The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion.
That IS what Molly Ivins said about democracy & the democratic process.
It is as if Molly had the wisdom of the ages in her comment-- maybe she'd been around long enough to have witnessed it herself-- or maybe she was trying to soften the blow for all the hard work ahead.
I am writing about Health Care Reform. Everybody & their brother/sister has something to say about it, but a lot of what I am hearing on the "internets" from progressives is they are fed up with the process. Not even discussing it anymore, disgusted with the lies and how rational, intelligent discussion has been abandoned. Gun toting, throngs of people are coming out of the wordwork as angry villagers, with emotional torches & pitchforks- ranting & carrying on in very aggressive & undemocratic ways.
I'm not suggesting we attempt to debate with the screamers -they may be too far gone, brainwashed with the talking points, lacking the ability to have rational discussions.
I'll give a little sampling:
I recently spent a few days up in a campground with a blend of RV slots, tent spaces & cabins.
The following is the conversation with my camp neighbor.
CN= Camp Neighbor
ME= Moi
CN: We've got to stop this Obama health care thing.
ME: What is your health care situation?
CN: My job was recently eliminated, I'm near retirement, my insurance cost will go to over $600 a month very soon. I can't afford that, so I will drop out.
ME: What will you do then?
CN: I will change to VA- Veteran's healthcare.
ME: So you are going to use a SOCIALIZED GOVERNMENT RUN MEDICAL CARE PROGRAM?
CN: No comment, looked slack jawed....
How is it people are so confused to not realize the very safety net programs, Medicare & VA health care programs ARE socialized medicine?
I despise the fact that fat cat liars- who are quite wealthy & don't have health care financial issues have been able to float total lies, and the masses (teabagger types) lapped it up without question. How does one lose touch of critical thinking?
What floors me is how the anti health care reform people are SO delusional as to not have a clue that maybe someday....
• they lose their job & healthcare
• they get diagnosed w a disease that becomes a pre existing condition
• they have a major medical bill that would exceed the value of their policy coverage
• they have to file for medical bankruptcy
• the current "system" is all about making for profit CEO's more wealthy by denying policyholders coverage.
Even if none of those things has ever happened, any one of them is likely amongst them & their family & friends.
How can anyone not see that???
• they lose their job & healthcare
• they get diagnosed w a disease that becomes a pre existing condition
• they have a major medical bill that would exceed the value of their policy coverage
• they have to file for medical bankruptcy
• the current "system" is all about making for profit CEO's more wealthy by denying policyholders coverage.
Even if none of those things has ever happened, any one of them is likely amongst them & their family & friends.
How can anyone not see that???
So dear progressives & critical thinkers.... I beg you, as weary as we are of the insane tactics and unintelligent rhetoric......
Please keep up the pressure.
Write editorials.
Contact your Representatives & Senators in Congress.
Now IS the time to put the pressure on.
Do what you can to make a ruckus.
We know what the hurry is, we know why things have to change, we know our lives depend upon it.
Squeaky wheels get the grease.
We do not have the money for-profit-insurance companies & big pharma have, to fight back against them watering down the reforms we desperately need.
Don't let up now!
Give voice to reason, and common sense, and the real needs of We the People.
Molly Ivins was adamant that WE ARE THE DECIDERS.
Molly always signed her books & letters with "RAISE MORE HELL".
Let's do just that.
If we don't raise hell now & demand the reforms, we will continue to live in the hellish mess that is not a system at all, leaving so many people locked out and destitute for access to health care.
Find the fire within you, bring that compassion out & if need be, rattle those pots & pans, as Molly implored us to do.
7 comments:
Fran: Your 'chat' with camp neighbor sounds so much like the one I had with a tea bagger outside my first town hall meeting. Somehow there's a short circuit in their reasoning that leaves 'em speechless when they run into the contradictions of their ill-logic.
Over the weekend, I had a chat with my GI neighbor. A really nice kid, with wife, two step-children and son with special needs (quite crippled up - I can't help but wonder if DU from Iraq had something to do with the really sweet boy's disfiguration, but I digress).
Anyway, GI neighbor (GIN) expressed displeasure with the army. He'll have 9 years in at the end of his enlistment in 2010. He said, "I have a job on the outside that'll pay me $120K - $180K, but my wife doesn't want me to take it."
Turns out GIN's job is with a private security co. that works the middle east. And he said something that surprised me: When GIN first got to Iraq, his unit WAS UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THIS PRIVATE SECURITY COMPANY until they could establish their own! The army being protected by civilians!! Oh my, but it got me to thinking...
Maybe that's exactly the future of the country -- eliminating another socialist program, our military -- by privatizing it. And just as with our health care system it will save us tons and tons of money (paying private goons 4-6 times what we pay our soldiers, many of whom our gov't spent 10's of $1,000s training).
And then these private companies can dictate to our gov't (somebody has to, our reps don't listen to the electorate), which wars we'll fight and where. Oh hell, I forget, they already do that -- just like our great private health care system already decides 'who's to live and who's to die'.
Is there Snow on Mt. Olympia? (She seems to really be enjoying dictating to the prez the future health care plan)
With apologies for the long harangue.
Excellent post. As you know my sister-in-law, a teabagger probably if given the chance, had a recent medical emergency and she was uninsured. A website has been set up for her and on it there is a place for people to make donations. Very nice. However, some friend of hers gets on there and screams about health care reform like a teabagger might and she apparently does not realize what an idiot she sounds like. Does she not realize that her friend's recent medical coverage will have to be paid by the taxpayers or else we just let her die? Socialized medicine has already been figured out by Canada and Europe--all we have to do is copy their model and tweak it a little perhaps. It's not hard to figure out at all!
Dada: These casual conversations really shed light on the truth. I don't blame my camp neighbor for bailing out of expensive private coverage-- but to then be dissing socialized medicine- when that IS his plan B is crazy!
Know your terms! For me it is also about compassion-- we SHOULD care about those who do not have coverage. So many.......42,000 or more- what kind of people are we?
I will make a blanket statement that so many of those so opposed to public option claim to be some kind of christian faith.
They seem to have lost the whole *love one another* concept.
As long as I am opening this door, I may as well make the comparison that they for-profit health insurance profiteers are just like the money changers, the ones the biblical stories tell us Jesus pitched a fit about.
Apologies in advance if I stepped on some peoples toes by making these generalizations.
But dammit.... as tired as we all are about this topic & the lunacy, we need to take a stand & raise our voices.
We can't let the right wing lunatic fringe prevail.
As for your neighbor.... I would suspect depleted uranium as a culprit in his young child's deformity. I sure do hope his 10 year commitment does in fact come to an end.... the trend has been to use the back door draft & require soldiers to keep serving after their actual contract is over.
Maybe no more Iraq, but a new & improved war in Afghanistan? Ugh! More difficult terrain, more organized resistance, quagmire written all over it.
Which is worse? Stuck in the service, or being a private military force paid to protect the government military service?
I think they are both *wrong answers*, but that's my perspective.
For now the gvmnt offers long term health care for soldiers, don't think militia for hire does.
Long harangues always welcomed.
Lib: Your Sister-in-law had a catastrophic medical event. Intensive care, many specialists, many months to recover. Her medical tab will likely be over a million dollars, when all is said & done.
Her ranting friend did not even connect the dots that Socialized medicine would be a saving grace for your sister-in-law.
Knowing they do not have insurance should give her a clue. This very thing is what causes medical bankruptcy.... no way she (or most of us) is going to ever pay that kind of bill in her lifetime.... even if she were lucky enough to have full recovery & be able to function normally.
But chances are she will have to modify her lifestyle & she may have new limits on what skills she has, or her doctor allows her to do.
She may wind up on disability-- but even that can be a lengthy fight that requires a lawyer.
You are right-- no need to have to reinvent the wheel-- glean the best of from the top countries that figured this out long ago.
Sigh!
Molly Ivins sure knew it, knew that unless voices are raised, pots & pans rattled, things don't happen. Unfortunately right now, the ones most following her advice are on the other side of health reform.
I'm also reminded of Frank McCourt, irish author of Angela's Ashes who died this year. Saw him on some Book TV interview where he bemoaned that teaching to a test does not allow students to develop critical thinking skills. All these teabaggers not wanting health care reform are just spouting the test they've been taught by their Hate TV/Radio masters. That's why they can't really defend their positions. They never studied or learned any facts leading toward those positions. That's why they fall back on accusations of socialism etc. Saves them from thinking.
ps, loved your comparison of bilical jesus' principles vs the hateful distorted "C-Street Christianity" being spouted by evangelical extremists. as Mark Twain might say, those two versions of christ never met!
I meant: "biblical jesus" ... jeez, my typo made it look like I might have meant "umbilical jesus" ... which I have NO IDEA what that might mean but don't think it has anything to do with health care ... or does it.
Great Post!
And thank you for my next post. I'll take your http thingy home with me to link to the YouTube link you left me. It is the perfect follow-up to the one I ran today. I'm on twitter raising hell for those of you who tried it and didn't like it. I'm closing in on 700 followers so linking your post on twitter gives it a lot more coverage than linking to you on my blog--which I will do now.
Smooch!
DK - WWUJD?
What would umbilical Jesus do???
One for the ages to contemplate & figure out!
I know you have contacted your (blue) dog politician re healthcare & we need to be keeping up the pressure....
I know your computer is acting up, but Enigma posted a Brave New Films feature about Cigna Exec filthy rich properties, private jets & posh lifestyle, while denying people when they have serious health issues. It's called Sick for Profit. Ugh!
Utah!!!! So glad you made it over. Yes, Puttin on the Ritz.... Billionaires for Wealthcare is a fine little clip. Too bad the teabaggers were baffled about it (are we fer em or against em??)
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