Freedom Democrats: Medical Care for All

It must be repeated over and over again that the way voting works small groups can have big impacts on elections.

The United States has 330 million people, but as few as thousands can change election results. That is because elections divide the nation into districts. The largest are the 50 states, the smallest are election districts, which pool voters from a neighborhood or a small town.

Only a few thousand voters can decide who wins.  Freedom Democrats are not trying to take over the country they are trying to be heard and persuade.

Getting started requires no special skill; people who party should throw a party. Weekly parties allow people who share common interests to get to know each other. The objective is to get a group with different skills and backgrounds working together. Most political groups are only for serious people; the kind who debate if a proposed law is a good or bad thing.

The weekly party allows such people to attend but the main event is a party—dancing, chatting, having a good time. A specific attraction is no cover charge; the group pays for soft drinks or, if they choose, beers. Obviously a party that only has soft drinks can attract a younger crowd. If beer is served the group should consult a lawyer to learn how to throw a hassle-free get-together.

Small steps like this are called “organizing.” It gives everybody a chance to see who is helpful and finds things to do even for people who promise to do something and then don’t deliver. Excluding people for their weaknesses makes no sense when it comes to political organizing.

The object is to attract the maximum number of people who support full rights for people who party. Once the group gains momentum, it can decide what steps to take. It could be simple, like asking the police to change their enforcement policy, or it could be a big deal, like asking the state legislature to legalize drugs or sex work.

The proposal I have made stresses that drug users are denied medical care and this is a violation of their rights. In most places in the United States, the facts will be on your side.

According to the latest U.S. data, more than 109,000 drug users died in 2022, “a new record.”  Many of these deaths were associated with the use of fentanyl, but the law interferes with the doctor patient relationship when it comes to individuals who get high. Freedom Democrats believe that drug using patients should enjoy the same right to privacy as any individual who visits a doctor. Regulating patient-doctor relationships with people who get high makes no more sense than using the law to interfere with women seeking abortions.

In fact, women exercising their right to choose are more likely to find a doctor than patients who use mood-altering drugs. The law used to forbid women from getting medical advice on difficult pregnancies. When the law stopped doctors from providing treatment, women died. Today, drug users have limited choices in the kind of assistance they can receive from doctors. Many doctors don’t trust the intense supervision exercised by agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration and simply don’t treat these patients.

This is a grievous violation of the rights of drug users. Doctors should have every right to work with users on a course of treatment. That right might include helping drug users get high in a controlled environment. Getting high is a basic human freedom and claiming that this behavior negates a person’s right to medical care is foolish. Thousands who would live are dying. Allow doctors to treat drug users like any other patient.

Freedom Democrat parties are for people who support the right of everyone to get medical care.