11/03/12

The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.
Aristotle

Moderation, which consists in an indifference about little things, and in a prudent and well-proportioned zeal about things of importance, can proceed from nothing but true knowledge, which has its foundation in self-acquaintance.
Plato

Our nation is a bunch of psychotically and sociopathically partisan piss-ant morons on both sides of the razor-wire philosophical fence. Most people I’ve heard foaming at the mouth wouldn’t accept a heart transplant from someone of a different political persuasion if their life depended on it unless the donor was alive and kicking.

This is what is going to doom our country for the next four years no matter what happened this past Election Day:
there are too many people out there who would gladly drink the Kool Aid if their own candidate handed them the red Solo cup but wouldn’t accept the antidote if it was served up in a Waterford crystal goblet by the other guy.
Can I get a show of hands? You know who you are.
I don’t plan on crossing over any ideological fence I see standing in front of me, but I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to reach over that fence to snag a particularly tasty looking apple, and I most assuredly wouldn’t mind if my neighbor helped himself to one of our juicier peaches.
In some circles, that used to be referred to as being a “moderate”… like that was a bad thing.
While we had the war that is still dragging on over in the Middle East (although I seem to remember some people insisting we had pretty much won it at one point or another before Obama inherited it and moved it somewhere else) and we had The Economy to deal with, and unemployment was an overwhelming concern, the two hottest flash points I kept seeing get fanned and fueled were Medicare and Social Security. At least those were the ones that could realistically affect everyone, everywhere, from every walk of life
I’m lost. Someone care to or able to explain to me why some people deserve a higher standard of healthcare than others do merely because they can afford it? I understand that theory when it comes to luxury SUVs and used AMC Pacers, but is it the same thinking behind being able to afford the right to life?
Fact is, if someone came up with the medical means to eradicate cancer within the next four years, and the government could actually fund it by taking all the money away from the caribou and polar bears and public TV without raising taxes – if it was labeled “ObamaCure” there are shitloads of people who would fight it to the death. Call it “Gee-O-P Juice” and others would hold it in the same reverence as Jesus’ blood on the Cross.
I finally figured out why certain people have such a hard time getting behind the Affordable Health Care Act:
First off, it’s the fact that it’s even referred to by anyone whatsoever as “Obamacare”. Many of the people who find that distasteful didn’t seem to have a problem with it when it was formerly known in Massachusetts as “Romneycare” (after Mitt Romney. Remember him?) even if it was Ted Kennedy who largely pushed it through;
But more importantly, it would mean that everyone, as in “EVERYone” would be entitled to the same standards and availability of health care, with health care contributing to their quality of life.
And those certain people actually believe that they deserve to have a higher standard of health care, a higher quality of health care than that deserved by (take your pick) Mexicans / Asians / Blacks / “white trash” / ghetto trash / Democrats / Liberals / gun control advocates / environmentalists / Welfare recipients / anyone who disagrees with them.
Got news for them: they don’t deserve it.
They haven’t earned it.
Maybe they have earned the fancier car or the larger house or the designer clothes or the iPhone 5 that are beyond the reach of less enterprising folks, but they’ve earned nothing more than a myriad of luxuries. I don’t find it that unsettling that they might even be able to afford luxury suites in Cedars / Sinai and the best cardiologists their stock dividends can buy
It just pisses them off that the people they so contemptuously look down upon will have the same “right” to live long and healthy lives as they do.
And if they have a problem with their taxes (after all the right-offs) helping to subsidize them poor Middle Class folk’s co-pays, would they also like us to stay off that part of the highway they paid for or to stay the fuck out of their part of Yosemite? Do we just get to have one firetruck come over to our house and use our garden hose if our 1,300 square foot home is in flames?
We’re talking about people’s health
It’s not Obama’s Socialist agenda that will give that right to those on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder:
God gave it to them a long, long time ago.