I’m starting my own Super PAC, Positive Affirmative Committee and our focus is to shine a light on dark and unregulated systems that affect our daily lives. 

There is no going back, we have to look ahead and get it right for real this time. We need some serious re-structuring. 

My sister and I disagreed about age the other day. She feels that our elected officials should all be older because they have more experience. I think we should have some young blood in those seats of power to bring some fresh ideas to the table and get some experience. I support anyone at any age that has a vision for how we can do things better. 

In fact, this is my first order of business. Every senator and house representative must be paired up, one old and one young from opposite parties. There should be a 10-20 year age gap between them. That would be the start of seeing differences married together for the greater good. When I was in school it was tradition that eighth graders had a kindergartener buddy for the year. How about senior centers merged with day care centers? Think of the progress in all generations if we could start to play a more central role in each others lives. 

Today I heard a term that I didn’t even know I had shamelessly bought into. 

The Personal Responsibility Myth. Responsibility and Accountability are not just on the individual. Environment and choices available are leading factors in how goals are attained by the individual.

There is a very broad spectrum regarding this myth, but I am specifically referring to the PRM of health. When it comes to vaccinations there is a debate if people with a high body mass index should be considered priority to receive it. What is considered a big BMI? How is the scale measured? Who set the guidelines? Is it moral and ethical to deem a group unworthy of vaccine priority? When does prioritization start to shift to preferential? The bigger point made in this story is the myth of personal responsibility. There are a variety of factors that contribute to the quality of a persons health. When an individual is judged as lacking personal responsibility that creates a stigma. Those stigmas become belief and then we forgo solutions. Being your own advocate is exclusive to those who believe their voice matters. 

My mom and dad are struggling with type 2 diabetes. They are over 70 and anxious about the covid vaccine, but they want to get it. Should they be denied because their BMI doesn’t fall into a range that is worthy of saving? My parents are trying very hard to manage their health, but still they fall short. I don’t believe we should be penalizing individuals because of a distorted personal responsibility myth. There is a personal responsibility to doctors to help their patients not judge them. The partnership between doc and patient is interrupted by the third party of insurance. There is so much I don’t know about how insurance and big pharma work, but I know that they are more about business than health. To be fair, our society doesn’t make choices easy. How many ads are we fed about food and alcohol? Leaders and company’s don’t promote or encourage a healthy lifestyle.

The Positive Affirmative Committee wants every voice to be heard. The roots of these problems start with seeing people not as just a statistic but as a whole human. Just imagine how solutions could be implemented if we could just hear each other better.