The First Tuesday Ritual

Einstein defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and expecting different results." In San Francisco perfectly sane voters do the same thing every first Tuesday of November: They continue to "stay with" progressive (liberal) candidates, and like battered women who stay with their abusers, the result of their loyalty is always the same; MORE ABUSE: (crime, deficits, debt, taxes, mandates, fees,. etc.)

The ritual of uncritical voting in San Francisco is attributed to three somewhat harmless mental conditions:

1Liberal Guilt, 2Cognitive Dissonance, 3Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

1Liberal Guilt is acute among socially advantaged voters who feel responsible for evils they had nothing to do with‐like Slavery. "LG" sufferers TRY to expiate their guilt with support for underprivileged minorities like Mumia Abu Jamal‐(the cop killer.) They preface their opinions saying: "Speaking as a caring (3rd, 4th) generation San Franciscan," then bash Sarah Palin viciously for not aborting her child with Down's Syndrome: "Isn't that what abortion is for?" ‐ they whisper to a red faced dinner partner.

2Cognitive Dissonance is harmless when vegetarian airheads wear leather mini‐skirts. It's deadly serious when caring Moms vote to oppose parental notification of a minor's abortion, and patriotic Dads oppose JROTC. Most sufferers of "CD" are religious leaders, educators, and high school dropouts.

3Obsessive Compulsive Disorder occurs when irregular flow of the brain chemical serotonin sends a false danger signal. ("GERMS") This triggers uncontrollable repetitive behavior sufferers imagine will protect them. (excessive hand washing.) Liberals with OCD fear being wiretapped when calling their Republican stockbroker to buy Exxon. Moderates with OCD fear taking a position on issues. (Can't we all get along.) The greatest fear of conservatives with OCD is their Dominatrix will raise her fee for spanking.

PROZAC is a common medication for OCD; however a side affect diarrhea affects quorums of the Democrat Central Committee, and reduces attendance at SFSU pro Hamasanti Israel rallies.

RESULTS OF THE FIRST TUESDAY RITUAL IN SAN FRANCISCO:

Record homicides, crime, homeless, STDs, drugs, Pot clubs, broken streets, dirty parks, bad transportation.

A $6.5 billion budget larger than 20 states, a $500 million deficit, 27,400 overpaid employees (1:28 residents.)

A $4 billion unfunded liability for health benefits; loss of good corporate citizensChevron, Bank America, Charles Schwab, small businesses and jobs and tax revenues. Young families that leave for affordable housing, better schools, and safer streets. AND more "safe seat" Supervisors who never met a payroll and call for more taxes, fees, mandates and regulations that ultimately hurt vulnerable seniors, handicapped and the poor.

(SC #2209)

Govt Healthcare Morally Deficient

In Guest Commentary: “Health care reform: A Catholic priority.” George Wesolek, archdiocesan director of Public Policy writes: “It is a scandal 45 million Americans have no health care coverage, or inadequate coverage and access” (CSF, Oct. 9) Indeed health care is a Catholic priority, and Catholics deserve an accurate account of this moral imperative. Numbers are instructive: The cliché that 45 million Americans lack health insurance is incorrect. The U.S. Census Bureau reports nine million uninsured earn over $75,000 and eight million earn over $50,000 but do not purchase health insurance. An additional ten million are eligible for Medicare, Medicaid, S-CHIP or employer plans, but are not enrolled. The nine million (or more) Americans that need financial assistance can be insured via options that will keep America’s health care the best in the world: Vouchers for low income persons; group plans, portability, inter-state purchases, tax deductions, medical savings accounts and risk assignment pools for pre existing conditions. Another ten million uninsured in America are not U.S. Citizens; none can be denied treatment in a U.S. Hospital, nevertheless they also could have access to health insurance, and helped with vouchers, etc. This will require comprehensive immigration reform that will end illegal sanctuary policies that subjugate undocumented persons to exploitation by violent criminals, unscrupulous employers and worse; self-serving political and social demagogues. Mr. Wesolek reports the Catholic Bishops and Archdiocese of San Francisco are calling for universal health care that protects life from conception to death as a “moral imperative;” and it certainly is. However, the Second Vatican Council reaffirmed that “error has no rights, but humans do.” All Catholics have a right to be wrong about universal health care controlled by government. It has proven morally deficient; it makes the fatal error of dismissing the ”inalienable” right to life. Every country with universal health coverage admits it restricts or denies medical treatment to certain elderly, disabled, terminally ill and newly born. Great Britain and other single payer nations use the “Quality Adjusted Life Years” system (QALY) to determine treatment based upon cost and patient age; renal dialysis centers in these countries send patients over age 65 home to die. In the Netherlands neonatal intensive care units permit infanticide by lethal injection. In 650 BC. Spartans used a simpler system; they left frail elderly and sickly infants on a hillside to die. Every year thousands of sick people leave Canada, England and E.U. countries to seek treatment in the U.S. Last year 39,282 came from Canada where the Supreme Court has ruled; “Access to a waiting list is not health care.” These wealthy single payer nations have less doctors, less MRI and CT scanners, less beds per capita, longer waits for diagnosis and treatment and higher mortality rates for cancer and heart disease. In Italy health officials criticize their government for not investing in modern drugs and equipment. The entire European Union with wealth greater than the U.S. accounts for only 16% of the world's biotech research; the U.S. invests (risks) 78% for new drugs and technologies that save millions of lives, especially in poor third world nations- this is a moral imperative universal health care ignores. All Catholic advocates of universal government health care should heed the wisdom of Pope Benedict XV: “We do not need a state which regulates and controls everything, but a State that supports social forces closest to those in need. The State that would provide and absorb everything into itself becomes a bureaucracy incapable of the very thing the suffering person needs most: loving personal concern.” Benedict rejects statist demagogues; everyone should. Mike DeNunzio is a California Commissioner on Aging and former San Francisco Commissioner on Aging Adult Services.