Letter: All about politics

Letter to the Editor:

Dr. Neimeir made several good points in his letter in response to Liz's, but the one that I feel compelled to echo, endorse, and shout from the top of Dalton Mountain is "make no mistake . . . it's all about politics."

My Poli-Sci 101 textbook described "politics" as the means by which power is distributed and redistributed in any society. Politics is the machinery that produces power over people and resources. At its core, politics is about who has what, who wants what, and what will they do to get it. (Pay a lot of money? Commit murder? Dress up like a Buffalo and riot at the Capitol?)

Who does not want power? What society is immune from power struggles? The history of humanity is all about power struggles and the terrible consequences of them: genocide, famine/starvation, disease, etc. Atrocities have been committed by the powerful against the powerless throughout history.

Now consider that the ability to enjoy all the things that power can bring ultimately depends on one thing: health. Without health, life is much less enjoyable –even miserable, and impossible for some.

Because health is essential to the enjoyment –even the very sustenance – of life itself, it is perhaps the most powerful "tool in the toolbox" of those who hold the power. Consider the purpose and effects of biological weapons and you get the picture: nations are destroyed by disease.

Choosing to believe that human health is somehow exempt from the political machinery that delivers and distributes power in every society is naïve.

I have practiced law for 33 years in the legal system that governs the delivery of health and human services in this country, and I can assure the reader that Dr. Niemeir is correct. Health care policy is indeed driven by "Who has what? Who wants what? And what will they do to get it?"

That is the very definition of "politics."

Bridgitt Erickson

Lincoln, Mont.