Are Our Political Leaders Out Of Touch With Medicine?

I don’t know about you but like most Americans, I am pretty disgusted with the presidential race. I do not think any of the candidates would make a good president of the United States. I look back and think of many of the people who I did not vote for in the past and wish they were running now. The current group, in both parties, makes my stomach turn. Yes, these people have accomplished much in their lives and are well educated, but I cannot imagine any of them representing the United States. 

I have been a barely interested observer of the spectacle that has become the Republican presidential nomination race. When did running for president become more of a circus and spectacle than truly wanting to lead and help the country?

The candidates say so many idiotic things that it is hard to pin down what statement is the worst. However, one recently hit home for my family and me.

Just prior to the primary in South Carolina, Sen. Ted Cruz pledged not to provide gluten-free meals to the military if elected president. In an attempt to appeal to military voters while aboard the USS Yorktown, he said he would wipe out cases of political correctness in order to spend resources on building a stronger military. Cases of political correctness include equipping the military with dietary options for those who suffer from gastrointestinal problems like celiac disease, he suggested.

He went on: “That’s why the last thing any commander should need to worry about is the grades he is getting from some plush-bottomed Pentagon bureaucrat for political correctness or social experiments, or providing gluten-free MREs.”

Why is this so offensive to me? Well, my son has celiac disease (as does one of my partners). My son started having severe gastrointestinal problems at the age of 5 and was diagnosed with celiac disease shortly afterward. That was 11 years ago and the understanding of celiac disease has come a long way … except in the camp of Ted Cruz. My son and others suffering with celiac disease have a daily struggle to find food that will not set them off. Every meal is stressful. If people eat something they did not prepare themselves, there is the constant fear that the restaurant or dining hall has not adhered to gluten-free standards. The reaction to exposure to gluten is different for every sufferer of celiac disease. My son has some of the most intense responses to gluten. He will have severe diarrhea within 30 minutes that usually lasts for hours. He will get a migraine headache that will last 12 to 24 hours.

When left untreated, the disease can contribute to the development of diabetes, anemia, infertility, migraines, intestinal cancer and neurological conditions.

Celiac disease affects one in 100 people. Maybe Ted Cruz does not care about that demographic as he tries to wrestle control of the nomination from Donald Trump. However, it shows a deeper problem. Our political leaders are out of touch with people today and I really fear they are out of touch with medicine.  Do you think a guy like Cruz identifies with doctors or malpractice attorneys? 

What do we take from this? From my perspective, politicians might start out thinking they are helping people but ultimately get too self-consumed to actually care about the people they are supposed to represent and protect.