typewriting

i've been wanting to put into clearer words my reasoning for ending my support for kucinich, because i've found that i'm actually anti-kucinich now. i haven't talked about this with any of the few people i know who still support him, because i didn't really have an argument against him. it was just my own bad experiences, and a vague feeling i had this these experiences were a reflection of the campaign. i just found an argument that puts my feelings in better words than i could:

If running for the presidency was a left-wing essay contest, then we would all vote for Kucinich. It isn't. Presumably Kucinich has heard of the Internet. Where was his Internet campaign? Where, indeed, is the Kucinich organization at all? Does Kucinich believe that there is some invisible, natural majority for his ideas that will simply appear like genies when he says his magic words? Kucinich is running a vanity campaign, pure and simple.

that's precisely what i feel it is too: a vanity campaign. what bothers me so much is that it's at the expense of people who are spending their time and energy supporting him. it's one thing for him to talk about peace, but the kucinich campaign was in practice by far the worst internal bickering i've ever experienced, and i saw no sign (and have still seen no sign) that anyone at the national campaign cared. so i'm anti-kucinich. i not only no longer support his campaign; i oppose it.

shelley powers writes about health insurance as the new class system in america:

Now you can have no health insurance and you'll either be the working poor, or you'll be rich enough not to need it. Being completely poor, and I mean on the street homeless, you'll not need it either because you use the emergency rooms for all your medical needs.

i hadn't previously thought of myself and part of the working poor class. and i'm not even working regularly (for pay, anyway), so i guess that makes me just poor. but i'm at least enough a part of the middle class to have savings, which i can rely on for a few more months hopefully before i'll need to give up and go abroad again.

my previous two trips abroad were mostly adventures. the first was to japan during university. then after university, i went to teach english in taiwan. that was slightly less for my own enjoyment and enlightenment, as i was certainly conscious of how the salary would help me quickly pay off my school loans. but it increasingly appears that my next trip to asia will be primarily influenced by my need for healthcare. being diabetic, i simply can't find affordable healthcare in america. and by "affordable", i mean less than what i'm paying in rent.

if i have to leave my country because i can't afford health insurance here, i won't be coming back until i can. i'm not so arrogant as to think i alone am a significant loss for the country, but i think i'm a symptom of a larger problem. i graduated with honors from a pretty good university. i was a good student. i'm a smart guy and a good worker. and i can't find affordable health insurance in america. this must be having a tremendous negative impact not only on my fellow uninsured americans, but also on the country as a whole, as we lose too many good citizens to countries with better health care systems.

thanks to boingboing, i have my valentine for next year written already:

you activate my dopamine-rich brain regions and parts of my anterior cingulate cortex.