Wednesday, July 25, 2001

Three readers' response to my July 4 call for a strong Patients' Bill of Rights had been posted in The Citizen (I am sure you know in the end the Senate passed a relatively strong bill).

Bill Bryan's contribution was a classical redneck hate piece suggesting, among other nicenesses, I came to the States for economical reasons. How come you know me so well, sir?

William Fielder worries about impoverishment or exploitation upon introduction of greater justice in health care. Clearly he is an honorable member of the large Me-Me-Me clan.

Bill Gilmer's piece is a Democrat basher (I am not a Democrat, sir. I am a Socialist... I'm sorry, a Communist. Ask Mr. Bryan, he'll tell you... he knows all about me).

None of these three gentlemen bothered dealing with the very substance of my opinion. Many data they presented were incorrect or interpreted with a skew. I wish they had at least cited their sources.

That said, let me set a few things straight:

I am not East German. I am German.

I am German, by birth (life without a passport is very inconvenient). Yet above all I am a citizen of the planet Earth, and that by choice.

I am not a refugee. Why would it matter, anyway? I dated, and later married, one of your intelligent and pretty girls whom I have met in Germany. That brought me to America. I admit, though, I also was curious about that paradise of a country called the United States of America which, as it turned out, is a mere fiction of postwar U.S. propaganda in Germany.

Mr. Bryan, I wonder which opinion piece did you read? In contrast to your claim, I didn't even mention Russia, or East Germany, in my article.

Also, I am not an anticapitalist. I only oppose the greed-driven U.S. (Darwinian) version of capitalism. I prefer the less profit-oriented, more humane version of capitalism adopted by most, if not all, European countries.

Further, life expectancy for U.S. men is 67.6 years, not 74 years as you claim; and for U.S. women life expectancy is 72.6 years, not 79 years (overall life expectancy is 70.0 years as cited in my article). My informed guess is you were using data provided by Republican spin meisters. My data are WHO data (http://www-nt.who.int/whosis/statistics/dale/dale.cfm; http://www-nt.who.int/whosis/statistics/dale/dale.cfm? path=
statistics,dale&language
=english).

True, many Canadians come to the U.S. for procedures. On the other hand, U.S. media rarely mention the fact that tens of thousands of Americans travel in the other direction, to Canada: U.S. citizens without insurance who cannot afford the price of U.S. basic health care (please see USA Today, Nov. 11, 1991, "U.S. patients go for treatment to Canada"; or, New York Times, Dec. 20, 1993, "Americans Filching Free Health Care in Canada").

The American Medical Association, typically, is completely silent on this issue. I also want you to know that according to a 1993 Gallop poll published in the magazine In These Times, 96 percent of Canadians appreciated their health care system.

You ask: "If illegal aliens can receive health care, why can't legal citizens obtain health care?" Good question. I can't give you the answer. Ask your political representatives.

You ask further: "Do you suppose the government and the mainstream media are lying to U.S. citizens?" I sure do, sir. In fact, they quite frequently lie to you or tell half-truths. Most Americans except maybe the likes of you are quite aware of that.

Finally, "Why does Herr Rückl wish the U.S. to emulate Canada...?" (I didn't suggest to emulate Mexico.) I would like the U.S. to emulate the Canadian health care system because it is based on precepts of social justice and medical need, not Wall Street and it produces better medical outcomes, nationwide, for everyone, independent of the thickness of a person's pocket book.

Mr. Fielder, it's your turn. What I said above concerning data citation also applies to you. In the future, please indicate the source of your database so that your discussion partners can have a meaningful debate with you.

You chide the Democrats for enrolling as many children as possible in basic health care. What a sorry person you are! Don't our children, ALL our children, not just the children of the rich, deserve to be taken care of first and most comprehensively?

Cut the bloated Pentagon budget in half or eliminate corporate welfare and you'll have plenty of dollars to go around to cover the least powerful and influential of society, the children, who cannot yet speak for themselves. The U.S. is the only country in the so-called civilized Western world whose children do not have full access to its health care system. What a shame!

You stated private insurance plans would cost about $20 a month. Tell us as fast as you can which company sells comprehensive health care insurance for $20 a month. We'd run and line up for enrollment right now.

You said in one year, 1999, $13.5 billion was lost by fraud and mismanagement in the Medicare system. My opinion: Medicare is administered by your government. Who is your government? Isn't it YOU, the community of ALL Americans? At least it says so in your Constitution.

So don't whine about government mismanagement. Get out of your recliner and change the way your government operates! Make officials accountable! Make sure the law is enforced! There is no reason at all why government can't be run like a corporation. It's only in your head that it can't.

What shocked me most when I came to the U.S. 13 years ago was the low regard Americans have for their government. Americans are completely schizophrenic when it comes to the issue of government performance and who is ultimately responsible for it.

You said, "They (Clinton-Gore/the Democrats) insult us by calling us bigots, homophobes and extremists, and insist we cannot look beyond race, gender or sexual proclivity to see character and competence."

I tell you, Mr. Fielder, most of the rest of the civilized world joins Clinton-Gore/the Democrats in this assessment. Yet what you call "us" is not all of America; what you call "us" is the Bible belching, fascist, blindly flag-waving minority; those who post the Ten Commandments in court rooms, schools and on town squares but pretend to have no clue of the meaning of "Thou shalt not kill." Each time a death row inmate had been executed someplace in the country your likes break out in a wild cheer and praise the Lord. "Us" is those who go to church Sunday morning nodding their heads in complete agreement at the pastor's "Love your neighbor as yourself" but the same afternoon bicker about national efforts to combat hunger in the country.

I stop here, Mr. Fielder. First, because I doubt you have been listening for my words. Second, because I feel we have extremely little in common, philosophically speaking. Go on and keep regurgitating what the New Slave Master (see Gerry Spence, "Give Me Liberty!") stuffs into you, day by day, hour by hour.

Mr. Gilmer, you are right, I am not happy with your system (the status quo, not the concept). Quite frankly, I am not happy at all with the status of the American democracy, for reason eloquently addressed in Gerry Spence's "Give Me Liberty!," Marianne Williamson's "The Healing of America" and William Greider's "Who Will Tell The People?".

I dislike the extreme materialism in this country. I dislike the lack of civic involvement of a majority of Americans. I dislike that corporations and a rich, influential elite and their money run the country, not the people. I dislike the lack of freedom of speech. I dislike U.S. economic and political/military imperialism. I dislike the arrogance of Americans. I dislike their pervasive ignorance. I dislike the abuse of children in this country.

The reason I am still here struggling is because I will not deliver my child without a fight to this unhealthy spiritual climate; because I want to communicate with Americans and influence their thinking. It is important for the world what America thinks and what it does or not does. I am still here because of many wonderful Americans who help me keep up my belief in this country; because there are still newspapers who celebrate freedom of speech; and last, not least, because I am determined to help save America's stunning natural beauty or what is left of it.

For your information, I did not swear to support the U.S. Constitution or, for that matter, any constitution. And I never pledged allegiance to anyone besides my family. Understand me right, the U.S. Constitution is a grand piece of work. I just wish it would be lived, not just boasted about.

Your question, "Should not a person's decision on whether or not he chooses to be his brother's keeper be voluntary?" exemplifies the emotional desert in the hearts of many Americans. Neale Donald Walsch calls it "primitivity" ("Conversations with God"). There is nothing more to add. It is rather depressing.

So, and now I guess I have to go and get a bulletproof vest. Have you all a good day,

Günther Rückl, M.D., Ph.D.

L2355@mindspring.com

Back to Opinion Home Page | Back to the top of the page