PECOS ENTERPRISE

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OPINION

Feb. 4, 1997

SQUARELY
PEGGED
By Peggy McCracken

To tell the truth,

`I don't know'

Filling in recently for a 20th Century Club speaker who had to cancel
at the last minute, I gave a quick rundown on my mission trip to Mexico
last September. The ladies were intrigued by the cardboard record player
we used to communicate in Spanish.

I told how the record attracted large numbers of children playing in a
park, making me fear the police would grab me for creating a
disturbance. The mayor had denied us permission to witness in the
hospital, jail or plaza and said we should not draw a crowd.

Carolyn Baker asked what the leading crime is in Mexico, and I had no
idea. But I said we did ask about the drug problem and was told that
young people who come to the United States are bringing the drug problem
home with them.

Then Amy Miller asked if the Mexican people have health care. Hmm.
Well, I did see some doctor's offices, and I know they had a hospital
because we weren't allowed to go there. But I said I didn't think they
had a government health program, so I supposed that they had to pay for
any care they received.

Wrong! The very next morning I read a story in the newspaper about
Mexican social security providing health care. So I asked our federal
court reporter, Magda Montes, about it. She was raised in Juarez and
knows everything there is to know about Mexico.

Yes, Magda said, anyone in Mexico who works is covered by seguro
social (social security), which provides a retirement pension,
plus health care now to the worker and all his dependents, including
parents. The federal government runs the hospitals that care for them.
Those who are not covered go to a general hospital. They still are taken
care of, but not as well as those who have seguro social.

Another program provides housing and some help with college, Magda
said. Most of Mexico is socialized, it seems. They made such a mess out
of the telephone system that when AT&T came in, one-third of the people
switched, she said. Highways are federal, and the feds own the service
stations, too. Cities probably provide water, Magda said, and in a poor
area like Sahuayo, where we were, you can't expect good service. Water
pressure was so low in the houses we visited that you couldn't flush the
commode. Oh yes, and government electricity. A little rain knocked out
our power the first night I was there.

Our own government is getting so big we can hardly breathe without
bumping into some regulation. But give me capitalism or give me death!

"When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule,
the people groan." Proverbs 29:2, NIV.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Peggy McCracken is an Enterprise writer and
editor whose column appears each Tuesday.

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