I listened to a radio caller on the Stephanie Miller radio show this morning say to the host, “I’d rather spend the next four years protesting, rather than vote for Hillary Clinton.” Ms. Miller in exasperation, paused, uttered some unintelligible frustration and hung up the phone.
I would never propose or even think of taking an option away from any American voter or in this case potential non-voter. I am glad the caller is in such a great position that symbolic protesting would not affect his life. I am not in that position. I have suffered from a hereditary chronic condition that became a life changing part of my life since 1991. It took three years, several doctors and genetic testing at the National Institutes of Health, just outside of Washington DC, to identify what was wrong with me. The disease is called Osler Weber Rendu Syndrome and it was considered a preexisting condition. I spent countless thousands of dollars on experimental treatments, blood transfusions and multiple surgical procedures.
My alternative was to either die or stop working and apply for disability that would make me eligible for Medicare and survive. Prior to that period of my life I had returned to school after years of saving money from various jobs, got my college degree and went on to graduate school. Bam, my life grinded to a halt through no fault of my own with the exception of being born into a lineage that carried the malady. Had my life stayed on track and my finances not been limited, I could wage protest votes, march with my hashtag laden t-shirts and call Mrs. Clinton a bought corporatist.
I am not so lucky and a Donald Trump Presidency is literally life threatening to me. Donald Trump or John Miller or Barron or whoever he is calling himself today, has made one of his priorities taking away healthcare for people like me. If I am fortunate, maybe this is just another one of his “suggestions.”
The world can be cruel to those in trouble. I was prescribed a medication that was not covered by any hospital insurance for my condition in 1994, because it was considered experimental for my ailment. I was spending an out of pocket cost of eight-hundred and ninety-six dollars a month. Senator Sanders has a health plan that would have freed me from any cost. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s original idea of HillaryCare, would have freed me. Currently the President of the United States, Barack Obama, is literally keeping me alive with the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
So to the caller of the Stephanie Miller Show who proudly identified himself as a Bernie or Buster, remember while you are carrying your sign in Lafayette Park across the street from President Trump’s gold leafed White House, I will be looking for ways to stay alive. I hold no ill will to those fortunate enough to rage against the machine, I actually applaud your enterprise. I just hope at some point when the banging of drums silences and the candles poking through the bottom of your Dixie cups being held high flicker out, some very sick Americans who applauded your efforts can count on your knock at our doors offering the missing help you think can withstand symbolism.
Oh yeah, Vote 2016.