Throwback Thursday: Healthcare reform
A while ago I was looking for something in the Daily Show archives--I don't remember what, specifically--when I came across this interview with conservative pundit Bill Kristol from 2009, before the Affordable Care Act went into effect, and healthcare reform was the main topic of conversation.
There are two things about this video that particularly stuck out at me. One is that Kristol's main argument seems to be, "Why revamp the entire healthcare system? Why not just make a few changes?" Oh, what a difference seven and a half years makes! Now they're saying, "BURN IT! BURN IT TO THE GROUND! BURN IT DOWN and then rebuild it from the ground up...(eventually)." But I think that if it was a valid argument seven and a half years ago, it's an equally valid argument now. Why keep reinventing the wheel?
The other feature of interest is that Kristol keeps saying that soldiers/veterans deserve better healthcare than the rest of us because they are (or were) out there risking their lives, while the rest of us ungrateful, lazy slobs are just sitting at home on our asses, apparently contributing nothing to society.
Okay well, you know, there is some validity to his point. My favorite Bible verse is John 15:13: "No greater love is there than this, to lay down one's life for a friend," and I guess that's basically what soldiers do. I mean, most people probably don't get involved in the military because they are eager to go out and kill people to satisfy a blood lust; most of them, when asked why they joined up, express a desire to defend country, home, loved ones, etc. All right; for the sake of argument, let's say that people who risk their lives for the sake of others deserve the best healthcare. But are military personnel the only ones doing that?
What about volunteer firefighters? They risk their lives to save the lives of others all the time. Moreover, they are strictly about saving lives, never about taking them. They never resort to violence and never raise a hand against another human being. But because they're on a volunteer basis, they might not receive compensation or benefits the way a career firefighter would (although some do). So, according to Kristol's criteria, aren't they the most deserving of the absolute best healthcare available?
Then Kristol says that "the military need different kinds of healthcare than the rest of us." Well, there's something to that as well. For example, military personnel are probably more likely to need limb amputations than most of us. And yet, there are civilians who need limbs amputated for various reasons. Take, for example, a little kid who has bone cancer in her leg and needs to have her leg amputated on account of that. Is Kristol saying that the little kid with bone cancer doesn't deserve as high quality of healthcare as the wounded soldier?
Basically, yes. Jon Stewart asked him twice if he believed that the military deserved better healthcare than the rest of us ordinary, freeloading citizens, and he said "yes...absolutely" because soldiers risk their lives. And presumably the little kid with bone cancer isn't out risking her life for others, so therefore she doesn't deserve the same quality healthcare as soldiers. So said Bill Kristol, conservative Republican pundit, in 2009.
God bless America.
There are two things about this video that particularly stuck out at me. One is that Kristol's main argument seems to be, "Why revamp the entire healthcare system? Why not just make a few changes?" Oh, what a difference seven and a half years makes! Now they're saying, "BURN IT! BURN IT TO THE GROUND! BURN IT DOWN and then rebuild it from the ground up...(eventually)." But I think that if it was a valid argument seven and a half years ago, it's an equally valid argument now. Why keep reinventing the wheel?
The other feature of interest is that Kristol keeps saying that soldiers/veterans deserve better healthcare than the rest of us because they are (or were) out there risking their lives, while the rest of us ungrateful, lazy slobs are just sitting at home on our asses, apparently contributing nothing to society.
Okay well, you know, there is some validity to his point. My favorite Bible verse is John 15:13: "No greater love is there than this, to lay down one's life for a friend," and I guess that's basically what soldiers do. I mean, most people probably don't get involved in the military because they are eager to go out and kill people to satisfy a blood lust; most of them, when asked why they joined up, express a desire to defend country, home, loved ones, etc. All right; for the sake of argument, let's say that people who risk their lives for the sake of others deserve the best healthcare. But are military personnel the only ones doing that?
What about volunteer firefighters? They risk their lives to save the lives of others all the time. Moreover, they are strictly about saving lives, never about taking them. They never resort to violence and never raise a hand against another human being. But because they're on a volunteer basis, they might not receive compensation or benefits the way a career firefighter would (although some do). So, according to Kristol's criteria, aren't they the most deserving of the absolute best healthcare available?
Then Kristol says that "the military need different kinds of healthcare than the rest of us." Well, there's something to that as well. For example, military personnel are probably more likely to need limb amputations than most of us. And yet, there are civilians who need limbs amputated for various reasons. Take, for example, a little kid who has bone cancer in her leg and needs to have her leg amputated on account of that. Is Kristol saying that the little kid with bone cancer doesn't deserve as high quality of healthcare as the wounded soldier?
Basically, yes. Jon Stewart asked him twice if he believed that the military deserved better healthcare than the rest of us ordinary, freeloading citizens, and he said "yes...absolutely" because soldiers risk their lives. And presumably the little kid with bone cancer isn't out risking her life for others, so therefore she doesn't deserve the same quality healthcare as soldiers. So said Bill Kristol, conservative Republican pundit, in 2009.
God bless America.