{"id":59,"date":"2009-11-01T15:24:12","date_gmt":"2009-11-01T19:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.libertyunionparty.org\/?p=59"},"modified":"2009-11-01T15:24:12","modified_gmt":"2009-11-01T19:24:12","slug":"size-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/?p=59","title":{"rendered":"Size Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Size Matters<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

Time to downsize the USA<\/font><\/p>\n

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By Rosemarie Jackowski<\/em><\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Is the US too big not to fail?\u00a0\u00a0 For everything there is an ideal size. An enlarged heart will not function as well as one of the ideal size. Giantism is a health risk.\u00a0 Some of the recent losses in the US economy were caused by banks that were too large to be regulated efficiently. Empires don’t survive. Size matters.<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

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It might have been intended as a joke, but\u00a0one of the most profound comments on this topic was made a while back by Bob and Ray Magliozzi, the car guys.\u00a0\u00a0On their radio program, while discussing how to solve the problems of\u00a0world governance, they said that in order for any nation to function properly it must be small. In fact, they said that the\u00a0only way for a government to work would be for the citizens to break up into groups of ten. Ten was the ideal number. That way everyone could be heard. Everyone’s rights could be honored. Every nation would consist of ten citizens.<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

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Think about it. How many lives\u00a0have been lost because of the size of the US Military.\u00a0 The size of the Pentagon Budget has created\u00a0global harm.\u00a0 In addition, the size of the Black Budget is a major problem.\u00a0It should be eliminated.<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

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In a nation that is too big, there is no way that\u00a0citizens can be informed on the complexities of the laws and regulations\u00a0which impact their\u00a0lives.\u00a0Even legislators who vote on the laws are at a disadvantage when a bill is unnecessarily complicated and too lengthy.\u00a0 How many\u00a0in Congress will have read the nearly 2000 page\u00a0Health Care Bill before\u00a0they vote on it?\u00a0A Bill that is almost 2000 pages in length will most likely be read by Congressional\u00a0 staffers. They in turn will write up a brief –\u00a0sort of a Cliff Notes<\/em> for Congress. That’s not the way our forefathers meant for things to be.\u00a0 If the Ten Commandments can be written on an index card, the US should be able to write a health care bill in a few pages.<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A perfect example of how complex regulations harm all of\u00a0us was recently disclosed by Stan Brock during a C-Span interview.\u00a0\u00a0 He made a shocking revelation. He said that free medical care would be more readily available in the US, if only it was not prohibited in all States except Tennessee.\u00a0That was shocking – free medical care at no expense to the taxpayer or the patient.\u00a0 Free\u00a0vision exams, free dental fillings, free medical procedures – unbelievable.\u00a0\u00a0<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The need for medical services is of crisis proportions – sort of a Perfect Storm. Bad economy, lost jobs, home foreclosures.\u00a0 I started to do the research to prove that Stan Brock was wrong when he said that most\u00a0States made it almost impossible for volunteer medical personnel from other States\u00a0to donate their services.\u00a0 Tennessee was the only exception.\u00a0<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I owe Stan an apology. He was right. I was wrong. I had believed that no where in our nation would a doctor be\u00a0prohibited from rendering free\u00a0medical care to\u00a0a sick person. Cause of death – lack of papers of the volunteering physician – sort of a Catch 22<\/em> in medical care.<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Everyone should research the rules. They are different in each State. My research is not complete but so far this is what it looks like. State Regulatory Boards cave in to the pressure of special medical interest groups.\u00a0 Regulations are written to eliminate competition from out-of-state doctors.\u00a0A licensed\u00a0doctor from New York, Massachusetts,\u00a0or New Hampshire\u00a0is not permitted to cross the state\u00a0line and practice in the adjoining Vermont\u00a0town. In Vermont, the licensing of doctors is controlled by the State Medical Board.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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On the other hand, to further complicate things, in Vermont, the licensing of dentists is not controlled by the State Medical Board.\u00a0 The licensing of dentists is regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation, a division of the Office of Secretary of State.\u00a0 The rules for doctors and dentists are different.\u00a0 Rule 4.8 provides for a Transient Practice Permit which allows an out-of-state or Canadian\u00a0dentist\u00a0to practice in Vermont for ten days per year. This rule applies only to dentists. <\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Figuring a way\u00a0to fix this is not brain surgery, but it might allow a patient to get\u00a0brain surgery if it is needed. The fix is easy.\u00a0 Medical licensing Boards should honor reciprocity. A licensed doctor from one State should be granted the right to practice in any other State.\u00a0Red tape and bureaucratic loopholes should be eliminated. Licensing fees for humanitarian volunteers should be eliminated.\u00a0The lack of reciprocity across State lines\u00a0denies a patient’s right to choose. Worse, it sometimes\u00a0denies a patient’s right to survive.<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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For those who are not familiar with the work of Stan Brock, he is founder of RAM – Remote Area Medical. The original plan was to serve those in remote, jungle areas.\u00a0 Now that the US has become a Third World country, RAM has held several free clinics in the US. News reports have shown people lining up in the dark of night with the hope of getting necessary medical care. Many have had\u00a0to be turned away.\u00a0<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The need for a Single Payer system is urgent.\u00a0Until we have a Single Payer system there will be\u00a0a need for thousands of humanitarians\u00a0like Stan Brock.\u00a0<\/font><\/strong>On the downside, reliance on volunteer services such as RAM unfairly deprives others around the world of medical care.\u00a0<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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In the meantime, the US bureaucracy needs to be downsized and simplified.\u00a0\u00a0Only then will heroes such as Stan Brock and the other volunteers\u00a0be allowed to go about their work of saving lives.<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rosemarie Jackowski is a peace activist and an advocacy journalist living in Vermont.<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

Her e-mail address is\u00a0 <\/font><\/em>dissent@sover.net<\/font><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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Size Matters Time to downsize the USA By Rosemarie Jackowski Is the US too big not to fail?\u00a0\u00a0 For everything there is an ideal size. An enlarged heart will not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-candidatesviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}