The reason a majority of Americans do not support Obama Care is clear — it is basically unfair.
Once again, the middle class is being asked to bear the tax burden to provide free coverage to some Americans, while they will have to struggle with yet another bill they can’t afford to pay. In essence, we’re being penalized for our success and hard work.
Just what does “affordable” mean anyway, and who decides that?
What is needed in the debate are some new ideas. Ideas that do not pit one group of citizens against another. Ideas that do not provide a huge payday for our unethical for-profit insurance industry.
Since we no longer have a viable political left in the U.S., it remains for independent thinkers to suggest an equitable way forward.
Here is my proposal, which I hope will add to the discussion a dimension of common sense currently missing from the polemic.
Nationalize energy resources where they occur on public lands. Use this money to fund a single payer social health care system.
The oil and natural gas resources that exist within the territorial waters and public lands of the United States are the common property of the citizens of the United States, and should be reclaimed from international energy companies.
President Obama had an excellent opportunity to do this when BP failed to comply with safety standards resulting in the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, he did not do so.
The current arrangement, in which these international energy companies lease public lands for relatively small “royalty” fees is exploitative and unfair to the American public, whose resources they are.
In essence what is happening is that these multi-nationals are taking public resources and turning them into private wealth. If these resources are reclaimed in the name of the American citizen, Congress will have the money to fund a single payer social health care system.
Why should we, as a nation be giving away our energy resources for pitiful “royalties”, and then be forced to buy them back at the pump at outrageous prices from a cabal of international investors dominated by, in the case of BP, oil sheiks from Qatar? In brief, we as a nation are being robbed to benefit the bottom line of the international investment class.
This idea is not a new way of thinking in the western world. Indeed, British Petroleum was originally a state monopoly in England, until the infamous days of the Reagan and Thatcher deregulation cult, as was Royal Dutch Shell, et al.
We do believe in striking the right balance between authentic social programs and free enterprise, so we are not suggesting that all energy resources be nationalized in the U.S., only those that are available on public lands and within territorial waters. The result would be a redirection of the proceeds of our commonly held property away from the investment class back into the treasury of the U.S. where they could then be used to fund a fair health care system for all Americans.
You won’t hear this simple idea discussed in the corporate media, nor by any of our, “left wing” politicians. As previously stated, we no longer have a left in American politics, merely the right, and right-lite.
Thank you for having the intellectual creativity and the courage of conviction to consider these proposals.
Mike Rider
Malibu and Idyllwild
I agree with you about the healthcare issue. That being said, I think we as a voting public could fix a lot of problems if we could get past the idea of politics as a team sport. The very idea of left vs right divides us. Too often have I seen political arguments turn into “us” vs “them”. The fact of the matter is we as tax payers deserve better.
Your idea about taxpayers getting a more reasonable compensation for the use of our natural resources has a lot of merit, unfortunetly the devil is in the details. The government has shown an outstanding ability to waste taxpayer money to enrich themselves or their “friends”. I think more competition would lead to a better outcome then government simply taking over companies.