Universal Healthcare – It Baffles Me

This is the third post in a series of fundamental changes we can and should make to have a lasting effect on our society. Last week I covered gun control and made many friends in the past week from the NRA. Now I want to turn my attention to healthcare.

I was born and bred in England, so please excuse me. You enjoy Downton Abbey, The Beatles, and got excited over young Prince George of Cambridge, so don’t pretend we don’t know what we’re doing.

There seems to me that there are certain entitlements if you play the game. By playing the game, I mean work, pay your taxes, and don’t break the laws. In return, your country protects you from foreign invaders who want the rights to Downton Abbey and free season tickets to Manchester United games, give you a sound education so that you can step up in life, and take care of you when you are sick.

The protection and health care are part of what you invest in a social infrastructure as part of paying your taxes. Your soccer tickets are your own problem, but life isn’t perfect. As much as we complain about the National Health System (NHS), and it is far from perfect, there is no such thing as a person going without medical treatment, or losing all their savings to help a family member receive the treatment they need to stay alive.

How is this possible if Brits don’t pay more taxes than Americans? The answer is that the pharmaceutical companies and the medical supplies companies don’t make the astounding profits that are made in this country.

It is greed that is preventing good-standing Americans from receiving what is theirs. Every American is entitled to access to healthcare. It baffles me how this is not accepted. There is no family in America (correct me if I’m wrong) wherein every family member is perfectly healthy and has no need of medical help.

It is a universal need and should therefore be universally accessible.

—————————————————————————————————–

Alon Shalev writes social justice-themed novels and YA epic fantasy. He swears there is a connection. His latest books include: Unwanted Heroes and the 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Award for YA – At The Walls Of Galbrieth. Alon tweets at @alonshalevsf and @elfwriter.  For more about the author, check out his website.

Gun Control: Let’s Agree On The Basics

Two weeks ago, I said I would start a series of posts that focus on real game-changers for our society. I feel we (probably – I) bounce around from one good cause or organization to another, and I’m feeling the burnout. Last week, I suggested raising gas prices to $10 a gallon – not my most popular post, but one that hit a nerve. Heck! I never said any of this would be easy.

My second post in the series isn’t going to garner much more support. I want to focus on gun control. My post begins with a number of consensus-building points. You might not agree with it, but you should be able to live with it.

1. People have a right to possess a secured firearm in their home to protect themselves and their families.

2. No one, except law enforcement, should be allowed to walk around the streets with a loaded firearm.

3. Not everyone should be allowed to buy a gun. There should be serious background checks, which is the responsibility of the local government, and a gun seller is accountable if s/he did not follow through with the appropriate checks.

It is my understanding that this is generally accepted, even within the NRA membership.

–       The majority of NRA members do not want a heavily armed, troubled individual anywhere near their schools, universities, or politicians.

–       The majority of NRA members do not seriously believe they need to stockpile guns to protect themselves from a politically extreme government.

–       The majority of NRA members believe our police should not have to face armed criminals.

This would not solve all the issues surrounding gun control, but it would go a long way to making our country a safer place. Is it really so simple? Or only in the wake of another public shooting?

—————————————————————————————————–

Alon Shalev writes social justice-themed novels and YA epic fantasy. He swears there is a connection. His latest books include: Unwanted Heroes and the 2013 Eric Hoffer Book Award for YA – At The Walls Of Galbrieth. Alon tweets at @alonshalevsf and @elfwriter. For more about the author, check out his website.

Jewish Heart for Africa

Jewish Heart for Africa is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that brings sustainable Israeli technologies to rural African villages. Since its founding in 2008, Jewish Heart for Africa has completed more than 35 solar powered projects, bringing light to schools to improve education, pumping clean water in regions of drought and providing refrigeration for lifesaving medicines and vaccines.

To date, they have brought solar energy to over 150,000 African people, and 12,000 children have been vaccinated with vaccines stored in their solar powered refrigerators.

Here is a 6-minute introduction to their work.

This week, Jewish Heart for Africa is holding it’s main fundraising event of the year. Most of us won’t be attending the event in New York, but we can still help to provide sustainable solutions to provide the poorest people on our planet receive the basics we take for granted: clean water, electricity, medicine, clean energy, relevant food production methods.

It is surprising what a difference $18 or $36 gifts can make. Even if you can’t make the gala, please consider a small gift. And please pass this post on to friends and colleagues. We can defeat poverty. We have the technology and the capability. What’s stopping us? What’s stopping you?

——————————————————————————————————

Alon Shalev is the author of The Accidental Activist (now available on Kindle) and A Gardener’s Tale. He is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Hillel Foundation, a non-profit that provides spiritual and social justice opportunities to Jewish students in the Bay Area. More on Alon Shalev at http://www.alonshalev.com/ and on Twitter (#alonshalevsf).