Shadegg from Arizona Exploits Child
What a sad and transparent, actually cliche, example of cynical politicking. John Shadegg, Arizona congressman, continues the same lame line we’ve been hearing from the anti-healthcare crowd. Yes, I use the phrase anti-healthcare as an ironic straw man. Because; no one is arguing for a government run health care system, or a government takeover of health care. The two prongs of the anti-healthcare debate seem to be A) Don’t pay for health care reform on the back of (seniors, children, etc) and then there’s B) a government take over of the health care industry.
Let’s break these down a bit, shall we?
A: This one is the simplest on a logical and mathematical basis. The commercials implore us not to take money away from medicare/medicaid to create a policy that is essentially medicare/medicaid for all. So… let’s not take money away from covering the elderly to pay for a system that would cover the elderly… need I point out the absurdity of this argument?
B: This one is more subjective, but in looking at all the historical and contemporary models of social medical programs in capitalist western democracies, NONE of them can be described as a government run health care system (Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, etc etc). Supposing the perpetrators of this asinine train of thought actually believe it, I have to wonder how they get through life without participating in the government run educational system. How do they justify living in the comfort and safety guaranteed by the government takeover of the military? When they wake up in the middle of the night and smell smoke, do they refuse to support the government run emergency response system? Do they go without electricity in a boycott of the government run power grid? I bet it’s hard to get around, staying off the government maintained road and highway system.
In the end, what are they really advocating? That the system go unchanged? Is it acceptable to them that 30% to 40% of Americans, citizens of the most wealthy and prosperous nation on Earth, cannot afford health insurance and admit that they forgo visiting the doctor even for necessary care because of this? I wonder if the mother of Mr. Shadegg’s prop had health insurance to cover her birth.