Decius wrote:
The Republicans effectively found something that everyone in America is totally ignorant about, and they filled it up with fear, and pointed it at this issue. There simply is no reasoning with that. No amount of fireside chats are going to bring people around to thinking about it differently. They've been fighting communists for generations and if this is communism they don't want it and they don't want to talk about it. If there is no room for dialog, we can't have one.

That's true but I think it's worth having a deep discussion about. Not just for the health care debate, but for society in general. America has found a new way to express racism and hatred and it's in our current politics. Most discussions with extremists (left or right) amount to not just closed thinking, but tacit racism and bigotry.

On the right, you have people who are clamoring for "personal accountability" and "traditional values". They talk about conservative values, work ethic, and faith and family first. But this is all code for "I don't want to see niggers and faggots achieving the same station of life I have" because that's what it really boils down to. They want to remove anything that helps people improve their station of life because that undermines their own.

It's much easier to talk about personal responsibility and earning what you have, when you already have plenty. Much of it inherited. I routinely get into discussions with people that will go as far as to say that public education and health is not a "right". It's not constitutional, so why do we do it? You should have to pay for it. Nevermind that the things that built this society in the first place were the ability to raise the floor for all people by virtue of abundance.

This is evident when you look at Republican policy over the last 15 years. It was emphatic about cutting taxes and reducing state funding. This starved social programs, which increased the gap between haves and have nots. It's just another way to enact slavery. Economic slavery. Because now you'll have to pay Halliburton and Bechtel. Sorry, but I already got mine Jack. You'll have to do for yourself.

The left is no different. The ideology there seems to be "fleece the rich so that I can have a flat screen without actually having to put in 40 hours a week to earn it." I can understand why redistribution upsets people. No one likes a hand in their pocket, no matter how ill gotten their gains. It's bred at least 3 generations of population that are basically yoked to social programs meant as last resort. We glorify the hustle. I gots my lottery tickets. Don't you?

Political discussions over the last few years have basically been class warfare and bigotry under new brand names. Instead of equal rights for minorities, we have affirmative action and rampant tort. Instead of a healthy and educated populace, we have charter schools and the banking class. This makes it impossible to actually get things done, and for the majority of the population, which sits solidly in the middle class, there's a big whallup coming.

Rich people will have great health options, no matter what reform does or doesn't include. In fact, they'll probably end up better, since a single payer option lets business owners and shareholders relieve themselves of the costs associated with employee insurance. More profits for me thankyouverymuch.

Poor people also have health options. Medicaid, Medicare, and other social programs (some faith based) give anyone with a brain in their head and the ambition enough to fill out some forms, the ability to have adequate and in some cases superlative care options. Hell, even illegal immigrants can walk into a free clinic and get better care than I can with $200 in my pocket. That will probably not change. It can't. You can't have 20 million people wandering around the street, sick and dying. Especially children.

It's everyone in the middle that's going to get the big Fuck You. The standard of living for the middle class has been dropping since the 70s. Wage growth is negative for at least the last 12 years. Yet your options for affordable care are dwindling. You're misrepresented in terms of lobbying efforts. And even if you do get that tax break, everyone else's hands are in your pockets when it comes to food, security, energy, transportation, and education. We've essentially bifurcated the population, which fits in nicely with the Boomer generation's love of polarity. You're okay if you're poor or rich, but try and move up and well... good luck with that.

This is why on a global scale we're going to find it increasingly difficult to compete. Nations that have a growing middle class yield the most potential for prosperity. We've essentially shot ours in the head.

RE: Healthcare "debate"