Luigi Mangione is the suspect in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson. The U.S. Justice Department is seeking the death penalty. If nothing else, America seems good at killing. Of coarse, the sensational nature of this killing is the epic discontent and rage generated by a sick care system, particularly insurance companies, that is far better at generating profits than health. Weather we like it or not, this killing has struck a chord and is giving voice to this rage. Like Martin Luther King, Jr, said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” Chronically bad health care public policy that literally kills tens of thousands of Americans every year from preventable conditions, not surprisingly, creates unrest, not always civil. This poem is a tip of the hat to the inescapable reality that “policing” goes both ways, top to bottom and bottom to top, when illicit behavior persists. Healthy caring results in health care; sick caring results in sick care (sic). If nothing else, Americans seem well schooled in tragic side effects.
Who Polices Who – Owed to Luigi Mangione
“Killing one person is murder. Killing thousands is health care policy.” –Stalin-ish
I shot the sheriff
Who polices who
Gets health care
Who would Jesus deny
Care to
Speculate on some stock answers
Weather a tsunami of paperwork
Or targeted bullet points
Different forums of violence
As want to, three times denied
Then dying cross
In the thick of blood
It’s all relative
A kin to taxes
Where nothing is certain
Accept death
At a pointed time
Aside from corporate persons
Which know no death penalty
And really can’t serve
Time
And time again
Let alone actual people
As pleas cop
