...and the Democrats should be over it as well, especially when it comes to national healthcare.
More ranting at the jump.
So this afternoon, I read something that literally made my heart hurt--as in, I was hyperventilating so much that I thought I was going to go into cardiac arrest, right in my cubicle. (Yes, it's a slow work day, and I'm whiling the time away on Facebook as I wait for my next project.)
To protect the names of the not-so-innocent, I will not reveal the name of the commenter. However, if you're on Facebook and you have access to this poll, you can read all such Freeper-ish comments under the poll results. The comment in question was in response to the comment I had left when I had voted "Yes," meaning yes, I am in favor of universal health coverage in the U.S.:
Thirty-six other industrialized Western countries (all with DEMOCRATIC forms of government) have some form of national healthcare. It's about time we in the U.S. GET with the times and guarantee health coverage for all Americans.
Pretty innocuous, right? Apparently, not enough for some right-wing shithead to call me out by name (I changed it to "boofdah" below) with a very telling rebuttal, which in my opinion sums up the crux of why right-wingers are opposed to universal healthcare:
Yes (boofdah), let's guarantee health coverage for all Americans. Including the people who CAN work but don't, the illegals, the 16 year old's popping out babies, the ex-con's fresh out of prison, and the drug addicts who need "help." Yeah lets fund all those "needy" people. Can't wait!
There you have it--the right-wingers' rationale (or lack thereof) for not guaranteeing all Americans with the opportunity to have a better quality of life without going bankrupt, into foreclosure, or left to die because they simply can't afford to get a medical treatment. They would rather have the people they don't like--due to selfishness, greed, bigotry (mostly bigotry), and hatred for anyone and anything that isn't just like them. There it is.
They would rather the rest of us die on the streets, sick and starving, and/or go without health insurance or adequate healthcare lest we go bankrupt or homeless, than guarantee each and every American universal healthcare. Make no mistake--they are committing tacit manslaughter. No amount of right-wing rationalization, spin, "framing," or think tanks can negate that very simple fact.
Therefore, I'm done with them. Done with putting on a diplomatic smile and "framing" my every answer to every right-wing talking point in a cheery, "appeal to the emotional center" of an argument light. I've got the right-wingers' emotional center, and it's right up my ass.
People in our country who are against universal healthcare are, IMO, motivated by selfishness, bigotry, racism, greed, or a combination of all of these. How can one be AGAINST providing everyone in America with the opportunity to live healthy lives unemcumbered by massive debt??? I just don't get it. But I degress, as the old saying goes.
My response to this lunatic, which I also posted to my personal profile for friends and "frien-emies" to see:
So now we see the true reason for right-wingers' objection to healthcare in (commenter's) bigoted post. Yes, a social contract means that you allow for coverage for EVEN the Americans that you don't like ("illegals" won't get covered if they don't have a national ID, genius!). I'm sure that civilized countries like Britain, Sweden, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, and Holland (ALL with lower crime rates, lower teenaged pregnancy rates, AND lower healthcare expenses) figured out a way to make their healthcare systems benefit ALL of their citizens--like YOU and all of the people whom you don't feel are "deserving" of living healthy lives. Shame on you! I bet you call yourself a "Christian" as well--tell me this, what WOULD Jesus do? Kick these people all out on their asses??? Hypocrites!
Just callin' it like I see it. Yet I know that is not enough.
Maimonides wrote a wonderful diary that is on the rec list as of my own diary's writing. He hit it on every point, up to and including the absolute necessity of passing a meaningful, legitimate, and real national healthcare solution. He stresses correctly that it is of paramount importance to do this for not only our progressive ideals' passage eventually, but of our nation's very survival in the long-term. How can a nation divided against itself--with the few and the privileged dividing themselves against us, the legion and the lacking?
Most of all, Maimonides calls upon all of us to put up or shut up, and take heed of slinkerwink's action alerts THIS WEEK--today, tomorrow, and the rest of the week.
Take a few minutes during your lunch or morning/afternoon break and make a call. Email or FAX your Senators and Representatives. Raise hell on the White House hotline. Write a letter to the Editor of your local newspaper, or even write the New York Times or one of the newsweekly magazines that gets a lot of circulation and reads. If we all do just a little bit every day, together, we can achieve an American legacy.
Leave the people who treat other people like assholes in your wake. Don't take it anymore.