Sicko
Did you know that in France they have socialized transportation? In France, you don't decide where the roads go, the government does. If you're hanging out in Arles and want to nip on down to Montpellier, you can't just plot a straight line between the two and drive, you have to follow the route that some government bureaucrat came up with. Scary but true.
And who pays for these roads? The taxpayers.
So guess what movie I saw this evening.
Sicko is my favorite Michael Moore movie, and not just because it features the song "Cuba", sung by our very own Austin Lounge Lizards. Actually, it's the only Michael Moore movie I've liked so far, though I confess I haven't seen them all. Fahrenheit 911 was over the top in sentimentality and was unnecessarily propagandistic. It did have its moments, but he would have done much better to let the facts speak for themselves.
He was better at doing this in Sicko.
Moore interviewed a French family with a high standard of living to demonstrate that the French aren't overly oppressed by taxes. He failed to ask them how much they actually spend in taxes. Perhaps he did ask, but edited out that part of the conversation. Personally, I'd be willing to pay more taxes to get better health care. I'm less crazy about contributing to the salaries of billionaire HMO CEOs.[citation needed]
Here is something I (and evidently many Canadians, Brits, and French) don't understand. What is it about the term "universal health care" that disturbs so many Americans? (Perhaps I would understand if I were more willing to talk politics. In general, I avoid politics in the interest of keeping conversations friendly.) And why aren't these concepts equally disturbing: "universal water and wastewater treatment", "government-sponsored lending libraries", "social security", and "state trooper"? Perhaps to staunch libertarians these are equally disturbing.
Bottom line: I recommend the movie. It's fun to see our culture examined through the eyes of foreigners.
Quote of the day (from Mike): People are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.