"How Much Longer Can People Let This Go On?"

Those were the words spoken by the dental assistant the other day as I had my broken back tooth assessed...just looked at, but not attended to. I have no dental insurance, or at least none other than preventive care and X-rays once a year, and I feel lucky to have that! I was trying to find out if I could go another month, since money is way-beyond-tight right now. (The answer is no: nothing left but a bit of tooth attached to an old filling...)

She has been living in the US for 17 years, but is from Germany and has lived in various countries in Europe and Asia. "I cannot believe that the government of a country so large has no concern for people's health. In Germany you would  not even think about this. Other countries are basically laughing at the US, and feeling sorry for what is going on here. Why is there such a fuss over this?"

Well, you can guess the discussion....... "Yes," she said, "the politics everywhere make you want to pull your hair out. But how long before there is a revolt against all this?"

I'd say it will probably be sooner than later, seeing as how Mitt Romney and his VP-pick Paul Ryan are dead set against having any "social safety nets" and plan to gut them ASAP. This I find interesting since Mormons have a complete, well-run mechanism for their followers who happen to fall on hard times. Perhaps you saw this on NBC the other night:

http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/22/13400307-mormons-stash-away-for-social-safety-net?lite

Then there is the interesting history of Paul Ryan:

 Ryan and his mother would not have had to make the wrenching choices Smith and his mother did. Ryan received Social Security survivors’ benefits as a minor: “It was a tough time for our family, and Social Security was there to help us when we needed the help,” Ryan told the Associated Press in 2005

http://rachelsigner.com/2012/08/16/the-new-yorker-paul-ryan-al-smith-and-getting-by-in-america/

Mr. Ryan today:"We’re in a moment where if government’s growth is left unchecked and unchallenged, America’s best century will be considered our past century. This is a future in which we will transform our social safety net into a hammock, which lulls able-bodied people into lives of complacency and dependency"

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/15/77_years_after_fdr_signs_social

I guess the further up the ladder you go, the rarified air affects your thought processes and the memories of what your life was like in earlier days. Or maybe it just allows you to create a new history, a new reality. My reality is: the tooth will wait for a week or two......

Also a little background to help you understand where this "new reality" may be coming from, if you are interested.

http://www.exmormon.org/tract2.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/12/us-usa-politics-mormons-idUSBRE87B05W20120812