What is your alternative, other than muttering "a pox on both your houses" and walking away?
We have previously seen the cost of not participating or casting protest votes. I would respectfully suggest that anybody who thinks that the period from 2001 through 2008 would not have been any different if the Naderite protest voters had instead bothered to vote for Gore has mush for brains.
The forces of corporatism, bigotry, intolerance and fascism have been at this for decades. They have been pushing this country further and further to the right. We gave them two bloody noses in `06 an `08. They have not gone away, they have come out with all of their fury against the health care bill and, although they have weakened it considerably, they have not yet won.
The intolerant, anti-worker and pro-servitude forces on the Right have not given up. They will never give up. They are like zombies; they never stop coming at you. You can either fight them or die.
If you give up and walk away from trying to stop them, you might as well sign up with them, become one of Fat Rush's dittoheads and buy all of Glenn Beck's books, because by not fighting them, you are tacitly approving of where they want to take this country.
If you want the evil bastards on the Right to win, then just walk away, tune in some mindless entertainment on Fox and stop caring, for that is what they want.
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Saturday, December 19, 2009
8 comments:
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Answer here. In plain words, if you're not going to have to spend your last dime on insurance that won't work, then don't talk to me about being selfish.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a healthcare bill, it is a wealthcare bill. It fines people for not being able to afford insurance; it slashes Medicare; it creates more restrictions on abortion; it shovels money at the HMOs; and it does nothing to help people get real healthcare, rather than bs insurance and HMO "care."
ReplyDeleteI will never vote for any politician who votes for this fraud. Only completely bought politicians would even consider it. No real Democrat will vote for this rightist step backwards on healthcare.
EB, you know that you and I often have different views on political matters. However, even those on Democratic Underground are losing their shit over ths, for good reason.
ReplyDeleteNOW is against this, based on the toll it will take on women's health.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4191992
Just for extra sauce, read this (and the comments) as well.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7267834
This bill is going to end up hurting a LOT of people....and making those insurance co. fuckers even richer.
As far I an concerned the bill has become far too friendly to the insurance companies. Sure, there are some reforms but let us not loose sight of the fact that there is nothing sufficient to prevent them from just jacking up rates. If people are going to be forced to buy their product, there needs to be at minimum something to increase competition (or price controls even those have a proven track record of disaster). Otherwise, the bill is just guaranteeing consumers. This is no more than corporatism in sheep's clothing. As far as I an concerned, the democrats and republicans have sold us out again.
ReplyDeleteLet me ask three questions:
ReplyDeleteFirst off, does this bill do anything to help people who cannot afford health insurance? We have millions of people who have been laid off as a result of the Wall Street Recession. Even if they find new jobs with benefits, many will have "pre-existing" conditions and be ineligible for coverage. Are they helped?
Second, would the system resulting from this bill be any better than the status quo?
Third, are you willing to hand this country back to the GOP by not voting? Would not the better choice of action be, if you do not like how your (presumably Democratic) senator or congressman has voted for this bill, to align with a primary challenger and get a candidae you can support?
My main problem with the present bill is the lack of competition. Since single payer/public option is out, removal of the anti trust exemption should be in. I know the mantra "we can fix it later" has been repeated over and over, but I'd like to have this in it, so that the insurance companies don't have a second chance to kill some form of competition in a later bill that may (read: would) just give them more goodies, with nothing in exchange.
ReplyDeleteThis is so well thought out and , dare I say it?. OBVIOUS to most of us. It's why I can't agree with Howard Dean or Markos Moulitzas... If we past this much damaged bill, at least we will have established a starting foundation for future building.
ReplyDeleteUnder The LobsterScope
In answer to your three questions, "no" to the first two. The last I'm not going to answer, because to me it's a false dichotomy.
ReplyDeleteWithout adequate enforcement, which I don't see in this bill, then there's little point in having insurance. I've mentioned this ad nauseum, but it just doesn't seem to be registering. When you're sick or injured, you can't fight for the money the insurance company owes you. They will pay late, or not at all, and they'll get away with it.
The system resulting from this bill will be worse. Partly, that's due to the lack of effective enforcement on insurance. Partly, it's due to the fact that it will use the IRS as the collectors for this protection racket. The way that will work is if you don't prove you have insurance while filing a tax return, you will be sent a list of possible plans that supposedly are affordable. If you don't buy one, you are fined. If all of those plans do you absolutely no good, because there is no minimum plan defined in this bill, then tough luck. You pay anyway, or you pay the IRS 2 percent of your income.
This is why I keep writing that forcing people to buy insurance lousy insurance isn't going to help the Democrats at the ballot box.
Now, please explain to me why you think that making 30 million people who can't afford it buy crap insurance is better politically than not having a bill at all. I could write the Republican commercial for this one, and it will go something like this:
Single mother scratching her head late at night, trying to figure out how to pay a pile of medical bills, the biggest of which is the insurance bill.
"Aren't you glad Senator [fill in blank] made you buy that insurance that still won't pay your medical bills?"
That's what Democrats will be facing in the next few years. They did it to themselves. They had the votes, but they created a bill that actually makes things worse. The only thing that I find more stupid about that is how many people are willing to excuse that failure.