I heard something on the radio today that made me think about how we look at ourselves as Americans. A radio host on a progressive station talked about the health care debate. A caller with conservative leanings came on and was upset about the bashing the host was doing about America. In truth, the host did nothing of the sort but the caller tried to push his theory, even to the point of getting the host to say that America had the best health care system in the world.

The exchange went on for a good amount of time and I have heard these arguments before. Because I was trapped in traffic I think that allowed me to think about what motivated the caller and it got me thinking about the conservative view of liberals bashing America.

In truth the fact that liberals can ‘bash’ America is testament to the good in America. We are allowed to disagree with policies and laws, as long as we do it in a civil manner. What many fail to realize is something can be great but flawed. Actually, let’s not say flawed but it can be different in different situations.

I remember when there was this 60 Minutes report, it must have been in the early 80s, about how an immigrant from Cambodia came to the United States and within seven years had his own grocery store. To see the result it would seem anyone with hard work could meet those same goals, but you would have to understand what he went through to get to the goal of the grocery store. The man lived with seven other men in a one bedroom apartment in New York. They had a steady diet of rice and noodles. He had two or three jobs and maybe got four hours of sleep a day. He did this for seven years to earn enough money to get the business.

While I know many people talk about people lifting themselves up by their bootstraps I don’t know of many who would go to extremes to reach their dreams. I don’t know many who would make changes to make ends meet.

Now, this guy was able to get his dream but I doubt many Americans would make the sacrifices needed to do what he did. When I got out here I ended up living in a rented room, something I never would have done in the past. Looking back I should have saved a lot of money considering I wasn’t paying for a lot of things but I was keeping my head above water. Right now I’m in financial straits and I have found ways to cut costs, but I haven’t made the sacrifices the Cambodian did.

The question kind of comes to should I have to make such sacrifices to survive in our society and is that right?

We get into a situation where we become afraid to admit even though we are a great nation we have problems. We don’t want to acknowledge as good as the system is there are flaws. We have the best health care system in the world, but if you can’t afford it, you’re not going to get it. My parents have told me, because of the health history of our family, I should start getting colon tests for cancer. With the diabetes I have I should have regular checkups with doctors. I don’t have the money for that, nor the insurance or the money to pay for the insurance. OK we have great doctors but if I can’t get to one, what does it matter if it’s the best? I remember when Rush Limbaugh went to the hospital during the winter and he talked about how great health care was in this country. Well of course it’s great if you have the money for it. Many folks don’t and frankly they would be surprised at how out of they are if they had to test their health care coverage.

The issue we face and it’s not just with health care is how much are we really willing to sacrifice to get our dream. I saw a woman the other day with a broken up car; dents in the side, a rope holding down the hood. She was using what she had to get to where she had to do. I doubt she felt proud or very safe driving around in the car. I bet, at some point, she will get stopped by the police and will probably be ticketed. She’s doing what she can to survive yet the odds are she’s going to get harassed and put in a worse situation with the removal of her car. When that happens, is she going to be more or less willing to support the system?

We tend to be law abiding people until the law goes against us. We are willing to pay our fair share of taxes but when we hear of corporations paying 5% of taxes, when we hear about rich people using loopholes and accounting tricks to lower their taxes while we have to pay full price, we start to think what’s the point in being a law abiding person. We begin to feel the only way to be heard is to lash out against the system.

What gets me about the people who can be against health care or just to put this in its basic observation, helping their fellow human being, is that they are so sure of maintaining their status they are willing to hold it without any regard they may need it in the future. When I lost my job I lost health insurance. I didn’t think much about health care until I got sick. Yes I was like most Americans. I also didn’t think too much of the $20000 bill that I only had to pay $400 because of insurance. When I did think about it was when I was out of the hospital. I thought about it when I had to get the initial medication and I spent $80 out of a $400 bill (yes most was covered by insurance) but I had to cut into my expenses to get the $80. I thought about it the next month when I still hadn’t been able to get fitted into a schedule for a doctor to see me, so I didn’t have the prescription to get the insurance discount so I had to start looking at the over the counter glucose monitoring and maintaining tools. When I lost my job I was told I could get COBRA for medical insurance, but that was $300 a month, which was ironic that I had to pay for insurance after I lost my job and the likelihood was once I got another job I would get denied insurance because now I had a preexisting condition.

Yes, those are things not thought about if you have a job, healthy and figure you will never get to the point of those poor souls you see on the street. People stubbornly hold onto this idea until they find themselves caught in the mess, then they want someone to help and they get the same holier than thou attitude they put on others.