I wanted to post a diary about Jack Carter this week but while I was working on it Tuesday my Aunt walked in and said, "Mike you have to come with me, Doug's dead!" I have been working off and on for a month and a half on a series of four diaries. One on
Why We Need Jack Carter in the Senate, one on
Fighting Republican Propaganda on the Presidency of Jimmy Carter, one on
The Greatest Former President, and one on
First Lady Rosalynn Carter.
Doug was my second cousin and I won't go into my familiy's personal life. I will just say that he was mentally ill and even though his death will be attributed to natural causes at age 55, it was mental illness that ended his life many years ago.
Mental illness also claimed the life of my grandmother who died in November of 2004 at age 87 and my great aunt, Doug's mother, who died in 2003 also at age 87. Both suffered from dementia for at least a decade. I took care of my grandmother for the last 8 years of her life and saw first hand the deterioration of her life as she lost more and more of herself.
I have had friends who have also lost family to mental illness. I have had employers who have lost family to mental illness. I knew in a vague way that First Lady Rosalynn Carter worked on mental health issues but was pleased to see how she started her focus on this issue when I began reading her autobiography. When I write my diary on the First Lady I am sure I will write about this:
The Carter Center Mental Health Program
Back in 1971 when Rosalynn Carter began working on mental health care issues, few people even spoke the words "mental health." "Mental health" meant only mental illness, and mental illness was shrouded in such shame and stigma that many people neglected the issue.
Matthew Chp 25 Verse 40 (NIV):
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.
The population is aging and not with the kind of dignity we see in President and First Lady Carter. We have a health crisis in this country and Republicans continue down the path they started in the Reagan administration when they tossed the mentally ill on the streets and declared that people enjoy being homeless. We see Republicans blocking stem cell research that might be beneficial to people who have Alzheimer's. We see Republicans attacking Veteran's medical benefits at a time when many returning vets will need mental health treatment due to the stress of their service.
There is a lot more I would like to write on this subject along with my four uncompleted diaries. Right now though I just want to write that we have an opportunity in Nevada that won't come again for six years. I was very pleased to see that kos focused on Jack. I was happy to see all of the Carter diaries this week. I will still finish and post the ones I am working on and more Carter ones as they come to me. I hope that when November comes that the DailyKos community will be able to hold up its head and say, "Jack Carter is our Senator!"
Please give to Jack's campaign if you can.
Carter for Nevada or my ActBlue Page