This will be my Uncle Ken's final Christmas. The man who has been like a second father to me will never again hear the songs of carolers, see the lights on the tree, nor feel the warmth of the season that he has come to love so dearly in his 63 years of existence. The cancer that he believed he had defeated in his pancreas, testicles, and three times in his brain, has spread. Fortunately enough for him, he will feel no pain in his imminent passing. The organs in which his cancer now resides (his lungs, lymph nodes and kidneys) have no pain cells. He will simply "waste away" without the function of these vital organs, as the doctors so bluntly conceptualized for my family.
He is one of our society's most fragile citizens, in need of great care, consideration and love. But this has certainly not always been his state. Born in the midst of the Second World War, his parents were hardworking members of "the greatest generation," those who defeated fascism in Europe and tyranny in Asia while revitalizing the American economy in their spare time. The youngest child in a family of eight, my uncle began working to support his family fresh out of high school and has only stopped recently to suffer through his disease. He served in the U.S. Army for six years as a military policeman, paid his taxes on time, and voted early and often. As a child, I would watch him rise faithfully every morning for his 14-hour workday in our family's store and still have the time to come to one of my baseball games and watch a movie with me at night before bed. An American through and through, his life is a portrait that mimics the lives of countless others, those who have built and continue to build our great nation on their weary backs every day.
Now this great pillar of American democracy has reached the twilight of his life, and deserves a certain level of treatment and respect in reward for doing his part and playing by the rules all these years. Unfortunately, he is not getting it. While the Republicans in Congress and the Bush administration tout the recent Medicare prescription drug plan and reject the importation of cheaper drugs from Canada, my uncle is forced to rely on the benevolence of our family doctor, who saves him the sample drugs that he receives and passes them to my uncle at no cost. He is unable to reap the benefits of this highly questionable "benefit" because he cannot simultaneously qualify for both Social Security disability payments and the prescription drug card through Medicare. In other words, the government disallows him from being both disabled and in need of prescription drugs at the same time-that would just make too much sense and probably cause too many Americans to rely needlessly on government handouts. They should probably take "ownership" over their own health in our new ownership society. So my uncle will stay afloat with his samples from Dr. Yarmark.
Luckily, my family is able to afford the high cost of health insurance these days. Well, almost. My uncle's numerous operations to keep him alive have made our medical bills look more like our family's mortgage payments. Yeah that's right, in the greatest nation in the world, your ability to keep yourself healthy is comparable to your ability to finance six acres of property. Thankfully, we got that $600 tax rebate check in the mail to chip away at my $38,000 education (up 4-6 percent every year), and our new monthly $1,000 health care costs (up 52 percent this year), and the rising cost of gasoline (Saudi Special Sauce...anyone remember a time when it was just a little more then a dollar for a gallon? I do). My dad told me not to get hurt or anything until he can get me onto the AU Health Plan for $775 a year because he wasn't able to carry me on his plan this year. I might need to borrow someone's card if I have to make a chance trip to the ER. Any generous volunteers?
But I guess my Uncle Ken's saving grace is that his doctor is looking into a new experimental stem cell research procedure at the University of Pennsylvania to combat his newest potential brain tumor. I'm just glad that we have an executive that values science above faith and human rights above holy rites in order to provide researchers with the necessary stem cell lines needed for such life-saving procedures. Because then I would not have to worry about my second father being snatched from my life earlier than he must be simply because the powerful few believe in putting the desires of their backwardsbase before the health and welfare of their most needy and most deserving constituents.
I went to see the movie "National Treasure" this past Thanksgiving break. Despite being a relatively cheesy action/treasure hunt flick, there was one incredibly insightful point in the feature that sparked my attention. The main character, Benjamin Franklin Gates (played by Nicholas Cage), is standing in front of the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives just down the street from our beloved university. Being a historian with familial ties to the Founding Fathers, Gates stands in awe of the document and its profound effect on the course of human events. Rather than spouting off about the oft-cited (but highly important) lines regarding truths being held self-evident and all men being created equal, Cage's character focuses on the more revolutionary aspect of the Founder's ideas. He mentions that these brave men staked their very lives and fortunes on a dangerous but necessary concept: violating what is perceived as illegal in order to establish and fight for the greater good. Gates recited the following line from the Declaration: "Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
Mr. Bush and his cronies enjoy evoking issues of national security and weapons of mass destruction while pledging to defend America against such perceived dangers. The last time I checked, poverty and unequal access to a quality education were weapons of mass destruction reeking immeasurable havoc within our society. Sadly, we can't shoot such weapons out of the sky with neat missiles and cool satellite lasers. So Mr. Bush is at a loss.
At last glance, Americans unable to find a job and afford their own (and their family's) healthcare and education are insecure. National security and defense against social weapons of mass destruction begins at home. Beware Mr. President, your forbears have given us the right, in fact the DUTY, to throw off your government in order to provide for our future security. Your people are suffering through these evils and even fighting a war thousands of miles away in the midst of these injustices exacted on their families at home, but such a long train of abuses and usurpations will not stand. There is a point when politics stops being about power games, special interest campaign contributions and pork-barrel projects, and starts being about the improvement of people's lives and the elevation of the human family. There is a time when politicians must exercise the ultimate measure of leadership: service to those who have given you your power-the consent of the governed. That point is the beginning. That time is always. It may be too late for my uncle to benefit from this politics of hope and progress, but millions of others still weather such abuses and usurpations admirably. And they need our help.
Paul Perry is a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs.
