Healthcare should be provided by muppets.
First of all, you should all stop what you're doing and watch this:
The Muppets Sing Bohemian Rhapsody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY
And then because I was bored and reading the news at work today...
You know, I don’t know why I bother reading the blogs and the online comments about healthcare reform. It’s just like reading bloggers’ comments on anything else in the world, from stem cell research to what Sandra Bullock wore to the Oscars to Who is the Best Teletubby. In the first corner, you have the people rabidly against health care reform (or Sandra Bullock or Tinky Winky), who fly off the handle about how Obama deceived America and is leading us down the road to communism (apparently several people think this is 1952), and howthe American people hate this bill (meaning, of course, the specific group of American people that compose the writer’s friends.)
In the opposite corner, you have the people who love health care reform and/or think the current bill didn’t go far enough. These also tend to be the people who think Obama will walk on water that he just turned into wine to lead us to the Promised Land. Also, if anyone refuses to follow the Chosen One, it means they’re a racist. In terms of firmness of belief and willingness to discuss an opposing viewpoint, these two groups are exactly the same.
Then in the middle you have the Umpire, the blogger in the black and white stripes who’s trying to maintain some semblence of order and logic, saying things like ‘healthcare reform is good, but Obama’s methods were problematic and he will suffer in the polls for it.’ On its face, this is a fair statement, but any attempt to voice it will immediately be pounced on by both fighters, both of whom just want to hit someone over the head with a chair.
And then somewhere off in the stands you have Europe, Canada, and the rest of the free world watching, shaking their heads and saying ‘could someone please explain to me why anyone would object to universal health care?’ (an actual blog comment, btw) ‘Did Massachusetts sleep with Alabama’s girlfriend? What’s going on here? Is this even for real?’
Wouldn’t we all like to know.
Honestly, I haven’t had the time, the energy, or the interest to really sort through all the layers of bullshit and figure out what is actually going on with this healthcare reform bill. I tried to follow it for a while, but it kept changing and I’m still paying out of pocket for a PPO, so at a certain point I just kind of gave up. But near as I can make out, and do correct me if I’m wrong, this bill says that everyone has to have health insurance the way everyone has to have auto insurance. BUT, employers aren’t allowed to charge employees up the ass for company premiums, insurance companies can’t refuse people with pre-existing conditions, and if you can’t afford health care, you can apply for a whole bunch of government subsidies based on your age, economic status, number of dependants, etc.
Now, why do people have a problem with this? In many cases, for the same reason they have a problem with getting auto insurance! It’s another bill, another thing to remember to deal with, and for some people, another way for ‘the man’ to watch you. But the reason we have auto insurance is, quite simply, that your driving isn’t just about you. It’s about everyone else on the road, pedestrians, small animals, and every other living thing that could potentially be affected by your operation of a motor vehicle. You have to have auto insurance to protect other people if you screw up, because your actions do not take place in a vacuum. Even if you only injure yourself in an accident, your family, friends, and co-workers will be affected.
And to me, it seems like the same deal with health insurance. I’ve heard it argued that health insurance should be different from auto insurance because it’s just about you. No, actually, it’s not. Unless you’re living on an island somewhere with a coconut for a girlfriend, your life affects the lives of people around you. If you get sick or injured, you will not by any means be the only one who suffers. And I’m not just talking about productive members of society when I say this. Even if a crack addict od’s in an alley, it affects other people, even if it’s just in terms of a slight increase in taxpayer money to the local ER or morgue. I realize that the above goes hard against the grain of the independent, self-sufficient American ethos, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
But from what I’m getting here, most of the people who object to healthcare aren’t saying ‘dammit I don’t want to pay another bill.’ They’re saying…well, a bunch of crap, really. A lot of people are talking about socialism and a decline in the general quality of health care. And who are those people? Oh, right, the people who can afford to have health care plans that include subsidized spa weekends. They don’t want to have to wait in line at the doctor’s office. When they say ‘decline in quality’ what they actually mean is ‘if the resources are distributed to more people, there will be less for me.’ Never mind that there may be more for people who previously had nothing.
Oh, but what’s this?! People who don’t have healthcare object to this bill?! Well, then, I guess it must be really bad then! Mandate from the masses! Repeal it immediately! No no, wait a second, there’s something else going on here.
Now look, I think Middle America is just as smart as any other part of America. It’s just that Middle America is sick of Coastal America trying to tell it what to do. So people with no healthcare are objecting to reform the way you objected to your older sister giving you her old My Little Ponies. Even if they’re nice Ponies, they aren’t the Ponies you picked out for yourself. She doesn’t get to decide which Ponies are the best! She’s not the boss of you! So at the end of the day, you’d rather have no Ponies at all than have her stupid stinking Ponies.
I am by no means suggesting that Middle America is immature, either. I think any individual in that position might well act/think the same way, because we’re only human, and there is an immature component inherent to human nature. And the people with all the money who don’t want to pay for their spa weekends are very good at appealing to that immature element and getting the masses on their side in the name of ‘small government.’ Meanwhile you have all the perfectly well-meaning people in favor of health care reform going ‘wait, we’re trying to help you here’ and getting confused when the response is ‘we don’t WANT your help!’
I realize I’m taking on the role of umpire blogger right now, but I really do think we all just need at accept that we live in a community, that our lives affect the lives of those around us, and the reason that we have a government and pay taxes is so that we can benefit from government services. And that means everyone benefits, not just you. If you want to put in in strictly self-serving terms, think of it as something that might potentially reduce the spread of communicable diseases! Or even criminal behavior, which can stem from being part of a family whose members are too sick to work! And could everyone just please stop being such total douches to each other? That would be great.
Meanwhile at work, I’ve been given a new project. All of our fieldwork has been shelved indefinitely (ballsssss) but I, lucky person that I am, get to work on a nomination for the National Register of Historic Places! I have never done this before, it is a huge undertaking, I have only visited the site we are nominating three times, and the only reason I’m doing this is because everyone else is too busy. Well, crap. My day just got a little more interesting. On the plus side, I finally managed to ingest enough coffee to make myself feel human again.
The Muppets Sing Bohemian Rhapsody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY
And then because I was bored and reading the news at work today...
You know, I don’t know why I bother reading the blogs and the online comments about healthcare reform. It’s just like reading bloggers’ comments on anything else in the world, from stem cell research to what Sandra Bullock wore to the Oscars to Who is the Best Teletubby. In the first corner, you have the people rabidly against health care reform (or Sandra Bullock or Tinky Winky), who fly off the handle about how Obama deceived America and is leading us down the road to communism (apparently several people think this is 1952), and howthe American people hate this bill (meaning, of course, the specific group of American people that compose the writer’s friends.)
In the opposite corner, you have the people who love health care reform and/or think the current bill didn’t go far enough. These also tend to be the people who think Obama will walk on water that he just turned into wine to lead us to the Promised Land. Also, if anyone refuses to follow the Chosen One, it means they’re a racist. In terms of firmness of belief and willingness to discuss an opposing viewpoint, these two groups are exactly the same.
Then in the middle you have the Umpire, the blogger in the black and white stripes who’s trying to maintain some semblence of order and logic, saying things like ‘healthcare reform is good, but Obama’s methods were problematic and he will suffer in the polls for it.’ On its face, this is a fair statement, but any attempt to voice it will immediately be pounced on by both fighters, both of whom just want to hit someone over the head with a chair.
And then somewhere off in the stands you have Europe, Canada, and the rest of the free world watching, shaking their heads and saying ‘could someone please explain to me why anyone would object to universal health care?’ (an actual blog comment, btw) ‘Did Massachusetts sleep with Alabama’s girlfriend? What’s going on here? Is this even for real?’
Wouldn’t we all like to know.
Honestly, I haven’t had the time, the energy, or the interest to really sort through all the layers of bullshit and figure out what is actually going on with this healthcare reform bill. I tried to follow it for a while, but it kept changing and I’m still paying out of pocket for a PPO, so at a certain point I just kind of gave up. But near as I can make out, and do correct me if I’m wrong, this bill says that everyone has to have health insurance the way everyone has to have auto insurance. BUT, employers aren’t allowed to charge employees up the ass for company premiums, insurance companies can’t refuse people with pre-existing conditions, and if you can’t afford health care, you can apply for a whole bunch of government subsidies based on your age, economic status, number of dependants, etc.
Now, why do people have a problem with this? In many cases, for the same reason they have a problem with getting auto insurance! It’s another bill, another thing to remember to deal with, and for some people, another way for ‘the man’ to watch you. But the reason we have auto insurance is, quite simply, that your driving isn’t just about you. It’s about everyone else on the road, pedestrians, small animals, and every other living thing that could potentially be affected by your operation of a motor vehicle. You have to have auto insurance to protect other people if you screw up, because your actions do not take place in a vacuum. Even if you only injure yourself in an accident, your family, friends, and co-workers will be affected.
And to me, it seems like the same deal with health insurance. I’ve heard it argued that health insurance should be different from auto insurance because it’s just about you. No, actually, it’s not. Unless you’re living on an island somewhere with a coconut for a girlfriend, your life affects the lives of people around you. If you get sick or injured, you will not by any means be the only one who suffers. And I’m not just talking about productive members of society when I say this. Even if a crack addict od’s in an alley, it affects other people, even if it’s just in terms of a slight increase in taxpayer money to the local ER or morgue. I realize that the above goes hard against the grain of the independent, self-sufficient American ethos, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
But from what I’m getting here, most of the people who object to healthcare aren’t saying ‘dammit I don’t want to pay another bill.’ They’re saying…well, a bunch of crap, really. A lot of people are talking about socialism and a decline in the general quality of health care. And who are those people? Oh, right, the people who can afford to have health care plans that include subsidized spa weekends. They don’t want to have to wait in line at the doctor’s office. When they say ‘decline in quality’ what they actually mean is ‘if the resources are distributed to more people, there will be less for me.’ Never mind that there may be more for people who previously had nothing.
Oh, but what’s this?! People who don’t have healthcare object to this bill?! Well, then, I guess it must be really bad then! Mandate from the masses! Repeal it immediately! No no, wait a second, there’s something else going on here.
Now look, I think Middle America is just as smart as any other part of America. It’s just that Middle America is sick of Coastal America trying to tell it what to do. So people with no healthcare are objecting to reform the way you objected to your older sister giving you her old My Little Ponies. Even if they’re nice Ponies, they aren’t the Ponies you picked out for yourself. She doesn’t get to decide which Ponies are the best! She’s not the boss of you! So at the end of the day, you’d rather have no Ponies at all than have her stupid stinking Ponies.
I am by no means suggesting that Middle America is immature, either. I think any individual in that position might well act/think the same way, because we’re only human, and there is an immature component inherent to human nature. And the people with all the money who don’t want to pay for their spa weekends are very good at appealing to that immature element and getting the masses on their side in the name of ‘small government.’ Meanwhile you have all the perfectly well-meaning people in favor of health care reform going ‘wait, we’re trying to help you here’ and getting confused when the response is ‘we don’t WANT your help!’
I realize I’m taking on the role of umpire blogger right now, but I really do think we all just need at accept that we live in a community, that our lives affect the lives of those around us, and the reason that we have a government and pay taxes is so that we can benefit from government services. And that means everyone benefits, not just you. If you want to put in in strictly self-serving terms, think of it as something that might potentially reduce the spread of communicable diseases! Or even criminal behavior, which can stem from being part of a family whose members are too sick to work! And could everyone just please stop being such total douches to each other? That would be great.
Meanwhile at work, I’ve been given a new project. All of our fieldwork has been shelved indefinitely (ballsssss) but I, lucky person that I am, get to work on a nomination for the National Register of Historic Places! I have never done this before, it is a huge undertaking, I have only visited the site we are nominating three times, and the only reason I’m doing this is because everyone else is too busy. Well, crap. My day just got a little more interesting. On the plus side, I finally managed to ingest enough coffee to make myself feel human again.