Donna Smith:: What Will We Do With People Like Me? [View all]

[eridani]

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/02/01/iowa-2016-what-will-we-do-people-me

It all seems an unlikely scenario. It also seems unlikely that a person such as me will have a piece published on Monday morning, February 1, 2016. I don't hold the sway or nearly the level of expertise that so many, many others do in the political world. It also seems such a pivotal time for the nation.

Years ago when Michael Moore filmed my family for his 2007 documentary, SiCKO, one my sons was filmed asking me, "What do we do with people like you?" He was wondering aloud what to do about aging parents who were drowning financially due to medical debt. He was making it clear that his generation didn't want to sweep up the mess that was my life. My heart broke. My spirit was crushed. My child saw me as a failure and worse, my child saw me as a problem to be solved.

That is what this election is all about. To the extent that Iowa sets the stage for what is to come down the road of this election season, the Iowa caucuses may begin to answer the question my child asked so many years ago. What do we do with people like me?

When I view the current candidates for president of the United States, I can see only one who answers the question in a way that prevents any mother from ever hearing that from her son again. You see, I had become such a drain. As the profit-crazed U.S. healthcare system ground away at us with insidious persistence, I fought to make sure my children had access to as many opportunities as I could so that they might never have their dreams deferred or destroyed. I was only partly successful. While I could protect my kids from some of the financial trauma for a time by working more and more, I forever altered their paths forward.