According to our national anthem, America is supposed to be the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.  There may have been something to that when Francis Scott Key wrote those words in the early 19th Century, but not anymore.  These days, America seems more like the land of the sick and the home of the scared.  The ongoing battle over the replacement of Obamacare is just the latest proof.  Think we’re not the land of the sick?  Just turn on your television.  For good or ill (mostly ill), Americans get most of their information from a screen.  Maybe I’m dating myself, but I remember television commercials for happier products.  We had Tony the Tiger, we could See the USA in our Chevrolet, Hertz put us in the driver’s seat, and blondes had more fun.  And even if they were selling some over the counter remedy for some ailment, it was enjoyable.  Speedy Alka Seltzer, and the guy who “can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”  Even the woman with Excedrin headache No. 76 was more laughs than the stuff we are getting now.  Today, every commercial break reminds us that the world is being run by drug companies and trial lawyers.  I swear, if you just arrived from another planet and turned on the television, you would be convinced that all Americans are deathly ill.  No sooner do you hear, “We’ll be right back, after this message,” and it begins.  You have commercials targeted at the several thousand individuals nationwide who unfortunately suffer from a particular cancer treatable by a drug that costs some $300,000 a year.  The message is blunt, “Don’t want to die?  Take this.”  Then the people with psoriasis come at you touting the latest nostrum that will make the plaques disappear, but it may kill you.  I guess you have to take the good with the bad.  Women appear to be afflicted with myriad maladies relating to elimination.  Some are constipated.  “Take this.”  Some are afflicted with continual diarrhea, which prevents them from enjoying any outing.  “Take this.”  According to the commercial sponsors, the remainder of the female population pee, either when they laugh, or at all other times.  “Take this and wear this.”  The most alarming indication of the health of the nation, however, is that the remaining Americans who don’t have heart disease, psoriasis, constipation, diarrhea, or incontinence, and cannot benefit from the products being advertised for those ailments, are so upset with this situation that they have become depressed.  Not to worry, we have plenty of drugs for depression, and even if you’re already taking one drug, no problem, you can add another.  Of course, because the drug companies share their control of the country with the trial lawyers, you must be treated to disclaimers about the side effects of these miracle drugs, which disclaimers take longer than the pitch for the drug itself.  “Taking this drug may cause constipation or diarrhea.”  That covers all the bases.  No problem.  See the drugs above.  Now these depression drugs are for people who are, for want of a better term, “depressed,” right?  Am I the only one who thinks that taking a drug for depression, a side effect of which is thoughts of suicide might be a bit counterproductive?  Thoughts of suicide seems to be a side effect of many of these concoctions.  There’s even a drug for arthritis that may bring on suicidal tendencies.  Imagine a poor unfortunate afflicted with both depression and arthritis, taking a double dose of suicide encouraging drugs.  I can hear the first person endorsement now, “Being clinically depressed and arthritic was a particular challenge for me.  These drugs changed all that.  Without them, I never could have tied the knot in the noose I’m thinking of using to hang myself.”  Better living through chemistry.  Then, when the drug makers are through with their pitches, on come those scavengers of the legal profession, the mass tort lawyers.  After just having been exhorted to buy Xarelto, we are told, “If you took Xarelto, you may be entitled to a cash award.”  It is the endless dance of the rulers of our society.  One sells immortality, and the other sells revenge when the afflicted realize that they are mortal after all.  So, once the commercials have convinced us that we are all sick and in need of immediate treatment, enter the government, to scare the living shit out of those of us who still are living after the drug companies and lawyers have done with us.  Democrats claim any change in Obamacare “will kill millions of people.”  Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act), was the ultimate government lie.  It was touted as affordable health “insurance.”  You could keep your current plan (LIE), your current doctor (LIE), and costs would go down by $2,500 (BIG LIE).  Costs went up every year, some doubling.  Most deductibles tripled.  So, people who are forced to buy it (and actually pay for it) can afford neither to buy nor use it.  But 20 million more people are insured because of it right?  Wrong!  Since the passage of the ACA, 22 million more Americans are enrolled in Medicaid.  Medicaid is not insurance, it is a welfare program.  Medicaid is a necessary welfare program, but as a means of providing medical care of the last resort to those without any other option, it is not and cannot be the basis of a sensible healthcare system for America.  Yet, the Democrat objection to the Republican plan to replace the ACA was based on the new law’s refusal to continue to expand the Medicaid welfare roles.  This is a cynical attempt by Democrats to force everyone into substandard Medicaid coverage, making a change to a single payer system seem an improvement.  Like in Canada, where you may wait 3 months to have your broken leg set, but you are insured.  No thank you.  And the Republicans are no better.  Their bill was drafted by insurance lobbyists.  They opposed Ted Cruz’s reasonable proposal to permit Americans to buy only the coverage they needed, because they prefer the current government “gun to your head buy everything” plan.  They make more money that way, you see.  The very idea that any government should have such power that you need its permission to buy only what you want and need should offend every American.  We deserve better, and we are in charge, not the politicians.  It’s time they realized that.