The Good Hippie's Almanac - Politics

Stop Freaking Calling It Medicare!

Before I get to solutions I am going to rant for a few minutes.

We need to start changing the words we use to say things if we ever want things to change. The sad fact is that words have been twisted by media and government agencies, and even though we have the proper and best words to say what we are saying, due to propaganda campaigns and mass subtle brainwashing by both sides of the dualistic political machine; you just can't use the word socialism in many contexts without someone getting the wrong idea and the since the campaign by Reagan and associates to associate any use of Medical Aid (Medicaid) or Welfare Assistance has become associated with government handouts, free-loaders, and other vagabonds. So no matter how many wonderful ideas to improve the corrupt and broken pharma/medical sector of our economy any of the 2020 Reform movement candidates has, every one of them will continue to meet opposition to it because they call it "Medicare For All."
This can be fixed by instead calling it the "Comprehensive Pharma/Medical Reform Bill of 2021. We can all agree that the system is messed up and needs to be changed so that it serves the majority of the people in the United States.

Problem #1
People should not be able to have money involved in an industry in which they have any regulatory control over and you should not be allowed to work in an industry that you recently had regulatory control over.
This is the biggest problem with the corruption of the pharma/medical industry. Joe or Jill invests in the rise of a certain technique or drug and then once in government eases barriers and votes to ensure their profit and not the well-being of their people, or Bob or Brenda were just head of an administration or committee that lucratively awarded a company a lucrative advantage while in office and then after their term, they are hired into a lucrative position as a reward for their complicity. This goes on a lot.

The fact is that power corrupts, even the best of us are tempted by power, yet the roots of corruption are deeper than that. We as creatures seek to be part of the group and being a liked part of the group is a much more pleasant experience. We wish to feel respected as if our opinion somehow held more weight than someone else's. On the darker side of things, we fear loss and scarcity. We fear a lack of security. As proven by various brainwashers, torturers, propagandists, media entities, and personalities both sides of our nature can be used to manipulate us.
There is no sinister conspiracy, maybe an Illuminati but more like a men's club and less like a dark lodge of power, just human nature. Certain people have come to believe that might makes right, and the more passive among them like to push other folks around with threats or make them feel obligated to repay unsolicited gifts, ie bribes. Certain other folks due to societal, family, or monetary pressures throughout their lives become fixated on the material competitiveness game or become addicted to the pleasures of a privileged lifestyle and they seek those people who would use said money to corrupt our system of government. These are the facts of life, and since we can not hope to change nature in time to ensure our survival, we should instead create a structure of regulation in the form of a constitutional amendment that prevents most cases of corruption with the least bureaucracy.

Solution #1
The Simplest Solution as I see it is to remove public servants and their material interests from the process of being a public servant. Currently, politics is seen as a path to power and material wealth not a path of service. Our elected officials are servants and should be compensated for their work and time away from friends and family. they should not be allowed to profit at the expense of the American People.

When a person is elected to serve in America, they should be isolated by their finances. At the point of taking office, all of their accounts are placed in a sort of suspended financial animation. All personal accounts are locked, and all expenses are covered by a reasonable stipend during office.

The Elected Official is issued an expense card onto which their first quarter salary and out-of-home meal account are on, which are a matter of public record.

All politicians are banned from possessing currency of any kind while they are serving as elected officials. Violators will be publically brought up on charges of corruption on each and every occasion. A dedicated department of prosecutors within the Department of Justice will be formed to deal with nothing but these cases so they will not burden the rest of the legal system.

This practice should also extend to non-elected public positions which are also susceptible to corruption.

Problem #2 

 Capitalism is great but not when the lives of people mean less to people than the money they make from it; this is one of the flaws of mercantile capitalism, without a strong sense of empathy and compassion, the lives of consumers and production workers as well as the environment can and often are placed after the concerns of profit. In terms of BluRays, Hondas, and fashion clothing, this may on occasion come back to bite us in our collective asses but for the most part with a bit of tweaking seems to plug along on its own. Like I said, people fear scarcity and therefore can be manipulated with perceived scarcity, and I don't want to sound all holier than thou, but playing this game with people's lives is unacceptable, unethical, and dare I say, pretty much evil.
We are at the cutting edge of Medicine, yet 40% or more Americans can not afford to regularly visit a doctor and are reluctant to seek emergency care, even in life-threatening circumstances. The exuberant costs and lack of efficacy of modern pharmaceuticals are also associated with Americans not using preventative medicines as often as their Scandinavian counterparts. Innovation in medicine is routinely stifled by corrupt politicians and officials associated with giant multibillion-dollar corporations who from a business standpoint are only trying to protect their shareholder's investments. And in most cases, Pharma-Bro being an exception, there is very little true malice there, it is just how capitalist business models work. Lions are lions, expecting them to be elephants will not produce elephants no matter how much you want it. 

Solution #2:
The only real answer is to remove capitalism from medicine, not the rest of America, just the things that can be universally used to manipulate people by endangering their life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.