Wednesday, March 03, 2010

He's Going to Go For It.

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He is going to push for reconciliation, and this is the nearest he can be expected to come to promising that.
Reform has already passed the House with a majority. It has already passed the Senate with a supermajority of sixty votes. And now it deserves the same kind of up-or-down vote that was cast on welfare reform, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, COBRA health coverage for the unemployed, and both Bush tax cuts – all of which had to pass Congress with nothing more than a simple majority.
He's going to go for it.

It's not perfect, and I wish he had included a public option, but it's a huge step forward.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why are you interested in radically altering the economy and healthcare system of a country where you don't pay taxes, don't live in and are not a citizen of? Why do you wish the bill had a public option, since you have no apparent vested interest? What's your motivation?

Kel said...

I could as easily ask, "Why was your country interested in freeing the Iraqi people from a dictator? None of you pay taxes in that country so what was your motivation?"

I think, as do many others watching what is taking place in your country, that it is a disgrace that the wealthiest nation on Earth does not offer universal healthcare to all of it's citizens.

Healthcare, despite the protestations of the Republicans, is a human right.

Anonymous said...

Uh, no, free healthcare is not a human right any more than free education is. Human rights are not privileges granted by governments. The framers of the Constitution, the basis for our laws (not the UN or EU charters), expressed that human rights were inalienable rights with which all men are endowed by their creator. Life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, etc...

Free anything is at best a government entitlement, not a human right.

So you, some foreigner (from my perspective at least), feel that it is a disgrace that the US government (the greatest and most successful Republic in history by any objective measure) has not seen fit to bankrupt itself with European-style entitlement programs that have wrecked your countries?

If you want to have a say in the progress of my country the answer is simple. Come on over, get a green-card, pay taxes, obtain citizenship, then vote. While it might be cool to follow the blogs and the news on the subject from afar, this stuff isn't just a spectator sport for me and my family.

Kel said...

Uh, no, free healthcare is not a human right any more than free education is.

Of course, I didn't mention free healthcare, I spoke of universal healthcare which is free at the point of need; but not actually free as it is paid for through taxation.

So you, some foreigner (from my perspective at least), feel that it is a disgrace that the US government (the greatest and most successful Republic in history by any objective measure) has not seen fit to bankrupt itself with European-style entitlement programs that have wrecked your countries?

You actually have the most expensive healthcare system in the world and, according to the World Health Organisation, are ranked 37th between Costa Rica and Slovenia. My country spends much less than yours and we are ranked 18th, almost twenty places higher than your nation.

Indeed, almost every major European nation - including France, Italy, Germany, Spain and even Luxembourg - are far ahead of your nation in those rankings.

If you want to have a say in the progress of my country the answer is simple.

I have never sought to "have a say" on how your country is run. I don't contribute financially to any of your political parties or even have a vote in your country. But perhaps what you are implying is that I should not comment or have a point of view unless I pay US taxation. That's simply ludicrous.

I don't need your permission to do that, just as I don't need the permission of Zimbabweans to comment on what is occurring over there.