Pointless Violence
by C.A. Matthews
Is there any use writing about the impeachment trial that's come and gone in record time? We all knew what the outcome would be before it began, so there's no real need to waste words on it, is there? It's time to concentrate energy on things that matter to us, the working people of this great land.
A recent study determined that forty percent of all Covid-19 deaths in the US could have been prevented. Yes, prevented. There was no need for so many American families to lose so many loved ones. Our alleged public servants simply lied and fudged the numbers instead of spending their time and energy on sharing life-saving information with us in a timely manner so we all could have dealt better with this pandemic and suffered a minimal loss of life.
Our country's ham-fisted handling of the coronavirus threat is a perfect example of pointless violence being committed against the population. Yes, violence as in needless deaths and pointlessas in there was absolutely no point in our government treating its citizens so abysmally. If the public's health and well-being had been put ahead of "the economy," or large corporations' profits, we wouldn't have lost over 188,000 human beings needlessly and destroyed the happiness of millions of others.
According to Paul Blest of VICE News:
The Lancet report alleges that Trump’s impact on public health was disastrous even before the pandemic. There were 22,000 extra deaths related to environmental and occupational factors in 2019 than there were in the last year of former President Barack Obama’s presidency, which the commission attributes to federal regulatory rollbacks.
But the report’s authors say the problem goes way beyond just the former president.
“We started out really looking at what Trump had done, and he has certainly done a lot wrong,” Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, another lead author on the report and a distinguished professor at the Hunter College School of Public Health, told VICE News. “But we looked at the health of the American people...and what we found is that it’s been four decades of government failure to support policies that support human health.”
The authors suggest an overhaul in the country’s public health infrastructure to fix the problem. In addition to giving the CDC more tools to fight systemic racism, they recommend transitioning to a Medicare for All system like the one championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The experts are clear. There has been "four decades of government failure to support policies that support human health." There was no point to this violence of ignoring the public's health and safety during this pandemic other than to make wealthy people even wealthier by denying us an adequate public health infrastructure and not fighting systemic racism.
Lee Camp considers the problem--and its solution-- in his opening monologue:
https://youtu.be/ENZqMYzaqvc
Our capitalist system's worst sins could be lessened simply by taxing and then redistributing the billions of dollars sitting in billionaires' bank accounts to the rest of us, leaving these hoarders with ten million dollars each. Our government would have no more excuses for not providing health care or an adequate education free for all Americans once this hoarded money is released into circulation.
Why won't our elected representatives promote this fair and equitable plan to help 99.9% of Americans, especially the most struggling? Could it be career politicians take their orders from these same undertaxed billionaires and their corporations? Could it be they don't care what pointless violence is brought upon us, the workers, as long as they please their corporate paymasters and are rewarded in turn?
As we wait in hope for the long promised $2,000 stimulus check--bargained down to only $1,400--to arrive so we can cover our past due rent, let's not forget how we got into this mess. As we wait for Medicare For All to be passed into law so we no longer go bankrupt whenever huge medical bills arrive, let's not forget who made us suffer the loss of our homes and so many of our loved ones.
Above all, let's not remain quiet any longer. Let's make our point loud and clear that we're not going to stand for such pointless violence being perpetrated against us ever again. We need to voice our anger to everyone in public office, at all levels of government. The politicians have made it crystal clear they can't be bothered to stand up for our rights, haven't they? It's high time they understood how serious a crime it is to deny life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to the majority.
Related Articles:
Here's How Many Deaths We Can Blame On Trump's Terrible Response
This post first appeared on Our Revolution Continues -- The Bernie, please read the originial post: here
