Recently, I had the opportunity to listen to a Republican acquaintance's arguments against health care reform. I really didn't try to rebut her, because this is a person whose personal opinions are more treasured than things as trivial as factual reality. She made her points, I just nodded, grinned, bit my tongue, and took mental notes. Most of the argument wasn't even worth the effort to debunk, because it was irrelevant to the issues at hand. But it occurred to me later that her "government can't do anything right" assertion was pretty ironic in light of the fact that she spent her whole career working for the government as a public school teacher in the state of Michigan (and if you want to talk about socialism, isn't that what public schools are? Taxing everyone so that anyone can have a free education...but I digress)...
...so, I did a little Googling, curious of what kind of retirement benefits she has, since she is now retired. Up popped this 2007 newspaper article in the Detroit News:
Link to Full Story
Some of the highlights:
Michigan's education time bomb: Costly, loophole-ridden retirement system threatens public schools...The impact could be devastating to public education in Michigan, the only state that makes its schools bear the entire burden of retiree pensions and health care. This year's bill -- an estimated $1,015 per student -- is more than schools spend on books, buses, computer technology and building maintenance combined...
The second part of the series continues:
The $1,470-an-hour loophole: Retirees work for 13 days to earn lifetime health care...Paulette Strong loved the 102 hours she worked as a school aide last year. And the benefits were pretty good, too. For those 102 hours of work, Strong will get most of her medical bills paid by taxpayers for the rest of her life. A loophole in Michigan's school retirement policy allows the 60-year-old grandmother and hundreds of former school employees like her to earn lifetime health care at deeply discounted rates -- a perk worth an estimated $150,000 per retiree -- for returning to work for the equivalent of 13 days. Strong, a former bus driver who left the school district before qualifying for retiree health care, returned as a school aide earning $6.50 an hour. But because those hours earned her inexpensive lifetime dental, vision and medical care, her effective salary was closer to $1,470 an hour.
I know for a fact that my acquaintance worked at her school post-retirement, so probably took advantage of this loophole. So, not only did I have to pay taxes for her employment, I will have to continue to pay taxes for years to come for her health care. Yet, according to her, the government has no business being in the health insurance game, and I have no right to access the same government sponsored benefits that she enjoyed, and continues to enjoy. She got hers, but I have no right to mine. No matter that she got hers by exploiting a loophole.
Meanwhile, back in the world of fact based reality: Michigan is in budget crisis, has the highest unemployment rate in the country, and its health insurer of last resort, Blue Cross Blue Shield, is raising its rates on individual policies by an average of 22% - an increase touted as a "victory for families" because it's less than the 56% increase that was proposed.
And meanwhile, in the world of Fox based reality: The Tea Party Express Hits Michigan, and it appears we no longer have a Democracy, and have disenfranchised Joe Teabagger:
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm out here to get my country back, all right? And that's what we're all here for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a lot of us that worked hard for our health insurance. We want it left alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm worried about my future. I can't vote, and I don't have a say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody says that we're an angry mob. Are we an angry mob?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
Full Fox News Story
[sigh]
Sometimes, I am just at a loss for words. This is one of those times. In such situations, sarcasm often serves me well. So...I have a modest proposal: let's modify the Statue of Liberty to more correctly reflect the Teabagger's America. First we chisel out the words:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me"
and replace them with a Lou Reed lyric:
" Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll piss on em
Your poor huddled masses, lets club em to death
And get it over with and just dump em on the boulevard"
Following Reed's lead we can rename her the Statue of Bigotry, replace the tablet in her left hand with a Glenn Beck best seller, remove the torch in her right hand and replace it with a giant extended middle finger. "I worked hard for mine, " I can hear her say. "Now leave me the Hell alone."
[another sigh]
Other times, when I'm at a loss for words, I just quote someone else. And so, I conclude by quoting UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "I'm out here to get my country back, all right? And that's what we're all here for." Amen, brother. I want my America back. In my America, empathy isn't a dirty word, and diversity is strength. In my America, we know that we're all in this together - there is no profit in the degradation of the tired, the poor, the tempest-tossed. In my America, those who have are concerned for those who have not. My America has the motto "E pluribus unum" - "Out of many one" - on its currency and state seal. And of my America I am willing to boast: it is much better than the America that the Teabaggers believe is being torn from them. I will even go far out on a limb and claim that it's much better than the America we have become.