Dear Mr. President,
While listening to my favorite song off of the new Kanye West album on continuous loop, I've been surfing internet news stories to find an appropriate topic for today's letter. While a number of stories caught my attention, nothing about them seemed significant enough to become subjects of a letter to the White House. What do you care about Superheroes patrolling the streets of Seattle? Or a couple getting married in the minutes their flight entered Canadian airspace? Or the way budget cuts in Arizona are resulting in low-income patients getting kicked off of lists for organ donations?
These stories so have something in common, and that, I think, is important to you. Or at least it should be. The theme today is about what happens when Government fails. My city government has failed to keep people safe. It's own budget cuts have prevented the manpower and training necessary for proper law enforcement. And so citizens with military and martial arts backgrounds are donning capes and masks, climbing in their KIA and fighting crime for free.
Your administration has failed the gay men aboard that flight, who cannot have their union legally recognized in their own country. You've failed to make this a front and center civil rights issue, to shame the opponents of same-sex marriage for imposing their hateful system of so-called values on the rest of the country. And so two citizens who want to commit to one another for life took to the skies, entered Canadian airspace, and wed.
And when governments fail, sometimes, as demonstrated by (but by no means confined to) the state of Arizona, citizens have no other option but early death. It is a tragic and unacceptable fact that in this country people die all the time from treatable conditions because they are too poor to afford treatment. It is a failure at all levels of government, and, while I should find solace and inspiration in the stories of those taking (criminal and social) justice into their own hands, I can't help but think about the cities cutting police officers (or unable to hire badly needed new ones) who don't have their own roving band of caped crusaders, or the gay couples who can't fly to a place where their marriage will be recognized. And while poverty will always exist, (and will, unfortunately, carry with it a much shorter life expectancy,) while people will always get sick and many will die when they might have been saved, that the wealth that might offset this disparity is concentrated in the richest 1% of our population is a difficult fact to ignore.
The government, as you are so fond of recalling President Lincoln reminding us, should only do for the people what they can not do better for themselves. I think the government is generally better at law enforcement. I think the government could bestow the basic rights same-sex couples deserve. And I think the government can ease the suffering of the poor and uninsured. But so many of us are still waiting for you to step up and show us how it's done.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
Showing posts with label canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canada. Show all posts
Friday, November 19, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
Day 134- One of us
Dear Mr. President,
John McCain really changed my mind about things, once I saw his new ad. If we build a wall along our entire border, we'll never have problems with drug trafficking or home invasions ever again. Build the wall, higher, stronger, and more formidable than any wall ever seen on this planet, and it will keep out all of those miscreants who risk their lives to sneak across our borders just to cause mischief. I was going to oppose the wall, me being a bleeding heart who thinks that all human life, regardless of geographic location, is equal, but John McCain set me straight.
My one concern with the wall is that it doesn't really stop the people in boats. I mean, people in boats sneak into this country all the time, so maybe we could wall off the coastlines, too? It might hurt tourism, but think of all the environmental benefits if humans were no longer allowed on any American beaches! And then there's Canada. Did I ever tell you how I crossed into the US from Canada illegally? It was on the Pacific Crest Trail, and I was 15. Let me tell you, it was way too easy. We should probably build a wall through there, too. It might hurt a few trees, upset a few migratory animals, but in the long run, it's what we have to do to keep the terrorists out.
One last concern; airplanes. I know, closing the airports to international flights seems like an easy fix, but what about parachutes? I don't want Mexicans HALO dropping into this country at night; they might make it past all of those lame desert states in the south and start taking our jobs here in the north. I'd imagine the Star Wars missile defense technology could help us here, but I'm not sure it's fully operational yet, so maybe we could make due with some giant trampolines? Or those spikes we put on window ledges to keep off the birds? My roommates want me to point out that electrifying the fence is an important step, but if Jurassic Park teaches us anything, it should be that we need a much more effective back-up system in the event of any power failures.
Once we've been effectively locked down, we'll have to go after the illegals already among us. (Especially once our import/export abilities are cut off by the coastal wall.) Maybe we could set up roadside stations, check every one's papers before we let them through? It might get kind of overwhelming for local law enforcement to do this alone, so we should probably staff these checkpoints with soldiers. (Actually, checkpoints is kind of an ugly, contentious word with all sorts of bad connotations, so let's call them "Citizenship defense stations.")
Anyway, what do you think? Are these the kind of comprehensive immigration solutions that will keep us safe from the dangerous onslaught of non-English-speaking killers flooding across into Arizona? Do you think that John McCain will let us be part of his club, now?
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
Friday, May 7, 2010
Day 127- Omar Khadr
Dear Mr. President,
I don't know Omar Khadr. I don't know his crimes, his history or the circumstances surrounding his arrest and detention. I don't have any opinion about his guilt or innocence. I know one thing, only one thing for sure, about Omar Khadr; on the day of his arrest by US soldiers 8 years ago, he was 15 years old. I don't need to know anything else, Mr. President. I don't need to know who he allegedly killed or how he confessed to the crime of participating in the losing side of an ugly war. I don't need to know these things because it is simply inexcusable for us to treat a child this way. A child who was wounded and nearly dead when we arrested him and tortured him and convinced him that he would suffer even worse if he did not confess.
I've been 15. We've all been 15. And I'm not claiming that going to war or throwing grenades is just some adolescent stage that Khadr would have outgrown, but, by now, he has certainly lost his best chance at growing up into something better. There are legal and political arguments to be made about the rules of war and what is acceptable conduct, but we're talking about a child, who was surrounded by political upheaval, facing an invading army (right or wrong, it is what we are,) with better weapons and better armor and better training, and who, allegedly, threw a grenade; there is a higher moral argument to be made against calling that a "war crime." He should have spent the last eight years in school, not in prison. While his actions have consequences that must be acknowledged, this country has a moral obligation to demonstrate, to the world, the way a responsible superpower conducts itself. I don't believe for a second that you need to be told this, sir, but a responsible superpower does not behave this way toward children. There is simply no crime this boy could have committed to warrant the treatment he has received at American hands. This is why people hate us. It makes us less safe, it generates more anti-American sentiment, and it's just wrong.
You promised to close Guantanamo Bay, and that has not happened. We have had no explanation for this failure, no apology for the broken promise, and no indication that it will be fulfilled in the future. The people who voted for you are entitled to these answers, Mr. President, and if you cannot give them, you can at least ensure that Omar Khadr's treatment and trial are fair, just, and conducted with due consideration of his age at the time of his arrest. It is a small mercy that should be given, not out of symbolism or political expediency, but because, in this instance, we have behaved appallingly, and there will be no rectifying it until we say so.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
I don't know Omar Khadr. I don't know his crimes, his history or the circumstances surrounding his arrest and detention. I don't have any opinion about his guilt or innocence. I know one thing, only one thing for sure, about Omar Khadr; on the day of his arrest by US soldiers 8 years ago, he was 15 years old. I don't need to know anything else, Mr. President. I don't need to know who he allegedly killed or how he confessed to the crime of participating in the losing side of an ugly war. I don't need to know these things because it is simply inexcusable for us to treat a child this way. A child who was wounded and nearly dead when we arrested him and tortured him and convinced him that he would suffer even worse if he did not confess.
I've been 15. We've all been 15. And I'm not claiming that going to war or throwing grenades is just some adolescent stage that Khadr would have outgrown, but, by now, he has certainly lost his best chance at growing up into something better. There are legal and political arguments to be made about the rules of war and what is acceptable conduct, but we're talking about a child, who was surrounded by political upheaval, facing an invading army (right or wrong, it is what we are,) with better weapons and better armor and better training, and who, allegedly, threw a grenade; there is a higher moral argument to be made against calling that a "war crime." He should have spent the last eight years in school, not in prison. While his actions have consequences that must be acknowledged, this country has a moral obligation to demonstrate, to the world, the way a responsible superpower conducts itself. I don't believe for a second that you need to be told this, sir, but a responsible superpower does not behave this way toward children. There is simply no crime this boy could have committed to warrant the treatment he has received at American hands. This is why people hate us. It makes us less safe, it generates more anti-American sentiment, and it's just wrong.
You promised to close Guantanamo Bay, and that has not happened. We have had no explanation for this failure, no apology for the broken promise, and no indication that it will be fulfilled in the future. The people who voted for you are entitled to these answers, Mr. President, and if you cannot give them, you can at least ensure that Omar Khadr's treatment and trial are fair, just, and conducted with due consideration of his age at the time of his arrest. It is a small mercy that should be given, not out of symbolism or political expediency, but because, in this instance, we have behaved appallingly, and there will be no rectifying it until we say so.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Day 38
Dear Mr. President,
The bipartisan summit on health care is a significant risk. While I feel that you did very well in your open q & a with the republicans, there's no telling how the other democrats will come across. That being said, I'm glad you're doing it. I'm hopeful that it will be politically beneficial, and that it will move the health care debate forward. The other night, while discussing health care policy with one of my like-minded friends, she expressed concern that the passage of the current bill, which we both see as no solution but rather a step in the right direction, would breed complacency on the issue. I may have disagreed with her, but part of me fears she is right. I believe that the reform bill is important enough to pass now, but I also believe that, no matter how tired people are of the health care debate, the bill will not go far enough to help the people who need it the most. My hope is that, once the bill is passed and the whole system doesn't collapse, people will allow more aggressive reform.
I don't have health insurance, Mr. President. My employer offers it, but I've only recently become eligible for it. To make matters worse, recent years have seen premiums more than double, while co-pays increase and benefits decrease. None of the girls I live with are able to afford health insurance. Luckily for me, the last time I got sick, I was on vacation in Canada. The doctor I saw explained that, in his country, they tax things that make you sick, like cigarettes, alcohol, soda and fast food. He called this a "sin tax" and suggested, rather smugly, "Maybe if you did this in America, you could afford to give every one health insurance." I don't know if he was under the impression that a 23-year old bookstore employee had much say in national health care policy, or if he was just being condescending, but I was too grateful for the care I received to really mind the lecture.
I know proposing something like "sin tax" would be horribly unpopular here. While I may find it perfectly logical to increase the tax burden of those who themselves become burdens on the system through unhealthy behavior, I understand enough about human nature to know how difficult it would be to pass a tax on soda, for example. What about ending the government subsidies of corn and soy? Instead of punishing the taxpayer, we ought to end our outdated agricultural policies that discourage the small farmer and crop-diversity. This would help reduce the surplus of corn and soy derivatives that make processed food so cheap, discouraging consumption without actually taxing the least healthy foods.
But not all health care is about lifestyle choice. People get sick, people get injured, people have to have access to medical services, without the fear of financial ruin. I hope the summit helps pass the reform bill, and that it changes the way we approach health care. But I hope that those of us still waiting for real health care solutions won't be forgotten. It's more than politics, or even the long-term financial interest of our country. It is a matter of national pride. No one in America should suffer or die because they don't have enough money for treatment. No one in America should be bankrupt because they are sick. I hope one day we have a system our doctors can be smug about, even to Canadian tourists.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
The bipartisan summit on health care is a significant risk. While I feel that you did very well in your open q & a with the republicans, there's no telling how the other democrats will come across. That being said, I'm glad you're doing it. I'm hopeful that it will be politically beneficial, and that it will move the health care debate forward. The other night, while discussing health care policy with one of my like-minded friends, she expressed concern that the passage of the current bill, which we both see as no solution but rather a step in the right direction, would breed complacency on the issue. I may have disagreed with her, but part of me fears she is right. I believe that the reform bill is important enough to pass now, but I also believe that, no matter how tired people are of the health care debate, the bill will not go far enough to help the people who need it the most. My hope is that, once the bill is passed and the whole system doesn't collapse, people will allow more aggressive reform.
I don't have health insurance, Mr. President. My employer offers it, but I've only recently become eligible for it. To make matters worse, recent years have seen premiums more than double, while co-pays increase and benefits decrease. None of the girls I live with are able to afford health insurance. Luckily for me, the last time I got sick, I was on vacation in Canada. The doctor I saw explained that, in his country, they tax things that make you sick, like cigarettes, alcohol, soda and fast food. He called this a "sin tax" and suggested, rather smugly, "Maybe if you did this in America, you could afford to give every one health insurance." I don't know if he was under the impression that a 23-year old bookstore employee had much say in national health care policy, or if he was just being condescending, but I was too grateful for the care I received to really mind the lecture.
I know proposing something like "sin tax" would be horribly unpopular here. While I may find it perfectly logical to increase the tax burden of those who themselves become burdens on the system through unhealthy behavior, I understand enough about human nature to know how difficult it would be to pass a tax on soda, for example. What about ending the government subsidies of corn and soy? Instead of punishing the taxpayer, we ought to end our outdated agricultural policies that discourage the small farmer and crop-diversity. This would help reduce the surplus of corn and soy derivatives that make processed food so cheap, discouraging consumption without actually taxing the least healthy foods.
But not all health care is about lifestyle choice. People get sick, people get injured, people have to have access to medical services, without the fear of financial ruin. I hope the summit helps pass the reform bill, and that it changes the way we approach health care. But I hope that those of us still waiting for real health care solutions won't be forgotten. It's more than politics, or even the long-term financial interest of our country. It is a matter of national pride. No one in America should suffer or die because they don't have enough money for treatment. No one in America should be bankrupt because they are sick. I hope one day we have a system our doctors can be smug about, even to Canadian tourists.
Respectfully yours,
Kelsey
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