On health care
I woke up with my alarm today at 7 a.m. and am still sitting on my couch in my pajamas-- I'm working from home this morning because at lunchtime, I'm going to look at an apartment with Dave in East Aurora. The birds are conducting a symphony outside my living room window, and the stream behind my kitchen is providing a quiet, gurgling baseline.
Yesterday, Obamacare was upheld in court.
I know what this does for me personally-- it allows me to stay on my parent's health insurance for another two and half years, allowing me to decline my employer's coverage and thus keep enough of my paycheck to live on my own and (most of the time) pay my bills. I think it's a good thing to make sure everyone has health insurance. I've argued the point with my dad over and over again-- that social Darwinism doesn't help anyone. That it is a basic sign of goodness to watch out for those less fortunate, to help them when they need it. That having people die from lack of medical treatment in a country as advanced as ours is a travesty. That for every white trash baby momma having more kids to increase her welfare check amount, there's another person who's down on their luck and actually needs a hand. That we can't give up on the truly helpless because of the greed and laziness of some.
To him, that's my liberalism coming out. To me, it's common sense and a basic optimism in people, a hope that when it really comes down to it, we help each other however we can because it's simply the right thing to do.
I'm so sick of fighting with people about politics. I'm sick of seeing the facebook statuses and posts about how universal healthcare is how Hitler began his reign of terror, how socialism is right around the corner, how America's headed down a path of destruction. I hate how every politician spouts selective truths, ignoring what doesn't help his election chances and exaggerating those facts that will. I hate how everyone has an ulterior motive-- everyone. And if you don't on arrival to City Hall, or Albany, or the White House, you soon will. I hate that being an asshole--or at least playing like one-- seems to be the number one requirement for being a representative of the people of the United States.
More than all that, I hate how, at the ripe old age of 23, I can feel myself feeling jaded by it all. I hate how I can't stand to watch the circus, how I feel that no matter who's talking, the words are empty. I hate that I was so, so enthusiastic about Obama and his vision, and how I now feel that even he-- who I think is a truly good man-- can't be a good leader. I hate that things seem hopeless right now-- instead of two different ideologies working together for a common goal, it's two enemies, ripping at each others' throats. I hate that each side seems just as bad as the other, and that there doesn't seem to be an end in sight to all this bullshit. I hate that when I'm defending my viewpoints, I don't even feel like I really know what I'm talking about half the time. I try to stay educated, but sometimes it really doesn't seem to matter. Everyone manages to find somewhere with facts that back up their crazy.
Besides all that, the environment is imploding, more and more animals are going extinct and we continue to fuck everything up as much as we can. We spill oil, we put chemicals in the air and in the land and in the water, we frack and put in pipelines and a million other things that make it seem like we think we have as much resources and room as we need to fuck. the world. up.
Well guess what? We don't. It makes me so, so deeply sad to think that by the time I'm old, we'll most likely be in a world with no rainforests, no exotic animals. Stories like the Jungle Book and Tarzan won't only be fantastical, they'll be like stories from another universe. What's a tiger? I can picture little kids saying. Where does that boy live? There aren't any trees like that here. It makes me seriously reconsider if I want to have children of my own. What kind of fucked up world am I handing down to them? What will be left?
I hate it. I hate it so much. We're ruining everything beautiful that we have. I could still be around when it's finally all gone.
I hate that I'm beginning to understand how so many people just tune out. Tune out world issues, tune out politics, tune out considerations of the future. It's so easy to see how it's tempting to live in a world where your biggest concern is if the grill is working or if that new movie is out or if you should switch jobs. The world is so scary and overwhelming. There's so many problems that seem insurmountable, sometimes tuning it out completely seems like the only way to deal with it without falling into despair.
I don't even know what this post is about, really. The worries in my mind threaten to drown me, sometimes.
Yesterday, Obamacare was upheld in court.
I know what this does for me personally-- it allows me to stay on my parent's health insurance for another two and half years, allowing me to decline my employer's coverage and thus keep enough of my paycheck to live on my own and (most of the time) pay my bills. I think it's a good thing to make sure everyone has health insurance. I've argued the point with my dad over and over again-- that social Darwinism doesn't help anyone. That it is a basic sign of goodness to watch out for those less fortunate, to help them when they need it. That having people die from lack of medical treatment in a country as advanced as ours is a travesty. That for every white trash baby momma having more kids to increase her welfare check amount, there's another person who's down on their luck and actually needs a hand. That we can't give up on the truly helpless because of the greed and laziness of some.
To him, that's my liberalism coming out. To me, it's common sense and a basic optimism in people, a hope that when it really comes down to it, we help each other however we can because it's simply the right thing to do.
I'm so sick of fighting with people about politics. I'm sick of seeing the facebook statuses and posts about how universal healthcare is how Hitler began his reign of terror, how socialism is right around the corner, how America's headed down a path of destruction. I hate how every politician spouts selective truths, ignoring what doesn't help his election chances and exaggerating those facts that will. I hate how everyone has an ulterior motive-- everyone. And if you don't on arrival to City Hall, or Albany, or the White House, you soon will. I hate that being an asshole--or at least playing like one-- seems to be the number one requirement for being a representative of the people of the United States.
More than all that, I hate how, at the ripe old age of 23, I can feel myself feeling jaded by it all. I hate how I can't stand to watch the circus, how I feel that no matter who's talking, the words are empty. I hate that I was so, so enthusiastic about Obama and his vision, and how I now feel that even he-- who I think is a truly good man-- can't be a good leader. I hate that things seem hopeless right now-- instead of two different ideologies working together for a common goal, it's two enemies, ripping at each others' throats. I hate that each side seems just as bad as the other, and that there doesn't seem to be an end in sight to all this bullshit. I hate that when I'm defending my viewpoints, I don't even feel like I really know what I'm talking about half the time. I try to stay educated, but sometimes it really doesn't seem to matter. Everyone manages to find somewhere with facts that back up their crazy.
Besides all that, the environment is imploding, more and more animals are going extinct and we continue to fuck everything up as much as we can. We spill oil, we put chemicals in the air and in the land and in the water, we frack and put in pipelines and a million other things that make it seem like we think we have as much resources and room as we need to fuck. the world. up.
Well guess what? We don't. It makes me so, so deeply sad to think that by the time I'm old, we'll most likely be in a world with no rainforests, no exotic animals. Stories like the Jungle Book and Tarzan won't only be fantastical, they'll be like stories from another universe. What's a tiger? I can picture little kids saying. Where does that boy live? There aren't any trees like that here. It makes me seriously reconsider if I want to have children of my own. What kind of fucked up world am I handing down to them? What will be left?
I hate it. I hate it so much. We're ruining everything beautiful that we have. I could still be around when it's finally all gone.
I hate that I'm beginning to understand how so many people just tune out. Tune out world issues, tune out politics, tune out considerations of the future. It's so easy to see how it's tempting to live in a world where your biggest concern is if the grill is working or if that new movie is out or if you should switch jobs. The world is so scary and overwhelming. There's so many problems that seem insurmountable, sometimes tuning it out completely seems like the only way to deal with it without falling into despair.
I don't even know what this post is about, really. The worries in my mind threaten to drown me, sometimes.