So I stayed up late to watch the State of The Union address. I wanted to pick apart all of the promises and claims made about Health Care. Pad and pen in hand I was glued to the TV, DVR remote ready so I could back up and replay specific sound bites that were pertinent to the issue. I sat waiting, pad empty, not a single instance to pause and rewind until one hour and three minutes into the address.

“OK here’s what I’ve been waiting for” I thought to myself. I readied my pen. President Obama spoke about how the Healthcare Program will rely upon private markets, not just Government programs. And then…. That’s it. That’s it!? There were only minutes left in the address, “surely President Obama plans on saving the most important subject for last”. I was wrong!

“How could this be?” I thought. Healthcare is the single greatest threat to our economic stability. Why was he not talking about the plan to fix this drain on our Nation?

President Obama pointed at plans to save money by cutting budgets in a variety of areas. When he spoke about shaving a half trillion dollars off the Defense Budget he was met with wild applause. The line item from the 2012 Budget shows the single greatest expense is the planned outlay to the Dept. of Health and Human Services. The Defense Budget line item is three down from the top. Regardless of the actual numbers, it stands to reason if President Obama made it a point to mention how he wants to trim back the Defense Budget, he would at least mention the Line Item that tops the list.

By the CDC’s own estimates, obesity - and its related chronic diseases like dementia, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc – will reach an all-time high of 50% of the American population by the year 2030. As President Obama is rallying the American people to think that we have the ability to pull ourselves out of this tail spin, the American people are becoming sicker, weaker and drained by Health Care costs.

The President made a point to harken back to World War II era challenges met by that population. But he neglects to recognize that at that time, our parents’ generation was healthier than we are today. How can you rally the troops if 50% of them are incapacitated and infirm?

The President cited making it financially beneficial to move jobs back to America by dangling tax credits. But ask the small, medium or large business owner as to what poses the greatest economic challenge to them and they will tell you funding group health insurance plans.

President Obama promised last night that if we increase the exploitation of Natural Gas that he will protect our health by making companies responsible for the chemicals they use. Why should I believe this, when he made a campaign promise to force Big Agra to label Genetically Modified Foods during his first campaign for Change. He has never made a single move on keeping that promise.

Throughout the entire address President Obama kept chanting the mantra that “America is back”. The implication is that the American people are somehow ready to put their shoulder behind this wagon and push this great Country to a victory.  What the president fails to recognize is that until the advances of avoidable chronic disease and failing health are addressed, half of the team will be in the wagon while the other half pushes.

The discussion must address the obvious reasons for the increase of chronic disease over the past one hundred years. The discussion must address the parasitic tendencies of the Medical Orthodoxy driven by the greed of the Pharmaceutical Agenda that has financially hobbled this Great Nation under the rising costs of “managing” avoidable diseases. Someone needs to step up and say the truth. The food we eat, that is also recommended and endorsed by the US Government, is at the root of disease.

Our Government has no business in our pantry. Is it any wonder the Food Pyramid, MyPlate and other mainstream diet promoters tell us to make the basis of our diet many of the grains and crops our Government subsidizes?

Paula Deen caught a lot of flak this week for embracing her Type 2 Diabetes, a completely reversible condition in 95% of those who suffer from it. She is happy to live with her condition by masking the symptoms with pharmaceutical drugs instead of reversing it with dietary changes. But she is just a microcosm of what is afoot here in this country.

I have to ask myself why President Obama said virtually nothing about the financial boulder around the neck of this Great Nation. Each time he invoked the sentiment of how great this Nation is I shouted at the television, “It’s we the people who make it great”.  He has forgotten to address the most important factor in any team’s victory – protecting and improving the health and wellbeing of the players.

####