The Country's A Mess, But I'm Still Thankful
At least people are finally talking about America's healthcare disaster, the importance of women's spaces, immigration and our blank check to Israel.
Regarding the train wreck that is the United States right now, my glass of cider is half full.
There is food for worry. Reasons for anger. Yes, there is even reason for despair. But there also are a few things (in terms of public life) that I am thankful for.
Health Care Train Wreck
For the first time, the government is finally addressing the fact that the U.S. health-care system is an absolute train wreck. I’m not saying the Trump administration’s solutions are perfect, but at least Trump is working on the problem.
The U.S. has the highest chronic-disease burden in the world, despite spending more than any other nation on healthcare.
The average life expectancy at birth in the 38 countries tracked by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was 80.3 years in 2021. The U.S. life expectancy at birth was 76.4 years and ranked No. 32 out of the 38 countries, falling between Colombia (76.8 years, No. 31) and Poland (75.5 years, No. 33).
Meanwhile, in 2022, the U.S. spent $12,555 per person on health care, which was over $4,000 more than any other high-income nation.
People literally are dying so that private equity funds and multi-national corporations can profit. I celebrate whenever a corporation announces it is getting poison out of breakfast cereal.
There is something deeply, fundamentally wrong with the U.S. healthcare system, and it has been wrong for decades. Fix it.
The Return To Biological Reality
[See above photo. Women do care.]
GOP President Donald Trump signed an executive order reversing similar orders issued during the Democratic administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden that gave men who identify as women the same legal rights as women. Trump recognized biological reality, and fairness, dignity, and safety for women.
Without so much as a single vote, the Democratic Party conducted a massive social revolution that permitted men to gain access to women’s changing rooms and bathrooms, to play in female sports, to bunk in female sororities, prisons, and hospital wards, and to literally erase the language that pertains to the biological reality of sex.
Trump’s order will likely be reversed if it is not codified into law by the do-nothing GOP Congress… but at least he has spurred public debate and raised understanding about the consequences of the Obama/Biden social revolution.
Immigration Control
Trump closed America’s wide-open open border to undocumented immigrants.
During Biden’s administration, millions of undocumented immigrants entered the United States through un-manned borders. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates that, as of March 2025, there were 18.6 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S.
Since January 20, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says over 2 million illegal aliens have left the United States, including more than 527,000 through formal deportations and an estimated 1.6 million through self-deportations. A United Nation’s study reported that Trump’s immigration policies has led to a 97% reduction in illegal aliens heading to the U.S. from Central America.
The Blank Checkbook
The U.S. Council on Foreign relations estimates the U.S. has given Israel over $300 billion since its founding in 1948. This includes around $30 billion since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, and Israel began its ongoing, systematic genocide of Palestinians, including theft of their land.
One reason for the blank checkbook is the astonishing amount of control over Congress by Israeli billionaires and PACs, especially the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
AIPAC spent more than $100 million on 2024 elections, helping defeat two progressive legislators, Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-MO), who were vocal critics of Israel.
Even Israel’s staunchest cheerleader, the New York Times, acknowledges that a majority of Americans now disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza and oppose sending additional economic and military aid to Israel.
Israel currently has a much higher standard of living than the average Americans (with guaranteed universal healthcare, free or heavily subsidized college tuition, subsidized housing, etc.).
Sadly, as the above indicates, what Americans want has very little actual impact on foreign policy. But it is reassuring that Americans are questioning why the U.S. has for decades financially propped up Israel’s aggressions against virtually all of its neighbors.
The U.S. should redirect the money we spend on killing Palestinians to American health care, including mental health care for men who identify as women.
Meanwhile, the end of the Ukraine-Russia war, stoked by Biden, appears to be in sight.
Despite the cacophony of negativity from the U.S. media, which is owned by a small group of billionaires and international corporations, there is reason to be thankful. Seventy-seven million Americans put Trump in office again to effect change.
(Of course, I have countless things to be grateful for in my private life, and I am very grateful, especially for family and friends.)