I’ve been reading a lot of sentiments in the news coming from Americans about how their country is moving in the wrong direction and has been for quite some time: the balance between optimism and pessimism is around a 49:51 ratio, so the majority are pessimistic about its future. From a public health perspective, that’s certainly the case. The obesity rate has been increasing steadily over the past few decades, and the birth rate is decreasing; those two metrics are probably related. Sure, there are people and groups of people who are trying to reverse this trend, but what can a single person or a small number of people really accomplish without some dramatic overhaul of the system? The lawyers in politics use their words, but words are just words. They’re not enough to impact real, lasting change, or at least I don’t think so. There are limitations to politics.
I think about the medical industry, for instance, and the recent invention of the new class of obesity medications, the GLP-1 inhibitors, and how that sums up an overarching theme of the American healthcare system: my potential vices are not a cultural or systemic or environmental problem, but a pharmacological one. Overall, the medication does do wonders for some individuals (at least in terms of their weight), but it probably masks other underlying behaviors that will persist. The person hasn’t changed; they’ve just lost a bit of fat and muscle (no need to exercise, diet, or do self-improvement anymore). I think there’s some parallel in the mental health crisis as well. It probably all has something to do with the physician shortage.
My ex, who went to Yale for grad school, was particularly hard on Americans, and maybe that’s where my critical attitude of this country originated, or maybe it was with my experience with the American healthcare system, I’m not sure. Either way, I do sense that this country, despite its wealth, is not the greatest and is viewed that way by a lot of countries around the world. America is in its annoying teenage phase. If I had my choice, I probably wouldn’t have immigrated here. The question becomes: is there any room for it to be improved?
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