http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
I don't get it. I cannot, for the life of me, comprehend why Americans in general are dead set against health care reform. I know regular reader Mr. A. can't wait to tell me it's all about deficits and concern for our financial future. But I don't buy it. Where was that concern with our dependence on foreign oil, which allowed countries we diametrically oppose ideologically, to price gouge us for the last four decades? Where was that abhorrence for non-budgetary spending when we went off to a pointless war in Iraq? How about during the criminally negligent Bush tax cuts during the same period? Why not call for some heads when the corrupt financial system nearly brought us to ruin?
How can it be something that is at long last beneficial to the regular Joe that has the crowds baying? I hate to sound like an elitist liberal snob, but have we as a nation lost the ability to understand what is in our best interest? I hear a lot of talk about how Democrats lost the "message war" on health reform last summer, about the time Sarah Palin started spewing her garbage about death panels. But perhaps I gave my fellow citizens too much credit in believing we had educated ourselves beyond that foolishness?
The bill (or bills) are not perfect. I will admit it. I wanted a public option. The changes we are set to implement attempt to build upon and fix the system already in place. That's certainly better than nothing, but definitely stops short of the revolution some of us were hoping for. Yet and still, a majority of the nation opposes the legislation. It's a head scratcher for certain.
Insurance companies will no longer be able to: cap your annual health care expenses, drop you when you're sick, or flat out deny people with pre-existing conditions. Jobless college graduates will be able to keep their parents coverage until the age of 26. Sure, the plan has a cost, but it is more than paid for in long term savings and deficit reductions. We will never be able to say that about the hundreads of billions we have thrown down the Iraq drain.
So what is it? Are we afraid of change? Are the Republicans having to answer to the special interest groups and lobbyists who line their pockets? Are these the people being polled? Why doesn't CNN ever call me? I don't have the answers. I am thinking out loud here.
Anyone, anyone?
I don't get it. I cannot, for the life of me, comprehend why Americans in general are dead set against health care reform. I know regular reader Mr. A. can't wait to tell me it's all about deficits and concern for our financial future. But I don't buy it. Where was that concern with our dependence on foreign oil, which allowed countries we diametrically oppose ideologically, to price gouge us for the last four decades? Where was that abhorrence for non-budgetary spending when we went off to a pointless war in Iraq? How about during the criminally negligent Bush tax cuts during the same period? Why not call for some heads when the corrupt financial system nearly brought us to ruin?
How can it be something that is at long last beneficial to the regular Joe that has the crowds baying? I hate to sound like an elitist liberal snob, but have we as a nation lost the ability to understand what is in our best interest? I hear a lot of talk about how Democrats lost the "message war" on health reform last summer, about the time Sarah Palin started spewing her garbage about death panels. But perhaps I gave my fellow citizens too much credit in believing we had educated ourselves beyond that foolishness?
The bill (or bills) are not perfect. I will admit it. I wanted a public option. The changes we are set to implement attempt to build upon and fix the system already in place. That's certainly better than nothing, but definitely stops short of the revolution some of us were hoping for. Yet and still, a majority of the nation opposes the legislation. It's a head scratcher for certain.
Insurance companies will no longer be able to: cap your annual health care expenses, drop you when you're sick, or flat out deny people with pre-existing conditions. Jobless college graduates will be able to keep their parents coverage until the age of 26. Sure, the plan has a cost, but it is more than paid for in long term savings and deficit reductions. We will never be able to say that about the hundreads of billions we have thrown down the Iraq drain.
So what is it? Are we afraid of change? Are the Republicans having to answer to the special interest groups and lobbyists who line their pockets? Are these the people being polled? Why doesn't CNN ever call me? I don't have the answers. I am thinking out loud here.
Anyone, anyone?
Posts
Remember that Palin also complained about funding for fruitfly research, so she has discredited herself from anything related to, well, anything. But specifically, what is for the prosperity of the greater good.
ReplyDeleteIt is selfishness, plain and simple. People don't want to be on the hook for what they don't realize immediate benefits. That is why it is so difficult to voluntarily save for retirement. We had no say in the matter about bailing out on the banks; this health care debate is ripe for the picking, and everyone wants their 15 minutes.
I have made the comment in a couple different places that as the credit card companies used our interest earned to find loopholes to the recent legislation, so goes the same for insurance companies with our premiums. I almost can guarantee they've been working on finding ways around this plan.
I suspect, also, that the Texan Senator what's-his-name yelled only "baby killer" not "it's a . . ." That is an example of fear-mongering at its most annoying level, and is one reason why this has been such a painful process. Hopefully, logic will prevail.
Keep in mind that most Americans do not want the government running our health care, our corporations, etc. Also, most Americans favor lower not higher taxes. With regard to dependence on foreign oil, what say do the American people have at all with regard to our energy independence? Sure we can all drive our bikes to work, yada yada...GMAFB! I think most Americans favor alternative energy but the American people don't exactly have the ability to make that happen nor is it a immediate fix. And the ability to tap our own oil resources in this country have been met with resistance (from liberals).
ReplyDeleteAs for health care, I like the fact that insurance companies will no longer be able to cap your annual health care expenses, drop you when you're sick, or deny people with pre-existing conditions, etc. I see that as a positive step for sure. For the record, I was for a public option. Without it I don't see what this bill provides other than the aforementioned benefits. How do those benefits justify the costs? Where is all the money going? And how will this legislation drastically reduce my health care costs? Perhaps I need to learn more about those answers. But I think therein lies the problem with regard to acceptance.
-Mr A
Here's the thought process:
ReplyDelete1. Wealth is the result of hard work, merit, and good choices. Therefore, if you are poor, you are lazy, lack merit, and made bad choices. And if you are rich, you have worked hard, made good choices, and are therefore deserving.
2. The hard working people should not be forced to subsidize lazy people who make bad choices.
3. If you cannot afford health insurance, it's your own fault, because if you only worked harder and made better choices, you'd be able to afford it. (See #1)
4. Markets are perfect and infallible. Therefore, if there are people who cannot obtain health insurance, the solution is to open the market to interstate competition. That way, insurers can "compete" across state lines, and consumers can find a plan, just as consumers can now find credit cards issued from states with strong laws protecting them against usury.
5. If said plan is still too expensive, that's the purchaser's fault, because if only they were harder working and made better choices, they would be able to afford coverage.
6. The poor need to be made as uncomfortable as possible, otherwise they won't have an incentive to improve their condition.
7. A lot of poor people are non-white, i.e. not "real Americans." Real (i.e. white) Americans should not be compelled to subsidize the self-evidently lazy and destructive habits of non-whites. The non-white community needs to fix its own problems without any assistance or aid, just like the white community did.
8. Once, someone had to wait in line for something health-care related in Canada, or maybe it was England. Maybe France. The point is, someone had to wait in line one time, and that's what happened under Communism.
I probably left out a couple of points, but these seem to capture the gist.
What a bunch of bullshit Sanjiv! If the only people who are against the plan are rich white people, then it would have the overwhelming support of the American people. And BTW, it's not a crime to be rich and white.
ReplyDelete-Mr. A