Carol and I have been anxious about getting our flu shots and have been watching the news about the unconscionable shortage this season.  I am well known for my needle phobia but I approached our appointment mostly with fear that the supply at our doctor’s office would run out while we waited our turn.

We have friends who spent long hours in lines at Publix Shopping Centers waiting for their turn and there have been reports of people fainting or having to leave for there were not enough seats and the wait was simple too long. What we have just gone through and is now behind us is just one more example of the mess our health system is in. We were lucky to have a doctor, an appointment and a short wait.

For some reason the fear of Communism, Socialism, The Welfare State, and similar bug-a-boos of a fearsome government dictating how we shall live has rotted the minds of the American People, particularly those who will vote for George Bush and his crowd who have done so much to put such fear in their minds.  I may belong to a minority of wrong thinking people, but I think that a benevolent government exists and that we have enjoyed examples of what it can do for those who cannot do for themselves. Individualism does not require us to reject responsibility for others.

From the beginning of our country and, in fact, from the beginning of society we have had people who are strong, self-reliant and inventive.  We also have had people who are complaisant, fussy and in great need of comfort given by others. We have one society but it is riven by differences in the way people live, their culture, their language, and in the way they view themselves in relation to the government they elect during times when we are asked to choose between those who would lead us.

I am happy that we got our shots but am aghast that so many needy people will have to do without them. I am angry at reports that gouging buyers of vaccine in certain areas is going on when vaccine should be made available to everyone – even the President of the United States - at a nominal cost. This is part of the cost of health care along with Medicare, Medicaid and numerous special programs that we should support and expand because most people simply cannot do it by themselves.  When you multiply the number of recipients of government care, you get close to the number of people who vote and make decisions and the cost becomes doable.

This current government could have done more, could have done better and must be replaced by one that takes care of people rather than selling the idea that people who do not take care of themselves are lazy. Our history tells a different story. Cooperation is just another aspect of thinking only of oneself.