I am a little under the weather today. My head hurt yesterday and my chest aches with congestion. On my way home from work, last night, I stopped by the Vitamin Cottage to see what kind of immune booster they had that would help me feel better. The staff there is always very helpful and I came home with some remedies. I realized that I trust a nutrition person more than I trust going to a regular M.D. If I go to a doctor they will give me some powerful medication that might make me feel better but in the process compromise my immune system.

This not feeling so good and watching a client I interviewed suffer through so much pain because she cannot afford to get the treatment she needs, got me thinking again about the need for a good healthcare system in this country. I fully support a public option so everyone is covered because I know it will not be run by a profit margin or give huge bonuses to their chief executive. The people that oppose this reform do so because they don’t trust government. I guess they actually trust corporation more?

From my viewpoint and observations I believe that if many corporations and the GOP had it their way, healthcare benefits would be eliminated, retirement programs would taken away, and Medicare and Social Security would be wiped out all in the name of less government and taxes and greater profits for the management and the stockholders. Am I misreading what I see?

What is amazing is that the many of the people who would most benefit from keeping and enhancing these programs are the ones foaming at the mouth in opposition. Why is this? Where do they get their information? Why don’t they question what they are being told?

Government is not perfect but it is not innately bad. Government today is flawed because it is more of a reflection of the lobbyist and the millions of dollars of influence. Less government and less taxes only means the rich get richer and the rest of us go without.

The past eight years under Republican leadership left us in a huge mess with a huge debt. They ran the country into the ground with less taxes, eliminated much regulation and built a huge debt. Now they are obstructing every way they can the present leadership so they can get back into power. Why does anyone able to think critically not see what is going on? Why would anyone want these profit and power seekers back into power?

We all need to see what we are angry at and be the leadership we want so we can bring about change.

When it comes to political ranting by someone better at it than me, check out Margaret and Helen. She is a hoot and right on about the idiocy of politics.

Peace Letter #40

Dear Mr. President,

Your attempts at reaching across the isle is a great gesture but not working. There is no compromise in the GOP. It is hard enough to get the Democrats in line. Government seems at a standstill and people are getting more and more restless and they blame whoever is in power. It is as if they have forgotten the previous administration’s huge mess they left you.

It is time for a new direction and it has to be bold. You have to use your voice and your constant access to educate the people to what you are doing. Congress is a mess of ego and influence and they will not lead the changes we need.

It is time to pull us out of the mess Bush put us in both in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are in a huge financial mess because of these wars. There is no greater need then to get us back on our feet as a nation and it will not happen with the drain of war.

No matter what you do you will be criticized, so please take the higher road of peace and consciousness.

Joseph Bernard, Ph.D.

Join me and send President Obama emails of support and encourage the end of war and the other dysfunctional ways of government at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact