Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

That, right there, is the national hood ornament, the first thing you see, the first thing you learn, and the thing you remember forever after the first time you hear it. I have plenty of issues with the concept of "American Exceptionalism," but that, as a founding national ethos, is pretty damned exceptional.

Which is why, even in the age of the Affordable Care Act - somewhat helpful to many, to be sure, but it is for sure and certain the greatest boon to insurance companies in the history of the concept of insurance - I find the concept of health care in America as a multi-zillion-dollar for-profit industry to be among the most repugnant phenomenons going.

Without health, there is no Life...because you're dead from a disease you couldn't afford treatment for.

Without health, there is no Liberty, because you're trapped in a sick body and in a bed because you can't afford the treatments.

Without health, there is no pursuit of Happiness, because you're sick and broke from spending all of your money on trying not to be sick any more.

I hail from the great city of Boston, and know for a stone fact that this nation has the medical infrastructure, the medical equipment, the medical talent and the medical will to treat diseases that cost people all of their money when they become afflicted.

But we don't do it, because health care in America is a for-profit industry, just like petroleum speculation and pork futures, and that's just crazy...and a rank offense to the national ethos we hold so dear.

There is no Life, there is no Liberty, there is no pursuit of Happiness without health. Period, end of file.

According to the founding DNA of the nation, therefore, health care should be a basic right, a human right...and an entirely affordable right if we summon the political will to shave 1% annually off the "defense" budget.

Wouldn't that be something.