This originally appeared at Pax Nortona. Reprinted with permission.
We have good insurance, provided by Lynn's job. She pays extra so that I am covered. If it were not for this, we'd be paying thousands of dollars for my medications that protect me from the effects of my various medical conditions which include bipolar disorder, diabetes, asthma, gout, and coronary heart disease.I suppose in some reactionary's Spencerian thinking, I should be culled when society's interest in keeping Lynn employed diminishes. To the private concerns that keep our country moving, I'm little more than her pet, a non-producer. But then society has other concerns. "Take your meds" it says to me, the bipolar. My meds are very expensive, thank you, and I do take them even though we pay hundreds of dollars in co-pays to keep me on them. If I were to stop and do something illegal because my insurance ran out, no judge or jury in this country would have pity on me. "You <i>elected</i> to stop taking your meds," I would be told. There would be no winning except for the fact that in jail they would put me back on medication. You will get to pay for that.For personal reasons, I have elected to stay off of the public dole. I do not take SSDI because I consider my wife and I to be fortunate. The money that we save the government can be used to help another person in more needy circumstances. Or make your burden less. Yet every day I worry that Lynn will lose her job and we will be left without insurance to keep me on my medications. It's a valid fear.The point I wish to make is that our family could be yours. How close are you to finding yourself without coverage and needing it badly? Would sickness of you or your spouse or one of your children put you in a vulnerable position? We are lucky not to be bankrupted by my medical conditions, but cancer could strike your family. Heroic measures could lock you in the thrall of a bank <i>for the rest of your life</i>. Your dreams of owning your own business, enjoying retirement, etc. could be erased that quickly.It says a lot that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/21/health-experiences-from-a_n_242154.html" target="_new">every major nation in this world has created a health care system that is unlike ours</a>. Germany, which has the best health care system in the world by all measures does use private insurance, but insurance companies must be NONPROFIT which makes coverage cheaper. It is only here in the United States that health care is seen as a business rather than a service. And greedy businessmen fatten themselves to the tune of millions of dollars. Nowhere else does a high school graduate decide whether you can have the MRI your doctor ordered or not. The money that pays these unneccesary cogs in the machine could be used to help you meet the costs of fighting your cancer or other delibating disorder.We have come to a critical hour: we can change the world. Private health insurance concerns are fighting the public option for this reason and this reason alone: it will require that they must use the capital which we invest in them to cover our medical needs. They can still function for profit, but they will have to compete with the public option and with each other.The same forces that forced George W. Bush on us and slathered in his trough want the idea stopped. That should be reason to change our minds. Think of me, then call your representative and Senator, especially if your senator is a centrist Democrat. We cannot afford to have bad health care. I don't want to be a burden on society should Lynn lose her job. You shouldn't have to pay for the costs that will accrue if my conditions are allowed to degenerate into their worst possibilities. Help us to be able to pay our way no matter how Lynn is employed.
First, it did not happen. The ATF nixed it before they got out the door of the gun shop. The Secret Service is adept at doing its job: the assassination attempts against Clinton were all stopped.
Second, look at this as the result of a lack of diligence when it came to controlling domestic terrorists. Hate groups grew in number by 48% from 2000 to 2008 (see http://www.splcenter.org/center/petitions/standstrong/). This means that there has been an increase in the number of domestic terrorists. This marks yet another failure of the Bush administration. Another Republican administration will undoubtably continue to turn a blind eye to the activities of Neo-Nazis and skinheads.
Third, the rhetoic of the Republicans has been encouraging these individuals to make plans for violence. This is a campaign issue that should not be overlooked.
The message (which should accompany ones about the economy) is that the Republicans are responsible for an increasse in the potentiality of domestic terror. The more they use the language of hate and lies, the more they will inspire people to abandon the ballot box and take up guns. Can we afford any more of this?
Do not doubt for a moment that they will try to do it despite the broad gap in the polls. The time to drum up the anger is now: point out what they are doing with the lawyers in Ohio, the intimidation in Nevada, what is happening with the machines in West Virginia and ask "Do you want a repeat of the year 2000"? Bring the press with you to photograph the people who are doing this.
Get your lawyers out and get your media people out. Dress them well. Do not allow them a single moment of privacy as they maneuver. If they can't steal the election, they will steal the mandate and it is vital that we get both if we are to fix W's damage.
Stand up, Obama/Biden. The people will follow you if you point the finger at McCain/Bush.
The two issues: The economy and their negativity. Do this for Obama and for the Democrats in general.
You've got the economy tune down. Keep playing it.
As for the negativity, have a commercial ready to cover up whatever they cook up next. The watchcry is "They just keep making up new lies. That's what they've been doing for years and they are doing it again hoping you are stupid enough not to notice. But you know better. That's why you are voting for Change...."
They are pulling out every last sorry sword that they've used over the past years. They are scared. The old tactics aren't working and neither are the new ones. Keep the focus on getting out the vote and on the message.
For the first time in ages, Democrats are well-organized and ready to serve the people as presidents, senators, and representatives. Maybe a little bit of that in the mixture won't hurt.
I'm sitting at home alone this afternoon for the simple reason that my wife is out at the Obama phone banks. You may ask why I'm not there, too: after all, phone banks are "easy" and anyone can handle them, right? I've heard that lots of times, but as my wife can verify, phoning is a trigger for me: it can precipitate me into a bipolar episode.
The ignorance of people about my disease is astounding. Their reactions can be downright patronizing. When I asked my local email list -- which presumably includes local coordinators -- to help me find things I could do for the campaign that wasn't phoning, I received no answer. Today, someone got mad at me and others for posting articles to the list. "Get off your butt and phone" was the tone of the message.
If I were in a wheelchair, folks might understand that I had limits and they might treat me as an individual. But rare are those who can understand that not all physical illnesses manifest themselves in the muscles or the bones. If I had spasms or tics, they ~might~ be more obliged to accomodate me. But when my illness manifests itself, I start talking crazy. I do strange things like I did last week when I told a McCain supporter in Lovington, New Mexico that I would "pray for her" because she was a McCain supporter.
As I ramp up, I lose control of my impulses. Engaging in activity with the potential for confrontation is not good for me. This can include going out with other volunteers. You want to go this way? Well, I might have some fear issues about that and if I tell you that, believe it or not, chances are you will try to press me past my limits. That happened to me in 2004 when I was working on the Kerry Campaign via MoveOn. My condition worsened as the night passed -- I had the demands made by the campaign on one hand versus the expectations of the volunteers I was expected to supervise. I chose to follow the demands of the campaign. When the volunteers rebelled against these, they took it out on me. In the end, I took the blame and, a few weeks later, ended up in a psych ward.
So doing things with people -- phoning, knocking on doors, etc. isn't the thing for me. Stuffing envelopes bores me, but I have a truck -- I always tell them that I have a truck and can deliver things. They still can't seem to find anything for me to do except --
The phones. We need people to phone. Everyone can phone. Phoning is good for you.
I have special needs. So I keep to the things I can do with little or no stress. Stuff I can slough off when I am finished with it, like writing and sharing the reading I find with other volunteers via mailing lists. Today, I got the "go to the phone banks" message from a volunteer. And today, I wrote her a message explaining my condition and the reasons why I couldn't go to the phone bank. Then I remembered how my requests for things to do went unanswered and I came to a conclusion: plenty of people in this campaign have a ways to go when it comes to understanding the special needs of the so-called mentally ill.
I don't think Senator Obama approves of that kind of disrepect, so I am not going to let the ignorance of his followers send me over to the McCain camp. Besides, Senator McCain's understanding of mental illness is narrow and he dodges the questions asked of him. When I asked both camps to send me information on their positions regarding mental illness, the Obama campaign instantly complied. I have not heard from Senator McCain's people more than two months later. The NAMI web site had information on both candidates, but even here there was a deficit. Obama answered all the questions submitted to him by NAMI with attention to detail; McCain refused and sent out a position statement which, in effect, said "individual responsibility" was the key to good mental health policy. In other words, we had to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and have the sense, in all phases of our disorder, to just take our meds and shut up.
Do not for a moment think that I don't take my meds or counsel anyone else to do so. On the contrary, I have often found myself on the side of people who are getting pressure from family, friends, and even support groups like AA* to not do so. The meds put down a floor which allowed me to work on other issues. Psychotherapy was impossible due to the organic illness that plagued me. You cannot believe the confusion that I felt as I segued in and out of episodes. I have had to learn to take my meds and pursue a life that does not exacerbate or trigger my symptoms. It has often meant that I do not get to be taken seriously in the pursuits I find important.
Earlier this year, in my main volunteer activity which is teaching adults to read, I was granted a presidential community service award. This group has understood that I can do plenty of things for them and does not press me to do what I can't, so I give richly of my time. The same could be true of the Obama campaign if its leaders just took the time to work with me. I know, I know, they just don't have the time. But I have ideas and I am willing to share them.
When it comes to mental illness, political campaigns are just too much like ordinary businesses. The Americans with Disabilities Act is a nuisance. Thinking about individual needs is considered a tedious waste of time by many coordinators, many of whom are young know-it-alls with no experience in dealing with different kinds of people. This happens in almost every campaign. And so the same narrowness is perpetuated in the very forum in which we should be setting an example for treating people.
In summary, you wouldn't ask a person in a wheelchair to go door to door unless they asked if they could. And you shouldn't tell me that "all you need to do is phone". I have a disease that is triggered by confrontational activities. (Don't you, for one moment, tell me that phoning is ~not~ confrontational, either. That's another way of denying the problem.) This campaign should be a city on a hill where the needs of its disabled citizens of all varieties should be understood and plans to grant them access to the political process be developed. Future campaigns should take these needs into account. I, for one, am tired of being shoved to the sides. I am sure there are others who feel the same.
I am asking to be a part of this campaign despite my illness. Surely the people in charge can think of something more suited to me than the phones and knocking on doors.
*Alcoholics Anonymous DOES NOT condone telling people to go off their meds. They are adamant about respecting the relationship between patient and physician. However, in some areas, including my own, some members feel that to be taking any drug is the sign of an addiction. I feel that this is an issue that members of 12-step groups need to confront and root out. When someone makes such a suggestion, they should be sent back to the Big Book and made to read page 133 until they get the point: needing psychotropic medications is not an addiction but a necessary handle for some of us on the roots of our addiction. (BTW, I am not a member of any 12-step group, but if you live in South Orange County, I can suggest a good one where you can talk about being bipolar and an alcoholic.)
We are on the verge of losing the election according to recent polls and it is because at the last minute we have forgotten what this election is about: the economy and John McCain's erratic, negative behavior. Health care isn't working. So my advice is to go back to the tunes that work. Health care is important to some of us, but we must establish again that Obama is a better leader. Show clips from the debates and keep on message.
It has become a horserace and we must run hard. Keep on message. Keep on message. It's the economy, stupid.
The point to make is that John McCain can't handle a crisis. His whole campaign has been a crisis. He doesn't solve crises. He makes them. And when they are out of control, he worsens them. We can't afford to have him for this financial crisis and we can't afford to have him for a foreign policy crisis. He will make bad choices.
Many have said that the problem with McCain's campaign is Sarah Palin. But she is only a symptom of the preposterous decision-making that McCain has embarked on since this campaign began. The choice of her, of the negative campaigning, of his staff were all made by him.
Remember do not wonk it.
Be prepared for McCain to throw the Ayers crap at you. Be sure to point it out as more of his attempting to hide the fact that he is just another Republican flunkie, that his program serves his wealthy cronies not the middle class. Keep your cool. That he flings dirt is dirt enough to throw back.
Break a leg.
McCain is about to try an end run using the capital gains tax as his way to the voters' hearts. First, there's nothing wrong with giving the middle class a capital gains tax break. The trouble is, second, that this is a way for John McCain to sneak more goodies in for his rich friends whose financial shenanigans have got us into this mess. The middle class will get a tidbit while losing it when McCain's pals rake in the dough.
Note that John McCain is all over the board. And this is an indication of what his presidency is going to be like -- all over the board. You won't know what he is actually going to do, but you can -- based on past experience -- know that he's going to do it all for his wealthy friends. In two debates, the phrase "middle class" did not cross his lips.
John McCain can put out plan after plan but he will not change his spots. He is still McSame.
Let him have it. Candidates' families are off limits is the rule that you and every decent campaigner has ever lived by. Do not be afraid of standing up for your wife. The time is to mock him for supposedly putting down the gun and then firing it at Michelle.
Then keep to message. McCain does not have a plan. He is all over the board on everything. Keep talking about what is meaningful to Americans.
And send someone down to West Virginia or go yourself. They are hungry for your leadership there.
The time has come to put out a commercial describing Obama's achievement. Frank Keating has called Obama "a guy of the streets" and insinuates that if you are not a Republican you are still taking drugs.
Obama's real story is that, like so many Americans, he tasted drugs for a short time -- but decided that they were not for him. He chose achievement instead.
What were these achievements? List them. Don't assume the American people know them. And emphasize that he never lost sight of what it meant to be a middle class American, that he had student loans to pay off.
Again this is about the Big Zero that John McCain has to offer the American people. No program except the same old bad economics that are spiraling us into depression.
We don't want McCain running things.
Remember two things: DO NOT WONK IT. Talk simply so people can understand. John McCain is bad for the economy. Deregulation was his bright idea and we cannot afford more bailouts. and DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE MCCAIN.
The theme is going to be taxes. Expect McCain to say that he is more anti-tax. Of course, you have the rabbit in the hat: the number of times that he has voted to tax the middle class. They will call it "class warfare" (watch out for that phrase) when you say that the rich must pay, but stick to your guns. Not all tax increases are alike and the middle class isn't going to feel these.</p>
Talk about the deficit. Remember that Bill Clinton left the country with a balanced budget. Note that Bush squandered trillions on the war in Iraq and that John McCain voted for this waste while not doing anything to help members of the armed services.
Talk about the bailout. We have not done enough, of course. What about homeowners? If John McCain says the phrase "Middle Class" tell him that it's about time, but note that he still hasn't expressed a program that will champion their interests.
Watch out for a few jabs about immigration reform. Tell him that pretty soon the immigrants won't have any jobs left to fill with the exports to India and China. The working class and the middle class are suffering. If McCain says anything about "class warfare" give it to him here: the Republican Party has been waging class warfare for years and they've been hitting on the middle and working classes. It's time to stop this garbage.
He will undoubtably have a few false accusations. If he doesn't repeat any of his and Palin's recent attacks, bring this up and say that when he is being watched by the nation, he says nothing because his attacks cannot bear scrutiny. Put him and his attacks under scrutiny.
Keep your cool. Be brave and keep to the message. John McCain and Sarah Palin are inexperienced and unknowledgeable when it comes to the economy. We don't need a president who will sell us out as Bush as sold us out. John McCain is John McSame.
John McCain is now pretending to be the Latino's friend and is out to quote Joe Biden out of context. The campaign needs to focus on the Latino community and keep it in the camp with commercials in Spanish hitting the McCain campaign for distorting the truth. The message to send is When a candidate is this nasty, he's out to cheat you. Also remember that the economy matters to Latinos, too, so press that point.
To Biden: good luck on the debate and remember that Sarah Palin is going to do her usual put down intelligence dance. Don't let it shake you.
Do not under any circumstances underestimate Sarah Palin. There is always the possibility that her seeming ignorance and naivite is nothing but a Rovian act that will crumble as soon as she gets in front of her teleprompter.
She may hit hard on Biden's age. If she starts up on "new energy", tell her that that is what Obama is and that he has a great deal more presidential quality than either of the two candidates offered by the Republicans.
If the Couric interviews are any indication, she will be all over the board. Don't dwell on this too much but push the concept that substance matters more than paper experience. You will need to come up with a simple description of what substance is: it is what a person knows and how they use what they know. A simple story will work well. I am sure that Biden has a good story.
If she starts up on being a woman, hit her on the charging rape victims for their rape kits while mayor of Wasilla. Then mention the Violence Against Women Act. (See if McCain voted for this or not.) I am sure Biden can pull plenty of other rabbits out of his hat on this one. The point to make is that both women and men can have meaningful things to say about one another's lives and that not every so-called contribution is as good as another.
If she starts out on experience, make a joke. "By your definition, no one on either ticket is as experienced as you, Governor Palin. And yet you bring so little and Obama brings so much more."
Watch out for swipes about Biden's education. Or Obama's.
Make an issue of her hitting on Obama's accomplishments to hide the fact that she has done so little. That little story Biden did a few weeks ago where he joked about the guy who made fun of anything good you had works here. "When you have nothing, you say that the other guy with something has nothing, too."
If she at any point brings up government handouts, point out that she gets $20,000 a year from the State of Alaska courtesy of the oil companies. A lot of drivers in the lower forty-eight wouldn't mind seeing some of that being used to take a few cents off their gas. Then there is the amount of earmarking her state gets. Alaska: least in taxes, most in pork.
If she mentions being on the Russian border, ask her how many times she has crossed it to go shopping. (Has she even been to Canada?) Point out that this border is nothing like the ones that fifteen other states share with Canada and Mexico.
Make an issue of her supporters' complaining about her being criticized if you can think of a way. Say that she made an issue of Hillary not hiding behind her sex but now she is. Point out that Hillary had a great deal more substance and could take it.
Always focus on two things: the economy and substance. Palin has to explain McCain's economic blunders. She has to show that she has substance. She is the one who has to show that she can do it.
Find out ways to show that her new vision and new energy is just the same old stuff Republicans have been vomiting up all these years. Obama/Biden represents something truly new or at least much needed in these perilous times.
The time has come to compare Obama to JFK. Certainly, more than Kerry and Clinton, Obama deserves the comparison.
The point to make is that what matters most in the presidency is substance. Obama clearly has this. McCain and Palin do not. The debate and Palin's talk show appearances show that it is so. Enumerate points that mark Obama's substance: his grasp of economic issues, his understanding of foreign policy, his concern for the middle class, etc. Where McCain is a politician, Obama is a president.
For all the years he spent in the House and the Senate, McCain failed to developed a grasp of the issues that matter to the nation's prosperity, standing in the world, and dignity. Obama gets what it takes to be a president. His opponent is such a thrall to his advisers that he hasn't done any thinking of his own. McCain and Palin will not bring dignity to the Oval Office. Obama will.
That's the magic to work now.
I missed the debate tonight because I was on a plane flying from Houston to Orange County. There was quite the crowd watching on the airport monitors. Unfortunately, the plane was loaded before things got really good, so we didn't see how Obama nuked McCain.
What we were subjected to was an example of the kind of judgement a supporter should not exhibit. A fellow decided to convert his very Republican seatmate by haranguing him about how bad Bush was, how McCain was going to be worse, etc. As the conversation continued, things became more and more heated and abusive between the two of them. I know I live in an extremely conservative area and shouldn't be surprised, but a few other passengers twitted the guy about how Obama stuttered, etc. It made the flying experience very uncomfortable and I very nearly stepped in (I am six foot four) with an appeal to cut it so people could sleep. Since the Obama supporter was the loudest, I am afraid he managed to make the most negative impression on the passengers.
The McCain campaign won't like this, but there's an old adage about trying to teach a pig to sing -- it wastes your time and annoys the pig. And in this case the other people on the plane.
Do talk to undecided voters. Do fill them in on the facts. Let them know about McCain's tax plans, about his votes to close loopholes for the middle class while giving more and more to his rich friends. Ask them if they think they should carry more by allowing their health benefits to be taxed. But don't waste your time with the jerks. They will be jerks tomorrow, on Election Day, etc. And don't ruin people's sleep. There's a time and a place. You'll win a few with manners and lose many more without them.
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you But make allowance for their doubting too, If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise....
This scene is all too familiar to me: There's a guy who keeps acting out, throwing tantrums when things don't go his way. He's making erratic decisions. Grandiosity inflames his rhetoric. Jealousy upends his perspective. He denies the problems that everyone else sees, then suddenly reverses himself with a peculiar twist on reality. And the problem, as he sees it, is always the calmest, sweetest guy in the room.
This is group therapy at just about any psychiatric ward you can name. I know. I've been in them as a patient. Sometimes, when I haven't been personally accountable for my behavior and not taken my meds, I have been that guy -- over the top and through the woods. I've seen my share of others like him, some of whom were able to pass with a little denial from their friends. So pardon me if I take a moment to speak from my peculiar expertise in facing mental illness both in myself and in others: John McCain rattles me to my toes because he is the Republican candidate for president. Until the last few weeks, I thought him "spirited". Now I think the American people should be demanding a psychiatric evaluation. He is all over the map and, not being a doctor, I can't tell if the cure is Haldol or lithium or what.
The people around him make me feel crowded nose to wrinkled skin with the elephant in the living room. They try to say that he's trying his hardest, just give him a chance. No one in the press, television, radio, or even blogs dares to suggest that John McCain's behavior might be more than a Rovian maneuver -- that he's completely off base.
The strange doings of the last few days revolve around the man. They aren't politics. They are bizarre, untethered, scary. I don't know how to turn this into campaign strategy -- it won't go over well if we call McCain certifiable -- but it can inform how we deal with him. And that means expect the unexpected and don't lose it when he is losing his. So far Obama has shown that he keeps his head when everyone else is losing their's. That's worth making a point about. (Look up the Rudyard Kipling poem "If".) And that may be what wins this election. So point out the behaviors and I believe the American people will put two and two together. But be careful. McCain has shoved women in wheelchairs. There's no telling what he will do in the debates. He might make it personal.
Obama, just keep keeping your head while he is losing his.
