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Donna Smith is a victim of the U.S. health care system who was featured in Michael Moore's documentary Sicko. Donna is national coordinator of American Patients United and has toured the country, speaking about her experiences and the struggle for health care rights for all.
She wrote the following in response to an open letter from Michael Moore that asked people to contact Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and their congressional representatives to urge them to vote "no" on the $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street.
She wrote the following in response to an open letter from Michael Moore that asked people to contact Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and their congressional representatives to urge them to vote "no" on the $700 billion bailout plan for Wall Street.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Barney Frank discuss the bailout planHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Barney Frank discuss the bailout plan
OKAY, MICHAEL, I did it. I called--just like you asked me to. I called my senators and told them I am fed up with the mess on Wall Street, fed up with the bailout of the big boys, fed up with the wealthy ruling the rest of us. I am so angry today I can hardly contain it. Enough is enough doesn't touch my rage.
Sen. Barack Obama's office politely logged my comments and took down my address. Sen. d**k Durbin's office did not. They argued with me about the benefits for me of the bailout. They argued with me--asked me if I wanted to see more people suffer if there was no bailout. Oh my God. They argued with me.
Four years ago, my husband Larry and I declared bankruptcy because even with health and disability insurance and a health care savings account, we went belly up when our bills and expenses surged well past our ability to cover them. Larry has chronic health issues; I had cancer. There was no way for us to hang on despite our efforts to borrow and plead to stay afloat. We lost our house and most of our furniture and most everything we worked to achieve.
As punishment for going bankrupt in America, we will never again--never again--own a home or have a credit card that isn't savings-backed or have any of the nods of acceptance the "good" credit bearers have in this nation. People will look at that bankruptcy and judge us unfit--look down their noses at us and decide we are losers from now until forever. We got sick, and we went broke, and we are no longer among the valued folks in this nation.
But today, my U.S. senator's office argued with me about how Wall Street needs this bailout to protect me. Bullshit. There is nothing in this for me. I have lost everything. I will never have it back, no matter if I work 100 hours a week, or try 1,000 times harder than I did before. Nothing I can do will erase my failure in getting sick.
Next week, though, armed with my money from the bailout, the Wall Street leaders and the government leaders who now judge me unfit will sit fat and happy, sipping fine wine and eating paté and giggling about the next trip to Europe or an evening at the club. Their lives will remain soft and pure and without the nasty judgments I have to endure every day. My bailout will have funded their greed and smug disdain for people like me.
It stinks to high heaven in America today. I understand damn well that they've mismanaged this into a point of collapse, and that without a fix from somewhere, there are dire things waiting to unfold worldwide.
But by God, no one was there to lift me up or put me back on my feet. And I will die without a home. I will die without ever regaining what I lost. And I will die with the bastards who I am bailing out today looking down their noses at me like I am a piece of garbage because I cannot shop at Neiman Marcus for my clothes or carry a Fendi bag.
I am sick to my stomach after talking with Durbin's office. I can only hope that the polite and respectful response from Obama's staff will reflect how I will be treated under a President Obama. Else, I am not sure staying alive under this sort of domestic and economic terrorist assault on my humble position in life is worth enduring.
This bailout reflects a much deeper and more difficult problem--a very fundamental disdain for democracy. You see, anyone in government who believes this is the way to treat the vast majority of your citizens certainly does not believe in the common good or the value of individuals within a democratic system.
We are just depositors in their bank accounts--they need us to foot the bill for their party. And we're not invited to any table at all. We can pick up the trash.
OKAY, MICHAEL, I did it. I called--just like you asked me to. I called my senators and told them I am fed up with the mess on Wall Street, fed up with the bailout of the big boys, fed up with the wealthy ruling the rest of us. I am so angry today I can hardly contain it. Enough is enough doesn't touch my rage.
Sen. Barack Obama's office politely logged my comments and took down my address. Sen. d**k Durbin's office did not. They argued with me about the benefits for me of the bailout. They argued with me--asked me if I wanted to see more people suffer if there was no bailout. Oh my God. They argued with me.
Four years ago, my husband Larry and I declared bankruptcy because even with health and disability insurance and a health care savings account, we went belly up when our bills and expenses surged well past our ability to cover them. Larry has chronic health issues; I had cancer. There was no way for us to hang on despite our efforts to borrow and plead to stay afloat. We lost our house and most of our furniture and most everything we worked to achieve.
As punishment for going bankrupt in America, we will never again--never again--own a home or have a credit card that isn't savings-backed or have any of the nods of acceptance the "good" credit bearers have in this nation. People will look at that bankruptcy and judge us unfit--look down their noses at us and decide we are losers from now until forever. We got sick, and we went broke, and we are no longer among the valued folks in this nation.
But today, my U.S. senator's office argued with me about how Wall Street needs this bailout to protect me. Bullshit. There is nothing in this for me. I have lost everything. I will never have it back, no matter if I work 100 hours a week, or try 1,000 times harder than I did before. Nothing I can do will erase my failure in getting sick.
Next week, though, armed with my money from the bailout, the Wall Street leaders and the government leaders who now judge me unfit will sit fat and happy, sipping fine wine and eating paté and giggling about the next trip to Europe or an evening at the club. Their lives will remain soft and pure and without the nasty judgments I have to endure every day. My bailout will have funded their greed and smug disdain for people like me.
It stinks to high heaven in America today. I understand damn well that they've mismanaged this into a point of collapse, and that without a fix from somewhere, there are dire things waiting to unfold worldwide.
But by God, no one was there to lift me up or put me back on my feet. And I will die without a home. I will die without ever regaining what I lost. And I will die with the bastards who I am bailing out today looking down their noses at me like I am a piece of garbage because I cannot shop at Neiman Marcus for my clothes or carry a Fendi bag.
I am sick to my stomach after talking with Durbin's office. I can only hope that the polite and respectful response from Obama's staff will reflect how I will be treated under a President Obama. Else, I am not sure staying alive under this sort of domestic and economic terrorist assault on my humble position in life is worth enduring.
This bailout reflects a much deeper and more difficult problem--a very fundamental disdain for democracy. You see, anyone in government who believes this is the way to treat the vast majority of your citizens certainly does not believe in the common good or the value of individuals within a democratic system.
We are just depositors in their bank accounts--they need us to foot the bill for their party. And we're not invited to any table at all. We can pick up the trash.
