By Mark L. Taylor
The Commoner Call (11/13/17)
It’s early afternoon and I’m sitting in the Urgent Care waiting room. Among the collection of people waiting to see the nurse is a mother and her sick middle school kid sitting nearby. The kid is both listless and restless in the way of sick kids. She leans on her mom’s shoulder as the two quietly play a game on the mom’s phone. She wants her mom to stay home with her after the appointment. There is a pleading tone to her voice. The mom explains that she has to get back to work; that she’s sorry but she will drop the child off at home and return to work. The child is unconvinced and pleads her case again; she just wants mom to be home with her for the afternoon. Finally, with a mixture of exasperation, guilt and fear the mother says: “I have to go back to work. We need our health insurance… We need our insurance. You’ll be okay.”
While we are told by Republicans and too many betraying Democrats – like Rep. Ron Kind – there is no money for Medicare for All, three wealthy Americans own more wealth than the bottom 50% of American households. The Paradise Papers have revealed a sophisticated and murky international tax-skipping scheme for the very wealthiest billionaires and tax cheating corporations, like Apple. All this occurs against a backdrop of Republicans vying with each other to cut taxes even more for the parasitic wealthy class and irresponsible corporate schemers. And through it all, we send drones and bombers to kill kids on the other side of the world while too many American moms can’t stay home with their sick kids.
(American Vignette is a series that will provide snap shot images in word and picture about the struggle of American families to survive in an country increasingly set up for and run by the wealthy. feel free to send in your own reports from the front lines of survival in the American corporate state. – Mark L. Taylor)
(Commoner Call story and photo by Mark L. Taylor, 2017. Open source and free to use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )
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