Beyond Stigma Education: Life or Death Politics for the Bipolar

Posted on July 5, 2011 in Bipolar Disorder Civic Responsibility Class Stigma Taxes

Ask most people living with bipolar what threatens them most from society and they will say stigma. This past year, that answer should have changed. After the disease itself, we are most threatened by the same things that affect other Americans: The playing field has been tilted for all and we are sliding into a boiling pot of poverty and lack of treatment.

Yesterday, I was saddened by the news that my state legislature — that of California — cravenly chose to avoid raising taxes and made drastic cuts to social spending beginning, as they always do, with cuts for programs supporting the recovery of the mentally ill. It was not as if we have raised taxes to the maximum level and still are wanting for enough. America’s taxes are the second lowest in the developed world and, for some, the economy is paying them off well. AHnold Schwarzeneggar produced a generous tax cut for millionaires. In Minnesota, Republicans are staging a government shutdown because they don’t want to raise taxes back to levels where we could support these programs. Again, let me say America is not broke. We are the richest country in the world thanks to what has been a generous economy in our past. But the money has flowed straight to the wealthy and less than 1% has gone to people like you and me.

A video celebrating patriotic millionaires who are calling for their taxes to be raised says “Millionaires are the result of a healthy economy, not its cause.” And our economic tenets are twisted. To say that our values are crazy at this time is an insult to those of us with serious mental health problems. But this is a matter of stigma that I have dealt with before on this blog and right now it is not what I think should be the chief concern of people with bipolar disorder. The Republicans are out to destroy our ability to find and hold jobs, to receive appropriate treatment. If you are not lucky like me, you may find yourself on the street in the next few years. And that is a kind of disenfranchisement that we should not tolerate.

The issue is taxes, taxes that could give us a life but aren’t being raised because of an insane addiction on the part of the GOP to lowering them ever lower. We must reject the Republicans and vote — if not for ourselves, then for our peers — to put them out of office. Of course, we must avoid grandiosity, but this is holy war. If the Republicans succeed people like us will be put out on the streets to die. Higher taxes for the wealthy can save us and our friends. We fought against suicide, hallucinations, and paranoia. This challenge lies in the real world. The Republicans of old are dead and in the thrall of people who want you homeless or dead. Stand up for your right to be human and to contribute to this society of ours.