Comments on: GOP attacks are hurting conservatives in the UK

By: Political Irony › Right Wrongs Rights

Political Irony › Right Wrongs Rights — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:43:10 +0000

[...] Is it a right only once you pass a certain age? Or is this like the situation in the UK, where even the most conservative politicians support their nationalized health care system, because it is so popular? Maybe since Obama is about “change”, conservatives have [...]

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:16:26 +0000

As an outsider living in the US, one must simultaneously be impressed by the wide-ranging concerns introduced into the discussion, and the meticulousness of some people on the one hand, and be horrified at the naked tribalism and unashamed ignorance and hypocrisy on the other hand.

“Only in America”, where I can laugh and cry at the same time. I love what the USA stands for and sincerely hope it does not self-combust.

By: Clickbank Product Reviews

Clickbank Product Reviews — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:05:05 +0000

The cons in the US don’t give a rats ass about who they have to burn to preserve the profits of their corporate masters at home.

By: Daniel Habtemariam

Daniel Habtemariam — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:44:03 +0000

@Eva. I couldn’t agree with you more, but what you’re talking about is opening up Medicare to more of the general public, and I don’t believe it would be possible to do that (quietly) without the GOP raising an uproar about it. It’s more or less what Ted Kennedy’s proposed bill would do, and it would mean the private health insurance industry taking a hit. A lot was made of that in 1965 (Johnson), in 1993 (Clinton), and now in 2009 (Obama).

What it comes down to is that the conservative party in the United States likes to talk big about the benefits of conservatism (lower taxes) but is nowhere to be found when discussions turn to the downsides of conservatism (diminished social programs, such as healtchare). It’s the same fight the Republicans waged on Social Security and Medicare; they used rumors, myths, fear-mongering, and misinformation to try to keep it from becoming law. But once it became law, and it was well received by the public, they did a 180 and vowed to protect it. It’s completely disingenuous, but it works.

@Iron Knee. Your point about the British system being, at once, so popular in Britain and so much further than anything Obama (or any other Democrat in Washington) is proposing is itself a tragic instance of irony. The President (and the Democrats) went out of their way to propose (from the beginning) a moderate/centrist set of proposals, and they’ve been met with totally far-right alternatives from the GOP. Far too many Americans, however, has been painted a picture that Obama and the Democrats are proposing ideas equally as left-wing as the GOP’s ideas have been right-wing. It’s a false equivalence, one of too many to count these days…

By: Eva

Eva — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:02:29 +0000

Instead of making a big scene, why doesn’t congress quietly open the government health care program to people and go by their income? They are already doing that with Medicare. Little was made of that. Single people on Medicare with income under 85K are paying the going rate, over pay more. For married people it is double that. Social security is checking with the IRS to find out what income people have when the tax is filed. Meanwhile demand that everyone get on Health Insurance.

Now couldn’t Congress pass its bill while quietly opening the government plan with supplement from the taxes for the low income people? Eva