It's not just about a CEO's murder. It's about the kind of change we want and how we get there. And why we're here in the first place. A message to both those condemning and those celebrating the act.
I worked as an insurance underwriter, rate maker and compliance officer for over 30 years. As a compliance officer who made insurance form filings with state insurance departments I can tell you my position was one of having his head on the block constantly. I was told many times to make a filing with some state that absolutely violated state law.
One of my last ones I had the balls to take a photocopy of the law that my company wanted to ignore into a senior vice president's office and ask him to sign at the bottom. He told me to get the f*ck out of his office. I did, returning to my office to put my resume together. My insurance career making $100k per year would last less than a year after that incident. I became a medical records clerk in a hospital making $10.50 per hour, but I slept better at night.
Even then insurance companies invaded my sense of morality. They would send their nurses into my hospital and ask to review records of patients in the hospital. I pulled those records (back in the day when they were primarily paper) for those nurses who would review them and then inform doctors which of their patients they would have to release the next day or payment would be shut off.
I don't believe in violence, Elad, but that said non-violence is not always effective. Can any of us imagine non-violence when America was founded? If we had been non-violent we would be singing God Save the King today.
Right now 17,3% of our GDP goes towards healthcare. That's an average of $13,493 per person, while the 2024 federal poverty level for an individual is $15,060. With that kind of disparity what sort of non-violent action do you propose? Should we all refuse to buy health insurance? Should we refuse to take prescription drugs? At some point violence is the only answer.
I write this as a 78 year old crippled Vietnam veteran who is entirely dependent upon social security and Medicare for survival. Perhaps the real heroes among us are simply those who are willing to do the violence that isn't sanctioned by the Empire.
There is a step beyond nonviolent demonstrations. You press the legal case, involve the remaining free press but don’t give the oppressors an excuse for violently clamping down. When oppressors are violent anyway as in Russia … but for the most part, we’re not there yet. You may be interested in reading Vaclav Havel’s historic essay, The Power of the Powerless.
History bears out that individuals and society often resorts to violence to achieve independence from current oppression and that's in spite of the fact that oftentimes a different kind of oppression results, e.g. the French Revolution; Castro's Cuban revolution.
I read an article by Nadia Bolz-Weber, a Lutheran minister and strong anti-gun advocate, which indicated her moral dilemma when her mother attended a church in Colorado Springs when a shooter came in. His rampage ended early because an off duty female police officer pulled out her gun and shot the man dead.
Her struggle was with her opposition of guns and in particular her opposition of guns in houses of worship, with her desire to see her mother alive and well (which she was).
There are few moral choices that live in a vacuum. We each make exceptions to our own morality setting up moral equivalency. That is what I see and feel in Mangione's case. I abhor the violence, but see no path to rectify such an entrenched position of profit in health care. Capitalism at its very best in any field is still greedy. Socialism has its own problems, but if democratic socialism is so bad why is Norway so great?
When it comes to building a decent place to live, Norway is completely blowing America out of the water. So while conservatives have been pointedly ignoring the most relevant piece of evidence in their tirades against socialism, Norwegians can and do point to the United States as an example of what happens when you let capitalism run wild — and do so with a great deal more justice apparent in their own country,
The Norwegian healthcare system is available to anyone registered as a resident in the country, including refugees and immigrants. However, patients are required to pay user fees for many services, and there is an annual deductible. It is free to those 16 and under.
We need to immigrate Norwegian values, not just their people as Trump desires.
As always Elad, your essays are thought-provoking. While I don’t always share your point of view, I’ve never stepped away from an engagement with your ideas without having expanded my own. Keep up the fight achi.
I worked as an insurance underwriter, rate maker and compliance officer for over 30 years. As a compliance officer who made insurance form filings with state insurance departments I can tell you my position was one of having his head on the block constantly. I was told many times to make a filing with some state that absolutely violated state law.
One of my last ones I had the balls to take a photocopy of the law that my company wanted to ignore into a senior vice president's office and ask him to sign at the bottom. He told me to get the f*ck out of his office. I did, returning to my office to put my resume together. My insurance career making $100k per year would last less than a year after that incident. I became a medical records clerk in a hospital making $10.50 per hour, but I slept better at night.
Even then insurance companies invaded my sense of morality. They would send their nurses into my hospital and ask to review records of patients in the hospital. I pulled those records (back in the day when they were primarily paper) for those nurses who would review them and then inform doctors which of their patients they would have to release the next day or payment would be shut off.
I don't believe in violence, Elad, but that said non-violence is not always effective. Can any of us imagine non-violence when America was founded? If we had been non-violent we would be singing God Save the King today.
Right now 17,3% of our GDP goes towards healthcare. That's an average of $13,493 per person, while the 2024 federal poverty level for an individual is $15,060. With that kind of disparity what sort of non-violent action do you propose? Should we all refuse to buy health insurance? Should we refuse to take prescription drugs? At some point violence is the only answer.
I write this as a 78 year old crippled Vietnam veteran who is entirely dependent upon social security and Medicare for survival. Perhaps the real heroes among us are simply those who are willing to do the violence that isn't sanctioned by the Empire.
There is a step beyond nonviolent demonstrations. You press the legal case, involve the remaining free press but don’t give the oppressors an excuse for violently clamping down. When oppressors are violent anyway as in Russia … but for the most part, we’re not there yet. You may be interested in reading Vaclav Havel’s historic essay, The Power of the Powerless.
https://hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/the-power-of-the-powerless-vaclav-havel-2011-12-23
History bears out that individuals and society often resorts to violence to achieve independence from current oppression and that's in spite of the fact that oftentimes a different kind of oppression results, e.g. the French Revolution; Castro's Cuban revolution.
I read an article by Nadia Bolz-Weber, a Lutheran minister and strong anti-gun advocate, which indicated her moral dilemma when her mother attended a church in Colorado Springs when a shooter came in. His rampage ended early because an off duty female police officer pulled out her gun and shot the man dead.
Her struggle was with her opposition of guns and in particular her opposition of guns in houses of worship, with her desire to see her mother alive and well (which she was).
There are few moral choices that live in a vacuum. We each make exceptions to our own morality setting up moral equivalency. That is what I see and feel in Mangione's case. I abhor the violence, but see no path to rectify such an entrenched position of profit in health care. Capitalism at its very best in any field is still greedy. Socialism has its own problems, but if democratic socialism is so bad why is Norway so great?
When it comes to building a decent place to live, Norway is completely blowing America out of the water. So while conservatives have been pointedly ignoring the most relevant piece of evidence in their tirades against socialism, Norwegians can and do point to the United States as an example of what happens when you let capitalism run wild — and do so with a great deal more justice apparent in their own country,
The Norwegian healthcare system is available to anyone registered as a resident in the country, including refugees and immigrants. However, patients are required to pay user fees for many services, and there is an annual deductible. It is free to those 16 and under.
We need to immigrate Norwegian values, not just their people as Trump desires.
As always Elad, your essays are thought-provoking. While I don’t always share your point of view, I’ve never stepped away from an engagement with your ideas without having expanded my own. Keep up the fight achi.
Thank you, my brother! As always, it's good to hear from you even as we at times have diverged paths.
The divergence is no matter. It’s the connection that counts.