It is insane to pay for health care as a US citizen. It has become a cliche, but the notions that we have a middling system as well as one that demands that we pay for it are maddening. But doesn't that sound like socialism? YES. To morons who don't even know who Joseph McCarthy was, this is insidious. To them, they think of scary Russian, Communist leaders. It goes without saying that they could name maybe one--everyone knows Stalin. There's no way these chimps could name Brezhnev, and the ideological spectrum would not register a blip of recognition in their puny minds. That doesn't stop them, though, from defensively slinging barbs that actually make them look even stupider. Case in point: that stupid woman who was against universal health care and wrote a letter to President Obama decrying the socialist bent of government-ru health care and then saying, "And don't touch my Medicare." This woman embodies, in a faceless quote, what people make fun of America for. She's brash, crotchety, and stupid. I refuse to elucidate, again, the reason that she's stupid.
Often, when I think about this issue, I find myself arguing the same point with myself. It's the purest form of tautology: Q. Why are Americans so stupid? A. Because they/we are. I don't even want to devise theories of explanation. We elected Simple Jack twice to the highest office in, arguably, the world. We're not dumb? I can hardly think of George W. Bush without cringing.
So I shouldn't be shocked when mentions of death panels and socialism fail to make me laugh. People believe that nonsense, and freak the fuck out, then stall, if not doom, the entire process. Congress echoes the fecklessness of its constituents, unsurprisingly. Representatives and senators should immediately disregard the paranoia of the populace, but the irony of democracy is that they need to resort to demagoguery in order to rally their respective gaggles of voters. Politicians horde those votes, and court and guard them like an abusive husband who shields his battered wife because he fears that she may wise up and leave the prick. Likewise, we need to abandon elitist Washington politicians. Republicans famously labeled John Kerry as "elitist," with no sense of the old "pot/kettle" joke, nor how it should have been turned inward.
I've mentioned how much I hate the Blue Dog Democrats, and how they call themselves "Democrats" but typify none of the modern attributes of the term. Because of their hesitation, the health care bill now puts forth an "opt out" clause that allows state legislatures to decide whether or not they want to participate in the public option. Really, I should like this stipulation because ultimately it could potentially lead to the deaths of thousands of Republicans. However, I recognize that just as many pragmatists could die with the disposable, stagnant conservatives. Many reasonable people live in treacherous states, for whatever reason. Lest we forget, we are supposed to be "united," no matter what anachronistic secessionists say.
As I've said, universal health care should be a slam-dunk. Since we have to tolerate the intolerant, and intolerable, America deserves the limp bill it will get whenever Congress gets around to voting on it.
I especially don't give a shit now that I'm on the socialist Medicare program for the disabled. Without it, I could never have received the stem cell procedure because of its exorbitantly expensive cost and my former insurance company's repeated refusals to cover it. With it, I can afford not to care as America eats itself, like the proverbial snake that chews its own tail.
Furthermore, who would've thought that Benjamin Franklin's political cartoon from over 200 years ago would still be relevant--acutely literal, in fact--today?
R
