H1N1 = Political Points?

My family and I just go over the H1N1 flu. We are all fine, but I will say that it was not fun. It was certainly not the plague that the government is making it out to be. Having lived through it and survived (note the sarcasm), I had to wonder; why is the government making such a big deal of this.

Let me start off by saying, I do not blame the media on this one. While we all know that the media is the lap dog of this administration, they are covering a story, pure and simple. In this case, the government is feeding the story to the media.

Anyway, so I have to wonder, why is this such a big deal. The H1N1 flu is similar to the standard flu types that we have all experienced. You get the muscle aches and fever. In some cases you do get some of the stomach issues. The additional thing with this strain is that in some cases you get a cough, kind of like a chest cold. If you are the type of person that is prone to bronchitis or pneumonia, then it could turn into an infection and lead to some real issues. As with any type of flu, as long as you get your rest, drink plenty of fluids, take Tylenol for the fever and aches and pains you should be fine. As always, don't just trust me, consult your medical professional as not everyone will react the same way. In our case, we were able to deal with this without the intervention of a doctor and without prescription medication.

One evening, after the kids were in bed, my wife and I were sitting on the couch recovering from the day and still recovering ourselves. We were watching the news and hearing all of these government officials talking about the Swine Flu and how this is a national emergency and how there were all of these deaths. My wife looked over at me and said, "This is such bull sh!t. It was not anything worse that any other flu I've had." I looked at her and said, "It's because the administration wants a win."

You see, here is the thing. The Obama administration does not look really good right now. The shine and luster is fading away. This man who claimed he was going to bring hope and change has not really done either. Add to that a Congress that really cannot seem to do the right thing to save their lives, and you have a very wary American public. So what do you do? You pull a page out of the movie "Wag the Dog". What the administration is doing is trying to get everyone in a panic. If you get everyone freaked out of H1N1, then you have their attention. You then get everyone from the head of Health and Human Services to Elmo, telling you how to cough into your sleeve and to wash your hands. Once you have everyone's attention, you then show all of the wonderful things the government, i.e. this administration, is doing to protect you from this "pandemic". There still has to be deaths to keep people's attention, so the government supplies those numbers as well as the number of people believed to be infected. Then, once everyone has received the vaccination and the number of infections and deaths related to this go down, we will hear how the government stepped in, rushed a vaccine, kept the public informed and saved the day.

With this, you have just built trust. Now that you have built said trust, they can then start asking for you to trust them with a "public option" or "cap and tax" or any number of things. Folks, lets get some things straight, many of the numbers they are handing out are based upon assumptions. Except for deaths, the tests that are being done to test for the flu are not testing specifically for H1N1, the are just testing for the flu since this is the dominant strain right now. The CDC admits this. Add to that, that many of the people who have died from this flu, have done so due to pre-existing conditions or due to not seeking doctor's care.

I will say right now that much like any illness, H1N1 is no laughing matter and should not be taken lightly. Anyway that gets sick from this or any type of flu should take care of themselves and see the advice of a medical professional if necessary. If you feel you need to, call or see your doctor, go to an urgent care facility or just go to your local Walgreens Take Care clinic. That said, do not let the administration turn this into something they can use for political points. Call their bluff if necessary. The blogs and the media are already talking about how this is going to be so much worse for the uninsured. Don't' believe me, just google "H1N1 uninsured".