Jim Hightower

Contrary to the "contrived wisdom" of the Powers That Be, providing health care for everyone is not an economic or even a health issue – it's a moral issue.

Notice that corporate chieftains and the the political elites all have the Rolls Royce of health care – while most Americans are trying to make do with a sputtering Yugo, and while millions of our people are walking barefoot. This crass inequality on such a basic human need is a moral abomination.

How is it that the richest country with the most democratic ideals of any country in the history of the world has 45 million people with no health coverage and millions more with pathetic coverage? And how is it that We The People pay $1.2 trillion a year to a corporate health care complex (more than any other people pay) and rank only 37th in the world in the quality of health care we receive?

The Powers That Be just shrug their shoulders and say, well, sadly, America can't afford a system of good quality coverage for all. Can't afford it? George W says America can afford the $1.2 trillion in tax giveaways he's bestowed on the wealthiest people in our land. He says America can afford the $300 billion in direct costs already shelled out for his war of lies in Iraq. He says America can afford the hundreds-of-billions of tax dollars being pocketed by drug companies and insurance giants through his boondoggle prescription drug program.

Of course, our so-called political leaders don't feel the pain of America's corporatized and exclusive health system. The very politicos who say America can't afford universal coverage receive full platinum coverage for their families – courtesy of you and me.

This is Jim Hightower saying... No public official should have even a dime's worth of coverage until every man, woman, and child in America has full coverage. For morality's sake, the president and congress ought to be last in line, not first!