America could hardly ask for a more benevolent wake-up call regarding our response to a BioTerror event than the recent flu vaccine snafu. By allowing market forces to dictate our vaccine making capacity, America has allowed a vital aspect of our national defense to move offshore.
We stand on the verge of a tremendous win-win, the recognition that the only viable BioTerror civil defense program is a health care system that operates effectively for all levels of society. The monitoring and response capabilities we require could be combined with effective preventative care. The economic rewards of a healthier populace (reduced insurance, fewer missed work days, etc.) have the potential to make this a fiscally sound activity.
Yet govermental encouragment of public health has been demonized in the conservative rhetoric. Perhaps because 'Artificial Persons,' the designation granted to corporations under the current read of the law, rely on tax breaks and government largesse for their 'health care.' The current administration, laughing off the flu vaccine shortage on one hand and threatening the potential of a biological terror event on the other, has either engaged in vicious hypocrisy or exposed yet another vast ignorance of the responsibilities of their office.
Corporations and the anoited rich of America must come to understand that their futures and safety are not sustainable in a nation with a majority of people receiving inadequate health care. The rich must create a buffer-zone of disease resistant people to become safe. Most all of us alive today have lived in a time uniquely free of the ravages of communicable diseases. It is but a pause in the evolutionary arms race. We achieved this pause because of the self-interested activities of the 19th century rich. They understood that their safety (and wealth) was improved by the creation of public health. Today's brahmin must do the same.
--revtim