Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Temper-Tantrum Tuesday: Nothing to bitch about


I know a lot of my progressive friends won’t agree but after our government has wasted trillions of dollars and countless lives, this week I don’t have anything to bitch about.

A healthcare bill passed the house that makes access to minimal healthcare a basic right of all Americans. Could it be better, of course, but now that it is established that people have the right to healthcare future amendments will only make it stronger not weaker.

Other things I can’t bitch about.

Sarah Palin is bitching about how the healthcare law will mean death panels run by Alaskan bloggers and who knows what else. Who cares she is now irrelevant, she can tell all the lies she wants but now that the bill has become law even her followers will be able to see through her bullshit.

Rush Limbaugh promised to move to Costa Rica if this bill passed. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. He won’t do it since he never keeps his promises but for months he’ll have to explain it.

Hundreds of teabaggers stood outside the capitol building screaming “Nigger” and “Faggot” at Obama and Barney Frank and showed just how powerful those words are, they have no power what so ever. Watching how those words no longer intimidate the person they are directed at but just make the person who says it look like a fool, brought a tear of joy to my eye.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) Screamed out “Baby-Killer” on the house floor. I can’t wait until he has to explain his vote against a bill that was based on the Massachusetts plan that has dramatically reduced the rate of abortions in that state, even though unlike the federal bill it uses state funds for abortion.

Mitch McConnell (pictured above) and the Republicans have vowed to run on the platform of repealing, “Obamacare”. This should be good. It is mathematically impossible for them to get enough Senators to repeal it in 2010. Campaigning to allow insurance companies to turn people away for pre-existing conditions and to not let young adults stay on their parents insurance isn’t the greatest platform. But calling the plan “Obamacare” for the next 3 years will make that name permanent. Imagine if Social Security was called “FDR Security” and Medicare was called “LBJ-care” it would be tough for the Republicans to get people worried that the Democrats are planning on cutting those. So in 2016 when they try to run on the platform that the Democrats want to cut your “Obamacare” people will laugh at them.

So I can’t bitch today because the fearmongers have shown themselves to be ineffective and for the next 7 months they can have their rallies where they chant “Nigger, Baby-Killer, and Faggot” all they want. By screaming those words at rallies for the last year they have taken away all the emotional impact of those words. By showing what fools the people who use those words are they have allowed us as a society to move on.

By letting their hatred and bigotry show they have accidentally helped defeat hatred and bigotry. I can’t bitch about that.

3 comments:

Stephanie Barr said...

Good for you.

I refuse to believe that the pathetic behavior I've seen from our legislators (that should embarrass any parent let alone citizen) the past few days is representative of our country.

And I comfort myself with the understanding that, historically, features for the greater good never get repealed, just built-upon.

Robert Pearson said...

Historically, features for the greater good never get repealed, just built-upon.

Really, Stephanie? I suppose if we consider just the United States and Western Europe since WWII your statement is correct. That's because there was plenty of wealth to redistribute. "Quality Health Care" as a human right is great as long as there's plenty of it. When the supply doesn't meet the demand, what then? Draft doctors and nurses?

Let's go back a little further. Rome used to distribute "free" corn and oil to the poor to avoid riots, then to more and more people to buy political support. When the barbarians sacked the city, the dependents starved. I'm sure what Obama, Pelosi, Project Savior and you are looking for is the NHS on steroids. That is predicated on people producing more and more without being rewarded for it. That is not reality, it's fantasy. I don't plan to sacrifice myself for the "greater good," and any plan that depends on finding enough suckers will founder on the fact that the supply is not unlimited.

Darrell B. Nelson said...

There is plenty of money to reward people in healthcare, we currently spend 2 times as much as anyone else and the results of our healthcare is worse than some "3rd world" countries.
Linking Healthcare to the insurance companies has led to a huge amount of inefficiency reflected in the costs. There is also a huge gain in productivity by having a healthy population.
Rome offered a form of free healthcare and that gave them an edge over their enemies.