It's an easy pun for a complicated situation. What at face value, health care for everyone, seems like such a noble and moral thing has become the political cage match we all knew it would.
(ever so slightly edited for clarity)
Few people are opposed to health care as a concept. Sure, some religious beliefs eschew modern medicine... which could in itself be considered a kind of mental illness. And there are a lot of people who look at sickness and disease as god's will or some kind of heavenly punishment for bad behavior. (Again, see mental illness.)
What amazes me is how a significant part of my fellow Americans don't seem to mind -- and in some cases prefer -- that health care is a for-profit enterprise. Senator and crackpot Jim DeMint of the very modern and progressive South Carolina has said health care is a privilege. Is that like the "getting ice cream if you finish all your spinach at dinner" kind of privilege? Or is it more like the "being able to take an expensive vacation because you can afford it" kind of privilege. It apparently, for Senator DeMint, is not the "we're a great country with high moral values so we take care of our citizens' health care needs" kind of privilege.
Oddly, many of the very same politicians and pundits that shit on the idea of health care reform are the same ones that think government has a right to tell a woman what she can do with her own body, that homosexuals are of a lesser class, and that all people of Middle Eastern heritage are terrorists. Religious fundamentalists who are about as un-Christlike as I can imagine. ("Not covered? Screw him; let him die." Oh, yes, Jesus would be sooooo proud of you.)
Open minded people, they are not. But, in fairness, they are fiercely looking out for one group. They have the interests of large and oh-so-profitable insurance companies at the top of their lists, far ahead of the well-being of their average constituent. I'm sure that has something to do with the relative campaign contributions from big insurance compared to little constituents. Nice.
And then there are the outright lies. Death panels. Long waits for basic procedures. Freeloading illegal aliens getting care on Joe the Plumber's dime. Socialism. Government takeovers. Fascism.
The Democrats... the majority, as one could almost have predicted, are losing to this crap.
I have to give it to the Republicans. They stick together. And when your only position is "No!" it is easy to stay on message. Democrats all have their own variations of similar ideas, but seem to focus a lot on the individual points rather than the common goal. Add in a Democratic White House that is either incredibly crafty or woefully inept at managing their message strategy and the "herding cats" visual comes to mind.
To further complicate things, there are some Democratic Senators (talking to you, Max) representing small-population states who seem to be far, far more concerned with representing big campaign donors from the business world. How very, umm, Republican of you. Throw in the so-called Blue Dogs in the House, who are really moderate Republicans in blue clothes that were able to beat freakishly conservative Republicans to get their seats, and we have the mess we're in right now.
Heath care is big business... for-profit big business. The thing is, most of that profit isn't going to doctors or nurses or physical therapists. It's going to insurance companies and their stockholders. Just imagine if the US Army was all turned over to Blackwater. Or your local fire department was a for-profit business. Your house would burn down while the requisite proof of coverage paperwork was being filled out.
Health care for all people is, to me, a moral obligating... not a privilege that poor people or people with pre-existing conditions should be denied. That is about as immoral as it gets. We'll let people die because they are not profitable for the industry. And this position from the people who yammer on about so-called death panels. These are the same ones who shriek about getting some government person between them and their doctor. As if the insurance company worker who is rewarded for boosting profit (by denying coverage) is not coming between you and your doctor? How fucking stupid are you people?
Political butt-wipes like Jim DeMint may well be correct. If the Republicans can kill health care -- doing so for purely political reason in spite of what is best for the citizenry -- it may be President Obama's Waterloo, and lead to losses in the next election. It's all about power and control for Republicans. It's all about empathy and doing what's best for the average person (whether the average person realizes this or not) for Democrats. Kind of like the bullies (R) vs the nerds (D). And in these kind of playground battles this has become, we know who usually wins.
It doesn't have to be this way!
The President needs to stop dicking around with bipartisan hopes once and for all. The Senate Majority Leader has to either grow a pair or get out of the way. And anyone with a D after their name needs to remember they represent the voters that elected them, and what that D means. And we all need to keep up the pressure n any and all of the Democrats that want to make googly eyes at Republicans and their corporate benefactors. The time for talk and compromise has long passed.
Whether this makes sense or not, I had to express it. Pollyanna as it may read, I am so fucking frustrated with all this.
[cross-ranted at Kerfuffle]