I love oversimplifications. They encourage generalizations. That was one.
In an item I read the other day, a chap from Norway compared his life there to what it was like when he lived in the U.S. for a few years. He noted that he had had heart bypass surgery in Norway that kept him in the hospital and rehab for a few weeks, for which there was no charge. Not unusual in most countries. He complained that they billed him for the parking garage.
He opined that his government provides what people need. People then pay for what they want beyond their needs. A gross generalization, but the point is made.
The end of the year is a time for thinking about the old, contemplating the new, and imagining the what-could-be, a time for generalizations.
Wander with me as I wonder.
What if everyone in our country had access to great healthcare?
Would families with low-income sleep better at night because they know they and their kids would be treated well if they got sick
Would homeless people get the mental health care they need, would it lessen their stress
Would we not be ranked 35th in child mortality
Would we live longer; our average age would not be declining as it did again this year
Would medical care not be a political lightning rod
What if anyone could get a college education, without going into debt? What if those who wanted to learn a trade could do so without going into debt?
Would more people be better educated
Would minorities and low-income people have greater access to advanced education
Would more people become well-trained craftspersons to build and repair our buildings and equipment, make our machines, or run our factories
What if everyone had a decent place to live?
Could more families afford decent places to call home
Would fewer people be forced to sleep on the streets and in camps around our towns and cities, freezing to death in the cold
Could social workers be more effective if their clients were not worrying about where to sleep each evening
What if everyone had as much healthy food as they needed?
Would fewer children go to bed hungry or go to school undernourished
Would families be healthier if they had real food rather than relying on processed food
Would malnutrition be an issue in our country
What if children didn’t fear for their lives when they went to school?
Could parents send their kids to school each morning without wondering if they would ever see them again.
Could fire drills in schools be the norm rather than active shooter drills
Could guns on school campuses be a thing of the past
What if we all had cleaner air to breathe?
Maybe respiratory illnesses would decrease drastically
We could see the mountains surrounding our cities
Clouds of dark smog wouldn’t cover our view of the sky
What if everyone had access to clean water in their homes?
Maybe families could wash dishes without boiling the water first
Maybe families would not have to brush their teeth and shampoo their hair with bottled water
Maybe drinking water from the tap would become the norm again
Maybe people would be healthier
What if our political system worked for the betterment of the people, rather than the daily sound bite and Twitter feed?
Don’t get me started
Aren’t these just the basics we should expect and have for a good life? In many countries, they are considered human rights. (Maybe not the political thing)
Someone is bound to ask – how do we pay for it? Won’t the taxes be too high? Aren’t the taxes already too high? One could also ask the government to spend our tax money on things we need before they spend it on things we want.
Not to overgeneralize but ensuring the basic needs of life for all people isn’t impossible if we want that to be our policy. It isn’t a progressive idea or a socialist idea. It isn’t a liberal or a conservative idea. It’s a humane idea.
Most states and cities decided long ago that we should be a country of the haves and have-nots. We wrote laws to make it such: single-family zoning, separate and unequal schools, excessive regulation, lack of affordable housing, failure to provide clean water, expensive public colleges, unregulated fossil fuel plants, and the like.
It’s not an overgeneralization to say that we can do better!
