Here is another in our ongoing series of blogs in which we examine the phenomenon of materialism—an omnipresent force, and arguably a social pathology, that has reached unprecedented levels in contemporary America.
Materialism is not confined to a single sphere of national life. Rather, it has spread like an infection, infiltrating everything from financial markets and healthcare to political agendas, warfare, and even nutrition. It has so deeply embedded itself into the fabric of American society that disentangling it from daily life is nearly impossible. Materialism is no longer merely a symptom but a consuming disease driving the nation’s ongoing decline.
I begin with an example that I recently experienced firsthand during what was supposed to be a routine checkup with my primary care physician. And I’m not talking about just about any doctor; I’d been seeing this particular doctor, who had come highly recommended to me by a close friend, for 20 years. He always had always struck me as an exceptionally fine man. Yet now in retrospect I’m conscious of having watched him gradually devolve into being less and less caring of his patients, a process that the Covid pandemic only expedited. That’s when he had completely transformed himself, to where his “caring” ceased to exist. I hadn’t been feeling quite myself for a few weeks, nothing urgent, but enough to warrant a visit.
Before the exam even began, I specifically asked my doctor not to test my PSA levels as part of the panel. This wasn’t a question of denial, of wishing not to risk seeing prostate cancer indicators. It was simply that I know my body well and have long had a slightly elevated PSA score. With no pain or other symptoms suggestive of prostate cancer, I saw no reason to dwell on a number that could only cause unnecessary alarm.
Yet, the test was ordered anyway—mechanically, almost mindlessly, as though patient input carried no weight compared to ticking a box on a chart. When the results appeared in my online portal, I was stunned. My PSA levels were so high that I immediately feared the worst: Was this prostate cancer? Was I at death’s door? I tried to stay calm as I waited for my doctor to reach out with guidance. But days passed in silence. The results sat there, heavy with implication, while I was left to wrestle alone with anxiety, sleepless nights, and even physical stress symptoms triggered by the uncertainty. Finally, I called his office myself. His response was curt, almost dismissive: “So call a urologist if you’re worried.” The ease with which he brushed me aside was telling. My health was not approached with care, but with efficiency—another transaction in a system that treats patients less as human beings than as items on a checklist.
When it comes to the topics of my blogs, without exception, I try to practice what I preach. I take daily vitamin D and other supplements aimed at protecting against cancers, particularly prostate cancer. Yet despite these efforts, my elevated PSA score triggered a cascade of stress that soon manifested as real, physical pain—pain that seemed to confirm severe prostate issues. Digging deeper into my test results, I noticed traces of white blood cells in my cultures, suggesting an infection that had either been overlooked or dismissed. Suspecting a possible UTI, I contacted my doctor. His response was to prescribe a medication blindly—an antibiotic containing penicillin, despite my allergy. The result: I became sicker, and the underlying issue remained unresolved.
It was only in a conversation with a friend that the likely cause became clear: prostatitis. Ironically, this had been my first suspicion when the pain began, yet I hesitated to call my doctor back. His indifference had left me feeling like a burden rather than a patient. When I finally did reach out, he claimed the antibiotic he’d prescribed should have covered both a UTI and prostatitis. But even a brief online search proved otherwise. When I pressed him for the appropriate medication, the result was immediate…within a single day, the agony lifted.
My Reflections On What’s Wrong With U.S. Healthcare
Now for my reflections on this experience and why I include it here. I believe my doctor is, at his core, a decent man. Yet like much of the country, he has changed under the weight of materialism. As I mentioned, Covid-19 spurred a global shift. It’s one that accelerated the loss by Americans of their connection to spirituality, which from Jefferson to Eisenhower and Kennedy was defined as a connection to a higher power that has been critical in defining our American culture as well as our personal lives. The likely connection to Covid is that our government, which is wholly invested in materialism, treated the weakness created in the economy as an excuse to address financial shortcomings – but not by taking measures to improve economic productivity and inspire economic creativity. Instead they took the only route they knew, the material way of printing more money – the equivalent of kicking an ever growing can down the road. The medical establishment in the U.S. wasn’t interested in providing the best care, it was simply driven by the desire to generate profits and stave off what many considered to be an inevitable recession.
There is little doubt that the U.S. and for that matter the entire collective West’s response to Covid was motivated more by profits and economics than by a desire to provide the best health care. It is now becoming clear that there was a large group of prominent doctors and researchers who knew that the vaccines being administered were not the best option to offer the public. Under the Biden administration, these doctors and researchers were silenced – even censored. Under the Trump administration, by contrast, the horrific truth has been given air before relevant congressional committees. One prominent medical researcher in his testimony compared the Covid debacle to the WWII holocaust of the Jews.
While this seems harsh, there is evidence from other Western countries – Australia, Japan, and even Britain – that suggests the West’s handling of the pandemic may go down in history as a crime against humanity. Perhaps the strongest evidence was presented in a book by two Australian researchers and physicians. The book’s title –COVID Through Our Eyes: An Australian Story of Mistakes, Mistreatment, and Misinformation– makes the analysis, which was intensely data driven – focused on the Australian experience. But since the U.S. as well as most of the collective West followed similar protocols, a strong case can be made that the same holds true for this country.
Indeed, Senate hearings on the corruption of science – and in particular Covid – were held early this September. Meaningful chunks of the hearings were broadcast on YouTube by the reputable Indian news outlet, Economic Times. There have also been hearings in Great Britain, while in Japan, papers questioning the protocols associated with the vaccine started appearing during the pandemic. One common denominator in all recent studies is that excess deaths of the vaccinated are excessive and cry out for an explanation. Even so-called “Long Covid” has been claimed to be a result of the mRNA vaccine. The whole truth about Covid and the Covid protocol is still unknown. But for now, there seems to be a pretty strong case that the West could have done a better job in dealing with the health of its citizenry.
As for my primary care physician, he has been infected by this material corruption—led to place more value on efficiency, convenience, and profit than on genuine care. He seems to accept without question the protocols and quick fixes handed down by the system, seeking the easiest answer rather than the most humane one. In doing so, he has come to view patients less as living, spiritual beings and more as items to be processed. This was especially jarring because I remember him differently. Years ago, he was empathetic, attentive, and invested in my well- being. Now, after putting alarmingly little effort into diagnosing or helping a patient he has known for over a decade, he seemed eager simply to move on to the next chart. To him, I was no longer a person in need but a source of income. His decline mirrors not only the transformation of the healthcare industry but the broader moral erosion of the nation itself.
My doctor is only one small example of a much larger, endemic problem in this country. Increasingly, we view people as material objects and treat them accordingly. A culture cannot truly thrive when humanity is stripped from its foundations. Just as healthcare has devolved, so too has our financial system—for, as I noted earlier, everything is interconnected. The markets have become a hollow, non-spiritual enterprise, no longer concerned with how individuals might contribute meaningfully to their communities but fixated instead on how much wealth can be hoarded.
This shift—from valuing human well-being to maximizing profit—is not confined to medicine or finance. It is now pervasive across every industry, often so normalized that few even notice. Yet the cost of this dive into materialism will be immense. America’s sloppy, extractive financial system ensures that the burden will fall squarely on individuals, reducing citizens to little more than sacrifices at the altar of a profit-driven culture.
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