for an evening at the cinema, plus four-dollar sodas for everybody?  People will stay at home, as they have already begun doing for the last decade, and enjoy their flat-screen TVs and surround sound systems that they also acquired with the same easy credit.

And what about sports?  Who will be able to justify $400/game for season tickets in the new Dallas Cowboys stadium (or anywhere else, for that matter)?  Jerry Jones just gambled on the easy credit economy and lost big time.  He built more luxury boxes than Texas Stadium had, but what companies can afford to buy them?  How can it be justified if they are receiving bailouts or TARP money?  Same with the new Yankee Stadium in New York.

Everything Americans spent money on was a bubble of its own, just a little bubble in the big head of foam that is now going flat.

The saddest part is, it’s  not even  shocking.  I think somewhere along the way Congress entered what Bill Simmons calls the Tyson Zone:  Nothing any member of the House or Senate does would really surprise me at this point (especially with Limbaugh running the show for the Republicans, eesh!)

Dear IRS,

I am sorry to inform you that I will not be able to pay taxes owed April 15, but all is not lost.

I have paid these taxes: accounts receivable tax, building permit tax, CDL tax, cigarette tax, corporate income tax, dog license tax, federal income tax, unemployment tax, gasoline tax, hunting license tax, fishing license tax, waterfowl stamp tax, inheritance tax, inventory tax, liquor tax, luxury tax, Medicare tax, city, school and county property tax (up 33 percent last 4 years), real estate tax, social security tax, road usage tax, toll road tax, state and city sales tax, recreational vehicle tax, state franchise tax, state unemployment tax, telephone federal excise tax, telephone federal state and local surcharge tax, telephone minimum usage surcharge tax, telephone state and local tax, utility tax, vehicle license registration tax, capitol gains tax, lease severance tax, oil and gas assessment tax, Colorado property tax, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma and New Mexico sales tax, and many more that I can’t recall but I have run out of space and money.

When you do not receive my check April 15, just know that it is an honest mistake. Please treat me the same way you treated Congressmen Charles Rangle, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and ex-Congressman Tom Dashelle and, of course, your boss Timothy Geithner. No penalties and no interest.

P.S. I will make at least a partial payment as soon as I get my stimulus check.

Ed Barnett

Wichita Falls