Do-nothing politicians are worse than worthless to us

“The best way for evil to triumph is for all good men to do nothing.” — Sir Edmund Burke

Judy Rabideau, one of the earliest friends of Townbroadcast when it was launched more than nine years ago, is the latest example of what presidential candidate Ross Perot 30 years ago said, “Now y’see. That’s what’s wrong with this country.”

The former Judy Morgenstern, who regards herself as the Libtard of her longtime Wayland family, recently fell on hard times with a cancer diagnosis and is being advised to avail herself of the services of Hospice. Even worse, because of the cumbersome and unfair health care system we have in the United States, she has become a pauper.

Judy has had several surgeries and hospital stays, so is battling the system just to get decent care. A 1965 Wayland High School graduate, she worked so many years in blue collar jobs, was a single mom and now is retired, only to face economic ruin and poor health.

Rather than just seek thoughts and prayers, family members, notably daughter Jennifer Hicks, has organized America’s most commonly used system to pay for health care these days — GoFundMe.

Jennifer has posted on Facebook:

“As most of you know, my Mom received a devastating cancer diagnosis in early April. She was hospitalized with septic shock from April 2 to April 13, secondary to a rectal mass.

“Once discharged, she went to the Laurels of Sandy Creek. On April 30 she discharged home and was doing well for the first two weeks. She started getting weak again and just not feeling well.

“She had a fall June 16 that landed her back in Metro Hospital. It was determined that she had an infection in her bloodstream again. On top of the infection she now has added diagnosis affecting her heart, among other things.

“Doctors have told Mom she has to go back to a skilled acute rehab to build strength. Once Mom has gotten stronger and other medical conditions are evaluated she may be eligible to resume chemotherapy. Good news is Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids has a bed for her. Bad news is Mom did not meet her 60 wellness days required by Medicare.

“Long story short: Because she was sick and had to be hospitalized again, she must now meet co-pays. Her daily co-pay at MFB is $185. Before they will admit her there, she must pay two weeks worth of her co-pay which is $2,597. This is an expense that Mom just cannot afford.

“I am reaching out for help because quite frankly this is what she needs and deserves for a fighting chance. I am hoping to raise the amount needed to get her in the door and then whatever is left will go toward the daily co-pay costs. Any amount helps. And as always prayers are appreciated.”

So here we are again, in the most prosperous nation in world history, but too many of its citizens can’t afford health care when catastrophe strikes. As if it should make her feel better, she is not alone.

To be sure, she is on Medicare now, but philosophically she still is being dealt an unfair hand of cards. Her only crime was getting sick.

I have published GoFundMe notices for too many other unfortunates in our modern American society and I’m sick of it. The blame can be laid at the feet of a greedy health insurance industry, a greedy pharmaceutical industry and perhaps some greedy physicians.

However, the greatest failure is with politicians, who these says I rate below used care salespersons in terms of trust, certainly below ambulance chasing lawyers and perhaps in a dead heat with marketing and advertising companies and hucksters.

Right now we have at least five serious problems facing this country, and our “friends” in Washington and Lansing haven’t done a damn thing about them for a long time.

• Health care, which I described above.
• Gun violence, we’re No. 1 in the world in gun-related deaths and I should’ve taken notice when someone said that if politicians won’t do anything after the murders of 20 children at Sandy Hook, they never will.
• Wealth inequality, a nasty side effect of trickle-down economics that was give to us 40 years ago by St. Ronnie Reagan. It’s still going strong and politicians have not done a damn thing to to stop reverse it.
• Climate change — Too many politicians have denied or ignored whet is becoming more obvious with every passing year. It’s not cyclical. It’s a genuine pattern, and because we’ve sat on our hands for so long, it may be too late.
• Racism — This one has had a shelf life of more than 400 years when Africans were brought here and European invaders came here and took everything away from Native Americans. We’re still in denial, and yes, we haven’t really done anything about the problem.

We’re going there in a handbasket and politicians are to blame very simply because they do the bidding not of their constituents, the American people, but their wealthy donors.

As Bill Moyers said, our politicial system is “legalized bribery.”

“But nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care.” — The late and legendary comedian George Carlin