Letters to the Editor
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Because...
>Why does no one see the connection between all of these issues?<
Because right-wing conservatives and libertarians are children. For them to make these connections means they have to realize that they aren't the "self-made" utterly independent people they want to believe they are--and dammed if they _ever_ admit that. The reason people took so long to catch up to the Bushies and their ilk is because the idea of utter self-sufficiency and "you can get rich if you just try" is so ingrained in the culture. It's only when people have exhausted their resources and done all they can that they realize they can't do everything alone.
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mind boggling
I cannot begin to describe just how mind-boggling it is to the 'rest of us' in developed countries to thinking of having to PAY to see a doctor.
Growing up in Canada, the very concept of paying for health care is just so... foreign and strange.
Aren't access to education and healthcare basic human rights? How more basic can you get than that? Indeed I have discussed the rights vs privilege of this topic with many of US friends and the conversation usually degenerates to 'why should I pay for the bum who is sick because he took crack?' um...because for each one of these bums there are arguably hundreds of perfectly decent hard working people who need it too?
The fact that a mass of 300+ million people living in a modern democracy don't have universal coverage to reimburse medical costs, let alone free healthcare is so anachronistic compared to the countless other wonders that great country has come up with.
It's been well proven that the US current medical system is so complex and cumbersome, than making it completely free would actually LOWER the amount the government would have tp spend per capita. Sure the millions employed by HMOs would be understandably angry, but there must be some alternative to the big mess of the system. Yes I worked in the southern US for two years and couldn't believe the paperwork, legal tie-downs, hoops I had to go through simply to be covered by a basic plan through my employer. My primary care doctor was assigned to me, with little possibility of deviation. I received tons of little colorful documents with happy people on the covers, who obviously weren't as overwhelmed as I was to having to read their contents, pages of terms, daunting conditions and obscure legal clauses.
free market and health care simply don't mix, period.
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addendum
It's strange to be gazing from the outside so to speak and notice everywhere just how dirty the word socialized is in the US.
let alone... communism.
Wasn't that cold war thing over ages ago?
Does anyone SERIOUSLY see this add and think 'gosh, I'm going commie'?
http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/7932/communism6nm.jpg
You see that everywhere, editorials, forums, mainstream respected newspapers. How did the notion of a society deciding how to manage its own wealth become so...yucky? Mention those small northern countries in Europe where the life expectancies are longest and the first reply is invariably 'oh, those wealthfare states'. Oh wait, they have free health care too.
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so, "you can get rich if you just try" is a lie?
So, you are telling me that, "you can get rich if you just try" is a lie and somehow not true? I guess the Government needs to make us rich somehow? Maybe you should change your strategy to less cry and more try. I know plenty of people that statement applies to.
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Something that even Children know
Because right-wing conservatives and libertarians are children
Try sticks and stones, they hurt more.
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Uh, Walter....
"Healthcare is so complex and the details so daunting that it is tempting for voters to abandon the fray. "
....the VA?
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When will this end?
I heard on MSNBC tonight that over 80% of the population support the SCHIP and that over 70% would support a tax increase to pay for it. Bush doesn't live in the real world. As a President he is willing to bury us in a deficit to destroy another country and then try vainly to rebuild parts of it. All the while the infrastructure of our own country is disintegrating. But that's okay because we will just sell our roads to companies from other countries who then will then be able to impose tolls. What has happened to this country? The quick fix, the under the table contracting to buddies, and all the other things we learn more about every single day is frightening. The lies, the meanness, and the corruption of the right wingers is almost incomprehensible. Where is the compassion of the so-called Christian right? I find nothing Christian in their smug assessment of denying healthcare to children. The support of many Americans to private organizations that pick up some of the slack in helping others could be considered a voluntary tax. Maybe instead of asking us to check on our IRS forms if we want to contribute to election money we could be checking that we'd like $3 to go to SCHIP.
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Parents are opting out of vaccines for "religious reasons"
I read an article last night about parents opting out of getting their children vaccinated due to "religious reasons" when no such religion reason existed. This is in Massachusetts. Bush and his buddies are so out of touch with the reality that most Americans face. Everything he says that I have heard is so erroneous to most Americans, at least from where I sit that it's hard not to just cry. I don't know if I can laugh anymore. We need to get past the politic issues because it's killing this nation. We need to discuss honestly and we need to do some work. We need to figure out what our priorities are and then work towards them. As it stands, it's something like 80% of the wealth created is in 1% of the population's hands. Does that sound right or justified to you? That is the major problem that is holding all of us hostage. It is killing us. Isn't it only life? What is the big deal? We are all going to die someday, aren't we? Shouldn't we try to enjoy life and make life more pleasant for all? Life is a crapshoot, isn't it? Anyone of us could have been poor.