President Obama's healthcare proposal has gotten ranks of angry citizens to their town halls to yell at their representatives, desperately trying to make their voices heard. But is yelling at representatives very democratic, regardless of your point of view? It is time to have a real open forum with our representatives and have strong, intelligent, soft-spoken discourse about what needs to change in the current healthcare system. I think the underlying issues aren't being addressed, and the healthcare proposal is simply a band-aid being placed on the skin of a quickly sickening public. (kinda sounds like conventional medicine's approach - masking symptoms instead of addressing causes) Here are the 4 questions I want to ask my representative that nobody is asking. 

1. How would a new healthcare policy address the issue of lifestyle, particularly diet, in America?

I want to know if the government is going to continue its ridiculous subsidies to Big Corn and mega-agri-conglomerates that perpetuate a grossly unhealthy food system and wreak havoc on our precious farmland. I want to know if they are going to encourage people to eat right by making healthy food affordable and available, and discourage poor eating by regulating the junk food industries. You can't force people to eat right and exercise, but you can create policies that make one easier than the other. 

2. Is a new policy going to focus more on prevention or damage control?

Sure, if it is Damage Control Master Formula! But, dozens of auto-immune disease and no know causes? (AHEM!!! CHECK OUT KNOWTHECAUSE.COM!) Drugs to combat diseases that are lifestyle induced? That is the paradigm the current system works off of; a new policy should shift away from this highly lucrative (and for the public, highly expensive) model, and focus on researching causes and eliminating them. (or we could all just eat right and exercise. . . ) There is no cheaper disease than one that doesn't exist. 

3. Will a new policy allow for un-patentable remedies to be fairly researched, and when proven effective, used alongside the patentable drugs?

Pharm companies will hate this one, but if you can spend $10 on tea tree oil instead of $1000 on cortisone cream to fix a skin condition, your healthcare costs are going to plummet. Sorry, Big Pharm!

4. Suppose an affordable, public option is instituted. Will it be mandated that every citizen carry this or some sort of private insurance policy?

There are actually plenty of people who have asked this question, but I think it is one of the most important questions simply because it deals with our basic health freedoms. If it is mandated under law that we carry health insurance, we move one step closer to having MANDATED check-ups, MANDATED vaccinations, and MANDATED compliance with doctor's orders. This is my body - not the governments, and I will maintain autonomy over it.