Aids/HIV

One of my favorite places in Florida is Key West. I love the tropical atmosphere so I've made it a point to spend my fair share of time there. In Key West there is a rather large homosexual community and from time to time one of them dies from this dreaded disease. I can't remember who, but some group has erected a memorial down on the White Street pier to the homosexuals who have died from AIDS. Oddly enough the monument is on the ground so that visitors can walk all over the names of the deceased. Sometimes you can't avoid it when you are riding a bicycle because of the volume of foot traffic. It should be erected vertically in my opinion to show respect for the dead. But that's neither here nor there.

The reason that I bring that up is because every one of the names on the memorial represents some mother's son. A person with plans and dreams and a lust for life just like you and me. It's true that they brought their untimely death on themselves because of their sexual acts, but that doesn't take away from the fact that each name represents an American. An American with friends and family. This penalty for the person's sexual acts seems like a harsh one indeed. It all seems like a waste of life. The whole AIDS crisis seems that way.

The AIDS epidemic has been devastating to mankind on a world wide scale. Not just areas like Key West that have a large homosexual community. Somewhere around 25 million people have already died from it and around 35 million people are currently living with the disease. This year about 3 million humans will die from AIDS. That's about 5 or 6 people every minute. This includes hundreds of thousands of innocent children. This is all hard to fathom and most of us are very good at trying to forget about it. That includes me.

The complex "cocktail" of drugs being offered to those who have the disease in the U.S. seems to be prolonging life quite a bit. But there is no cure for the disease, and there probably won't be if the truth be told. It doesn't look like it's going to go away on it's own either. In fact it is getting worse, making it's rounds through the various nations of the world and devastating whole towns in sub-Saharan Africa (where it is spread mostly through heterosexual promiscuity). If we are honest, the worst is yet to come.

I am not an expert on the disease, nor am I up to date on what our federal government is currently doing to at least slow it down. I suppose that the drug companies are still trying to come up with a magic pill. I may be wrong but it seems like most of the world is resigned to living with it - and are just trying to keep the spread of it to a minimum. Stopping it is apparently an impossibility. At least without a worldwide quarantine.

I sure haven't heard of any efforts to quarantine those who have it. No one even considers it. Since the disease has been so politicized over the last 20 years I doubt that the American Taxpayers would be willing to accept a plan based on quarantine. And it may be too late now anyway since it has been spread to all nations. How would we ever contain it now? It would require a worldwide agreement with a 100% participation level. The logistics of that are mind boggling, though remotely possible.

If I become your next president that position will allow me to be much more privy to what is going on behind the scenes in the world of AIDS/HIV research. When I get informed enough to make what I think are informed opinions about the current status of the problem, I will share this information with the American Taxpayers. Decisions what to do or what not to do can be made at that time. Until then I am like everyone else, sticking my head in the sand and hoping it will go away. My hopes of seeing a cure are proving unrealistic. I don't know what the solution is, other than abstinence for 100% of everyone who has the disease. What are the chances of that happening?

[To see a picture of the AIDS Memorial in Key West, along with other information and the names of the deceased, please go to the following website: www.keywestaids.org/]