Monday, October 21, 2013

two americas

Been running back and forth across town all morning making little unpleasant and impossible visits to the department of motor vehicles, the dentist, and the person who can surgically remove whole teeth and their roots. None of the teeth parts have been about me. Elphine is in for a filling and my mother is here so that her poor dead front teeth can finally go the way of all flesh and she can have something different in their place. 

The department of motor vehicles, well, why do any of is ever have to go there? And if you want to know why I'm deeply and whole heartedly against single payer government enforced medical care, it's because both the post and the department of motor vehicle can't seem to discover where I live, even though I keep trying to share this special and important information with them. When I want to have some part of my broken flesh mended, how will they possibly be able to assist me when they can't keep track of my address? When you can prove to me that all the people currently in the government's employ in the domains of The Mail and Motorized Vehicles won't be able to apply for and get jobs in any capacity related to the Affordable Care Act I'll reevaluate my current deep feelings of anxiety and revulsion about the great gift were all about to receive in the form of free (hee hee hee) or more affordable (hardy har har) health care.

Contrast the department of motorized vehicles and the post with the coffee shop, never mind the dentist, and you get a bright picture of The Two Americas everyone is always fussing about. (Maybe it's not everyone, maybe it was just that one sleazy presidential candidate with the hair...what was his name...) The two Americas are not the rich and the poor, nor the 99 and the 1. No, the Two Americas are the One that is trying to help you get things you want and need (like coffee, food, clothes, or a root canal, the one that is able to take your money without coming to bits) and the One that has figured out the best ways to make everything as difficult and frustrating as possible. This America doesn't just take your money but more tragically wrests away your time and your energy, your glowing sense of well being.

1 comment:

Sarah Boyle Webber said...

Our version, called MVS, drastically improved recently, which my in-laws, who've lived here in NJ for about 35 years, never though possible. It's not perfect, but it's much improved. We think it was Governor Christie.