"By Russell Malahowski
So many seem to think this is something new. It is not. I am 62 years old. I was born with a heart murmur (the same thing that Jimmy Kimmels son has only not nearly so severe). In those 62 years I was bullied because I was weak. I was told "it could be worse". I even had a nun in 2nd grade tell me and my mother that I was "punishment" for some unknown transgression against God by my parents! Most importantly, in 1970 I was evaluated for surgery to repair the hole. The evaluation was by Easter Seals. You see, they would fund the surgery only if it was immediately life threatening. It was not, but would as time progressed cause more problems. Because of their limited funds Easter Seals could only fund the most critical problems. It then fell to my Fathers health insurance. The year I was born, my Dad caught his supervisor embezzling. Dad couldn't prove it, so his supervisor wasn't fired. My Dad quit rather than ignore the problem. After 6 months the supervisor was caught and fired. My father was rehired, but his health insurance didn't become effective until 6 more months had elapsed, as it turns out 3 months after I was born. The insurance company denied the claim 14 years later because of it being a pre-existing condition. Now some 47 years later, the damage has grown. Under Obamacare I am covered. Under Trumpfuckthesickandpoor I lose. As I am sick and fading, I wished to retire early, but cannot do so. I must now work until I am 65, and may well not make it.
I know this is a long post, but I did so to show that the mistreatment of millions of us is far from a new feature on the American landscape. It goes back to time immemorial. Other countries have decided that sickness is not a character flaw. They realize that the strong should take care of the weak. In America, we continue to be punished. America is not now, nor has it ever been great. I cannot even leave this country. For having lived here all my life, I have paid into OUR social security system, not other countries. And I have not the funds to go elsewhere. I have worked all my life (I worked to put myself through not only college, but through a parochial high school!!!) starting at age 15. I got my degree, I cared for my Father, an aunt, and my Mother in their final years. All the while working and going to school. I paid taxes, contributed to charity, and all this after being treated like shit. I am now tired, sad, and angry. My country turned its back on me, and millions like me, in effect sentencing us to death. The rights and freedoms we supposedly have are denied to far too many to consider this a great nation. I shall pass from this earth in far too few years, having dutifully saved for a meager retirement I will never have. I shall die tired, sick, and in pain. I never committed any crimes, I never hurt anyone, and I did the things I was supposed to do, and have been punished. This is not a great country. And the republicans are not great people. May they all be forever thrown under the bus by future generations. To suffer like me and countless millions of others. And may they forever be held in contempt as being the same as the Nazis they seem to hold in such high regard".

By Russell Malahowski

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