It’s been a while since I’ve contributed. I’ve been busy and haven’t had time to write…wait, that’s a lie. I’ve been tired of the overwhelming amount of stupidity involved in the daily functions of our government, and needed to take a step back. You can’t avoid it, though. The whole health care shouting match is getting ridiculous. There is so much bullshit propaganda and so little actual information, it’s astounding. I’ll be the first to admit that health care is overpriced, inefficient, and needs to be fixed. I’ve never had a problem, nor do I know anyone who has. I’m not naive enough, however, to believe that my experience is universal. I’ll also be the first to say that the government is too inefficient and corrupt, and is also part of the problem. My personal stance is that yes, it is possible to do and maybe even do right, but not now and not in the US. People who want to point to other governments providing socialized health care also fail to mention the significant differences. Not differences in care or service, although I’m sure there are some, but differences in countries.
Canada is a good example, and people bring it up often to show how socialized health care can work. They don’t, however, bring up that we have different governments, cultures, histories, tax codes, and almost ten times as many people. People don’t even consider whether the US government is allowed by the Constitution to do any of the plans they are talking about. Not to mention the cluster fuck of trying to make a federal system work with the multitude of differing laws on health care throughout the fifty states. Canada has ten provinces and three territories, and I have no idea what they do. I do know that it’s probably much easier then dealing with fifty states, all of which have differing laws on health care. Not to mention each state is different, some wildly so. But hey, none of that means anything because universal health care is the right thing to do–and if you don’t agree with that, you are a piece of shit.
Don’t get me wrong; all sides are throwing all the bullshit they have against the wall to see which sound bite sticks, but this one in particular pisses me off. This assumption that any and all opponents of universal health care are horrible people who only want to prevent less fortunate people from getting free coverage. One, nothing is free. Someone has to pay, and just because some people don’t believe in socialized health care doesn’t mean they do not believe in charity or helping people. This is a dirty trick, and bases itself on the assumption that attaining universal health care is like flipping a switch, and we are stalling because some people like to watch the poor suffer. The vilification of anyone who disagrees with them is becoming just as common a tactic with this administration as the last. The whole debate has turned into a matter of “if you’re not with us, you’re against us,” and no one is actually looking to solve the problem of health care anymore. They are looking to build up enough sympathy, altruism, fear, or just plain hate to bulldoze their ideology over another. The sad thing is that everyone freely admits this. Once again, the republic is being shit on to glorify the mob rule of democracy.
Of course now the US government and the Obama administration are stepping in to calm all this down and restore a dignified debate. Just kidding. They’ve come out with gems like the whole “punch back twice as hard” thing. Other high points have included the continued use of they, them, those people and other language to lump all detractors into some mysterious unnamed group of evil intentions. Nothing like ignoring wars and economic disaster to do a town hall meeting tour so you can convince people that everyone who disagree’s with you is hell bent on preventing you from giving orphans medical care. It’s pretty sad that the Democrat majority in congress had to pull the President of the United States to go on a speaking tour becasue they coudnt get anything resembling a working bill together. At least there’s grass roots opposition…oh wait. The Republicans screwed that up. Of course the Republicans had to make sure to have some “grassroots” events with a retarded newsletter that just screams “publish me to make you look bad”, thereby screwing up any actual grassroots attempts*.
* – Side Note: Am I the only person who is extremely pissed off about parasites trying to high jack grass root movements and in the process giving major news links between those movements and assholes in the GOP? Seriously, these guys completely corrupted, then gutted, their own party and now want to jump on the backs of liberty minded people to try to be relevant again. Where was this blatant non grass movement support for grass movements when it was needed during the Republican primary? Oh yeah–they were busy supporting every candidate but the one that had grass roots support.
And just when you think the debate could not possibly get any stupider, Obama goes ahead and compares what they are trying to do with the United States Postal Money Hole….er Service. It makes you wonder if he has actually used the USPS ever. Or if he even realizes what a bad analogy it is. He points out that UPS and FedEx are doing just fine while completely neglecting to mention that they are barred by law from competing with the USPS. Comparing a public option with the USPS actually works if you think about it like it will have to happen. A poorly run government service that ends up being half the quality at twice the price. Something that the government has to continually prop up and pass legislation to prevent other companies from driving it out of business. I’m not saying UPS and FedEx are the zenith of business achievement or that they never lost my shit. I’m saying that in the areas where they are allowed to compete with the USPS, they surpass them easily. Plus, they have the added benefit of not passing off their losses to me. Something more and more businesses seem to think is a good idea these days.
If you are wondering how the USPS is doing, I did a little research–and the answer is, not great. The Post Master General just spoke to congress August 6th about how things are going and here are a couple of excerpts.
o I appreciate the opportunity to meet with you today to continue our conversation concerning the extreme financial difficulties being experienced by the United States Postal Service and the actions we must take to address them.
o We will soon reach our maximum borrowing limit of $15 billion.
o In addition, we are facing a serious liquidity issue.
o Through the first three quarters of this fiscal year, our net loss was $4.7 billion
You can read more at:
http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/testimony/2009/pr09_jpotter0806.htm
In defense of the USPS, if you had to run a company that was not allowed to make a profit, reported to grand standing idiots (congress), was subject to political winds and a myriad of incomprehensible rules and regulations, you would be struggling, too. But it does give us a good idea of how government healthcare will work out..
In any case, at this point nothing will be done right. Any chances for substantive changes went right out the window as soon as it became a political game. Now, it’s not about solving a problem or addressing a need. It’s about winning and losing. Obama set this up as something that, regardless of its merit, will be a win if he can get it rammed through congress, and a loss if it can be shot down. The running joke has been how everyone involved cannot actually discuss specifics because no one knows them. The real joke is the system and the people involved, because at this point the text of the bill could be random excerpts from David Hasselhoff’s Autobiography (Don’t Hassle the Hoff, for those who are curious or don’t believe he can read) and congress would fight to the death over passing it or blocking it. Once again, it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, so long as nothing gets done.