‘Late Thursday afternoon, McCain and Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin held a surreal press conference to denounce a policy that, just hours later, two of them would vote to advance. They said they would only vote for the skinny repeal as a means to an end—a vehicle to set up a House-Senate conference committee that would allow Republicans another chance to work out a broader replacement bill. “The skinny bill as policy is a disaster. The skinny bill as a replacement for Obamacare is a fraud,” Graham declared.’ ~ The Atlantic
A revealing read on the complexities and intricacies surrounding the healthcare issue in Congress. In short, some republicans refused to vote for earlier drafts of the bill not because the repeal under discussion was indecent, but because it didn’t go ‘far enough.’
On the other hand, three GOP senators voted down the ‘skinny’ version, ending the latest offensive on healthcare.
I am as anti-socialist as you can get, and commonsensical. I break out in a rash when hearing the terms ‘socialism’ and ‘people’s justice’ because they are terms highly abused and, all too often, abusive in turn. They have been used to ill effect across the world, they are no panacea. Much like organized religion, they are the means to nefarious ends, all pose and little substance. Socialism crushed East Germany and other countries in the Eastern Block. It preyed on human prosperity and individuality, crushed the human spirit, trashed ingenuity and incentive, all in the name of utopia.
But universal healthcare is not a socialist thing. It’s the decent and smart thing to do, an essential ingredient in this day and age.
And an assault on universal healthcare is nothing short of shameful and idiotic.
When the history books look back at our time they will judge this rabid bunch of lunatics who, in a bout of ideological frenzy, or perhaps lobby-driven rabies, attempted to rob the poorest among us of their healthcare, all on the basis of a twisted ideology. The future will look back and cringe at what these legislators and their funders/backers tried to do.
I’m so ashamed of the right-wing’s stance on this issue. Anyone who voted for the healthcare repeal bills on an ideological basis, targeting not the problematic points of the current legislation but the whole notion of universal healthcare to serve an umbrella ideology that is hell-bent on carpet-bombing everything, is on the wrong side of history.
May history be as unkind to these legislators as possible, while at the same time remembering those who did the right thing.
Of course it’s not over yet. There’s a long way to go before universal healthcare is locked in, before it’s applied in a functional and sustainable way. Reform is needed, without question, the right and informed kind, if the institution is going to work.
In the meantime the lunatics will try to carpet-bomb everything again.
They must be stopped in their tracks, again and again, until they get the message.
From your straight-talking Spin Doctor,
Eyes open, mind sharp.
For The Atlantic’s article, click here: