Starving public health.

• Author: Jackson, Paul
• Position: Letters

Stephanie Mencimer ("Rich Man, Spore Man," December 2001) is tacitly critical of the Republican-led destruction of public health services, and the resultant increase in Americans without health insurance--changes that affect mainly working people and the poor; but she mainly appeals to enlightened self-interest, arguing that citizens must renovate the public health system because an epidemic will harm everyone. The first argument contains the class-based moral charge and vision of a genuine public health system that could mobilize currently disenfranchised working and poor people to return to the voting booth. The second looks to political centrists and an enlightened right to weigh in on the Democratic side and repair the system--not because all citizens deserve healthcare and government can tax the rich and give the leadership to provide it, but to protect themselves. In essence, a rationale for...