Friend,

I couldn’t let May close without talking about Mental Health Awareness Month and addressing the elephant/donkey in the room:

We are all suffering from late stage capitalism, and both major parties are to blame.

While I haven’t been a practicing physician for some years, I DID serve as a medical doctor for decades. I do not profess to be a mental health specialist, but in my time as a doctor of internal medicine I worked with patients all day long who suffered physical symptoms triggered by the emotional strain of surviving in a structurally unjust society.

This is not purely my medical experience speaking. This is the conclusion of a multitude of peer-reviewed studies by various organizations that specialize in public health – for years.

It’s not particularly surprising, is it?

When we have to work harder for less, when we have to pay more for our basic needs, when we live under the constant strain of income insecurity and housing insecurity and food insecurity...we pay a physical AND mental price for that.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that American health insurance programs consider mental health an “add-on” component and not a fundamental part of our total human wellness.

To tackle the American mental health crisis, we need a multi-tiered approach.

First, we need universal healthcare that includes comprehensive mental health services as a fundamental part of wellness.Second, we need to address the root causes contributing to the mental, emotional, and physical strain so many Americans are living with – fixing income inequality, providing housing security and guaranteeing a living wage and access to high-quality, fresh foods, green spaces, and adequate rest.

Finally, we need to commit to the kind of political change that would make these changes permanent.

Not subject to the means-testing that Democrats love. Not subject to the whims of the next despot the Republicans put in power.

Lasting, structural, social and political changes that can’t be undone by the stroke of a pen.

That’s what we’re fighting for with this campaign, and I need your help to get us there. We’ve overcome so many barriers together. Will you make a contribution today to make sure EVERY American has the opportunity to vote for our campaign for people, planet, and peace?

Friend, we don’t have to live this way. Whatever burdens you may be carrying in your heart, you should know that you are not alone and you do not have to shoulder that burden alone.

My wish for all of us this Mental Health Awareness Month is that we as a society will embrace solutions that provide both the immediate support people in crisis need, and the structural changes that will improve our collective emotional wellness.

You deserve to live in peace. You deserve to live in tranquility. You deserve to live without fear, anxiety, and the impending sense of gloom that capitalism imposes on us all.

I believe that world is possible. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be running for president. And I am grateful every day for your solidarity in this fight.

Warmly,

Jill