Sunday Dento-political Thread - GD-P Edition:

Just a short note today to tell you how much I appreciate all of you during these trying intra-Olympic times.

Many years ago, I was told by a Wharton economist that the gross income of General Dentists was a leading indicator of economic health of the country, along with the index of number of cars parked at suburban shopping malls at 1 PM on Sundays. Well, I'm going to tell you based upon that information that we are in for a bad time ahead.

A few years ago, patients paid by check or cash, and then, as this Bush-economy has progressed, they paid with credit cards, and now....IF they pay, they pay with credit cards over months, since people are maxing out.

Now please allow me to say that NO ONE ever leaves my office in pain or with significant acute pathology period. We make arrangements for later payment, and if some says to me, I can't pay, I get them out of pain, get them medicated and suggest options for them. NO ONE is ever sent away with acute disease. Period.

That beings said, I make one request of these people: that they register and vote. Many are perplexed - and I tell them that if they don't like what is going on, that they need to get a Congress and a PResidency which might...I repeat, MIGHT, address the concerns of the medically uninsured and to promote dental and medical health. No promises, but I tell them that if there's one Party that WON'T do that, it's the Republican Party. They almost always smile, thank me profusely for the treatment and go on their way. I don't know how many I have 'converted', but it's worth a shot.

Many people come in with Obama shirts or buttons, the former are on Caucasians, the latter on African-Americans, and quite a few are surprised that I give them encouragement, tell them to ensure that all their family members are registered and that they vote. I tell them how important it is and that they are the linchpin in this whole process; that if the Philly people don't come through, Obama's going to lose Pennsylvania. Intuitively, people know this and seem to be very responsive in this regard.

On primary day here, and it seems like forever ago, I had gone to the bank to deposit the day's receipts and the teller, a lovely African-American gal took my deposit and I asked her if she'd voted yet. She looked down, rather embarrassedly, and said , "Doctor, I'm not registered." I exclaimed, "WHAT!? Are you kidding? You're a black working-class person in Philadelphia and you haven't even registered? Tell you what...if you don't register to vote by the end of July, I'm taking my business elsewhere. And you'll never see me again." I was only half-kidding her. A few days later, she told me she'd registered, that she had no idea that people took this business that seriously and was surprised to have seen my reaction, and I gave her plenty of positive reinforcement, and told her to get her family registered and make sure that they vote...that they could vote for whomever they wished, but that no one can afford to sit this election out.

what is bothering me however, is the number of people who tell me that they "don't like" either of the candidates. Here, IMO, this is racist-speak and I have concerns, but hope that we can eke out a victory here in PA. I'm going to do my part and my staff know that in election years, the Doc talks a lot, the dollar practice gross is down for that reason, but that it's in a good cause.

are always so interesting!

We have a valued employee who is not registered to vote. She feels that she doesn't know enough about it to vote, and she isn't going to learn enough to make it so.

Sigh.

Makes me want to bang my head against the wall...here we are, you, me, all these folks, and if some of the people who could vote, would vote in their own interests, we would be OK.

But...there's the rub. IF.