On the heels of this disgusting vote to rip insurance away from millions of Americans in favor of a nine-digit giveaway to rich, I thought I’d point out just how despicable the architect of this whole effort is.
Let me take you back to time when people expected competence from their government. FDR was a great man who did a lot great things.
One thing he couldn’t do, however, was health care:
President Franklin D. Roosevelt knew that he could not get national health insurance through Congress unless he took the idea to the people first. As World War II came to an end, he flirted with making health care his next great political crusade. His advisers prepared a plan, but Roosevelt died just before the end of the war. The health reform effort then fell to Harry Truman, and every subsequent president. But until Barack Obama’s recent victory, only Lyndon Johnson managed to enact major new health care programs, in the form of Medicare and Medicaid.
Democrats correctly view the Obama health care reform as a historic achievement. It ranks alongside the most important pieces of social policy legislation in recent American history, including the Social Security Act (1935) and the Civil Rights Act (1964).
President Obama was able to do what presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Bill Clinton were unable to do: open access to healthcare to everyone. FDR believed, as every other civilized nation does, that a basic level of healthcare is a right. He might have pulled it off too if he didn’t die prematurely. Yet FDR didn't leave the nation empty-handed: he was passionate about healthcare, especially for children. He started the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which is today known as the March of Dimes. It has saved countless lives.
One of them was a 2-year old in 1944 named Mitch McConnell.
This isn’t well known, but when Mitch McConnell was a toddler, he contracted polio. Polio paralyzes the muscles, which leaves its victims unable to walk or, if it paralyzes the muscles used for breathing, kills them. Thankfully for him, a small hospital in Warm Springs Georgia was able to treat him due to funding from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.
This charity helped little Mitch McConnell get the help he needed to make a full recovery.
You’d think at the very least, McConnell would agree to meet his saviors to discuss their concerns with his legislation to kill, disable, or hurt many of his fellow Americans. Yet McConnell has steadfastly refused to meet with any charitable foundation to discuss this bill, which includes the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association, and the American Diabetes Association.
Not even the March of Dimes was allowed a meeting with him.
And you thought Paul Ryan was an ungrateful bastard.
Unfortunately, Mitch McConnell grew up to be spiteful, petty, and entitled.
This is the man whom the entire GOP is following like lemmings to decide our fate on healthcare, except he’s not a man, nor is he a turtle or anything else that has a purpose.
He is just a monster.
Wednesday, Jul 26, 2017 · 3:03:22 AM +00:00 · SemDem
I didn’t think this was necessary, but I want to be clear that the March of Dimes is, and has always been, a private charity. It is not government-funded in any way.
Republicans are telling me this story is inaccurate, and sent me a link “debunking" this---but the link was for a statement made by another site that claimed Mitch was saved by a free government healthcare program. If they bothered to read what they sent me, they'd see the last line of the fact check: “Mitch McConnell has drawn criticism for refusing to meet with the March of Dimes and other patient advocacy groups as he leads Senate efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare — although the organization saved his ability to walk, and might have even saved his life.”
