re: #185 EastSider

This is something that’s been bothering me for a while. It seems the two main arguments against the bill have been that we shouldn’t be providing healthcare to everybody, or, worse, that we can’t.

For those that say we shouldn’t: how do you morally justify the fact that people die every year for want of basic health services? We can spend billions on two wars with intangible (at best) safety benefits to our country but can’t pony up for healthcare with direct life-saving consequences? Its a basic lack of empathy that’s appaling.

For those that say we can’t: Seriously, which country did you grow up in? We won World War II, put a man on the moon, and defeated Communism without firing a missile. We can damn well take care of our own people. For a group that makes it a point to wave the flag all the live long day, maybe you should think about the kind of exceptionalism that symbol implies and how if we put our minds and full force of our ingenuity against something we can achieve anything.

/rant

Agreed. I am somewhat in shock at arguments that seem to suggest that we believe we can operate with 10% of our population having only scant access to healthcare, and that we cannot possibly provide for everyone.

We damn well can, and we damn well should.

Argue anything with me, but don’t argue that this country, of all nations in the world, must maintain a medical underclass to operate.