There shouldn't be any doubt that we are in a full scale class war in America. The New York Times article this morning on the Koch brothers and their ilk should pretty much settle the question. The rich and conservative minions who don't want the poor to have health care insurance have pretty much engineered the current debacle in Washington, DC. They have poured hundreds of millions of dollars in an admittedly brilliant execution of their plan to bring us to this state of affairs. They are aided and abetted by the likes of Fox News who have now convinced the uneducated that they will have micro devices planted in them by government doctors.(See Bill Maher's latest show.)
When will there be some backlash against these uncaring conservative billionaires? Lets don't wait like the current politicians in Greece who are trying to deflect their image of incompetence to the Germans by asking for war reparations from 70 years ago. It is a little late. These worthless Greek pols weren't even alive back then, but this saber rattling has always been proved to deflect criticism. Think bush/cheney in their run up to an unnecessary war in Iraq to hide their incompetence in ignoring terrorist threats.
When will there be some backlash against these uncaring conservative billionaires? Lets don't wait like the current politicians in Greece who are trying to deflect their image of incompetence to the Germans by asking for war reparations from 70 years ago. It is a little late. These worthless Greek pols weren't even alive back then, but this saber rattling has always been proved to deflect criticism. Think bush/cheney in their run up to an unnecessary war in Iraq to hide their incompetence in ignoring terrorist threats.
1 comment:
Thank you. You're exactly right to say that it's class warfare.
Why do they, the rich and their Republican representatives, hate Obamacare so much? An Oct 1 column in the NY Times economic section by Eduardo Porter says it's because they've spent 30 years, since Reagan, convincing people that government is bad and doesn't work, and Obamacare will undo all that.
And Porter says Obamacare will work well for the key Tea Party demographic, working white men 45-64. People who are in jobs with no benefits and aren't eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. Republicans will lose part of that vote and they just can't afford it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/business/economy/why-the-health-care-law-scares-the-gop.html?_r=0
Taking it further, with the demographic problem they already have, it will be a disaster for Republicans who are already resorting to massive cheating to hold onto power.
I'd also add this. Socialized medicine -- single payer, Medicare for all, whatever you call it -- is politically untenable in the US, but Obamacare will make it look possible. Obamacare is a step in that direction. The leap will not be as far next time health care is taken up.
Obamacare is hated for the reason it's liked by people like me who think economic standing shouldn't dictate whether you live or die or have a good life or have certain rights.
So it's hated because it's going to prove that government works, but eventually it will dawn on Americans that Socialized medicine is just the best way to deliver health care, as the Europeans and Canadians already know.
Remember that the New Deal, and its Act II the Great Society, were implemented to save Capitalism from Socialism, which was ascendant in Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s and growing in popularity in the US thanks in part to large influxes of European immigrants. The socialist parts of the New Deal undercut Socialism by adopting tenants of its agenda -- Social Security, Workmen's Comp, Unemployment Insurance, Medicaid and Medicare.
The Right has expended tremendous effort and money to roll all that back. They've succeeded in demonizing Socialism, even though it's a naturally occurring phenomena that grows out of our nature -- it's the best way to express our drive to care for one another and thereby survive, which is why it never goes away, whereas Capitalism arises from our lesser nature, our drive to compete and eliminate competition and thereby survive.
At some level everyone understands this innately. As long as people don't see Socialism as a viable option the Koch brothers are OK. If Obamacare works it could open peoples' minds again to the idea that we're all in this together and not isolated and different and powerless, and it could open their hearts.
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