Democracy is Like Sex

“Democracy is like sex
when it is good it is very, very good.
When it is bad, it ain’t all that bad.”
    —David Frost.

 A dear friend of mine has terminal cancer that is progressing quite rapidly. Until recently he and I made contact on Zoom three times a week, so his journey has been very real and well documented to me. He has been in Hospice care for some time even though he had no symptoms until recently. Hospice is now available to us when we have a diagnosis of terminal illness not just when we are in the act of dying.

From the first day until this week, every time I visit with my friend, he tells me in great detail how great Hospice care has been for him. The care they give, the comfort of their presence, the knowledge that they will be there and walk with him until his life is over means so much to him, he can’t tell me often enough nor make the report as deeply meaningful as he feels.

He wanted to go out of state to visit family and the hospice knew he could not take his meds on the flight, so they contacted a hospice in the city he was to visit and the hospice there took over his care the day he arrived with all of his meds and a roller walker. When he came home the transfer was done to perfection.

Now I am going to say something that will be a shock to some and a disappointment to others, but it really needs to be said. Maybe it desperately needs to be said.

Hospice, this wonderfully caring and very efficient organization was developed and is administered by the United States Government.

Shock to the seeming majority of us who are convinced the government is totally corrupt and incapable of doing anything right or good.

A disappointment to those who seem to think the government should never be involved in helping its people.

This is the age-old argument that started on day one, one side thinking the government exists to care for its folks and the other side thinking the government should only protect and govern its people.

The president and Congress are not the whole government. They are only part of the story. Maybe they are just the repositories of negativism that allow the rest of the government to do their jobs, and in more cases than we could count, they are doing their jobs quite well.

I go to the doctor without bothering to check my bank account because people my age are cared for by an agency of the government.

I have a monthly check that is there because this government made it possible for me to pay into a fund that supplies that check.

Today I got another booster against the virus that has done so much harm. That is number four and at zero cost to me. My government provided that.

 My small company was given loans to keep my employees paid during the pandemic and the loans were dismissed. That did not come from big business. It came from my government.

So go ahead and spout your complaints, your wild theories, and your predictions of doom, but do it somewhere else. Leave me alone to enjoy my loving of a government that in spite of it all is doing a damn good job.

After all I am ninety, so I can say damn if I damn well want to.