Nicholas Kristof (NYT): Going Home, to Red Ink and Blues

[Dudley_DUright]

Across the nation, state and local leaders have been forced to slash more than $100 billion in spending, laying off thousands of employees, cutting off health insurance for roughly one million people, and lowering America's standard of living. Washington is not just aloof from the pain out here in real America, but is making matters worse.

People across America will pay the price for Washington's indifference in lower-quality schools, fewer chances to go to college, less police protection and diminished medical care. The unlucky ones among us, like Douglas Schmidt, will never recover. A 37-year-old epileptic, he depended on drugs that cost $13 a day and were paid for by the state. State budget cuts meant he lost that benefit, and he ran out of pills in late February.

A week later, he had a severe seizure, his heart stopped, and he suffered permanent brain damage, leaving him in what doctors called a "persistent vegetative state."

"He's very impaired," said his domestic partner, Werth Sargent. "He can't talk. He does not respond to commands. But his eyes do move, and they do constrict when light shines in his pupils. That's on his better days."

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/19/opinion/19KRIS.html