BELLIGERENCE…THE CURRENCY OF THE INTELLECTUALLY BANKRUPT

This line out of the Charles Blow op-ed article from Saturday August 9 says it all. It’s been my experience as a child of the South, and conservative evangelicalism, that the only way extreme right wing followers have of expressing opinions that have absolutely no factual grounding is to be belligerent. They put their fingers in their ears and yell “LA, LA, LA, LA” so they don’t have to listen to reason. As I expressed to an intellectually bankrupt relative once…I guess your mind’s made up and you don’t want to be confused with the facts.

What’s occurring on with the “Right Wing Mobs” in the days of August 2009 at town hall meetings of Congressional Democrats is even more sinister. This intellectually bankrupt band of brothers is spouting out information that is so blatantly false it sets a whole new standard for ignorance. The right wing nuts insist the idea that healthcare reform is promoting euthanasia. The part of the legislation they are using is a section promoting our individuals to engage in contemplation of a “living will” with their physician. Now comes the weird part…the section they complain about was placed in the legislation by, none other than, the Republicans. Go figure!
Maureen Dowd wrote in the Sunday August 8 NY Times concerning the latest from the former Governor Sarah Palin, “Talking Points Memo reported on Friday, she put up a demented, fact-free Facebook rant trashing the president’s health care plan: “The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society’ whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.” The latest from Sarah Palin’s about “Obama’s death panel” is either disingenuous and dishonest…or outright dumb! Given her recent history…I’m leaning toward dumb.

Let’s explore two of the “Con’s” objections, the euthanasia “death panel” notion and the “public option.” As I stated, the clause in the House and Senate bills being considers are to encourage and pay for consultation with a physician about a “living will.” This was a very good idea that originated with the Republican members of Congress and the Senate. It’s a decision most family members wish their grandparents, or parents, or husbands, or wives, had made so that end of life decisions weren’t imposed on the remaining family members. It’s anguishing for a son or daughter to wonder what their parents would want to be done about heroic lifesaving measures when the quality of life could not be reversed. And, yes…it would save money. But, is that so bad? You wouldn’t know unless you had been forced into making a decision to maintain life when all the life that was left was to be tethered to a machine. You didn’t want your loved one to suffer, but you know they aren’t going to get any better, so all you can do is sit, wondering what they would say if they had to see the scene as you were. It is really the definition of anguish. Many of our friends and family have taken advantage of Living Wills so their wishes are clear if that event occurs. Some want heroic measures…some don’t. But, it’s their choice, not an insurance company nor a government bureaucrat. You would think Republican Conservatives would be for this. Taking this decision out of the hands of your loved ones and making it yourself is a real act of love. But, how are the Con’s selling this good idea? They’re framing it as a death panel. That’s vulgar!

Then, let’s discuss the “public option.” The Con’s are supposed to be all about stimulating the economic engine of small business. If they are really concerned about small business what could be more helpful than having a very low cost health care plan that’s available so that the new business could make the most out of much needed operating capital rather that diverting those limited dollars to the hands of health care insurers, who pay their top executives several million dollars in salaries, have administration cost of almost 30% (compared to 2% for Medicare & Medicaid), in addition to the army of employees they employ to deny claims. Nothing could be more PRO small business than the public option. But, it for sure isn’t PRO private health care insurers. Those insurers are going to have to shave those enormous salaries, cut their administration cost, and re-deploy those departments who are only dedicated to denying claims. Thus…the rest of us will get a break too! A few more spendable dollars in our pockets for buying those products that will expand the economy. Hey Con’s…think of it this way and maybe you’ll like it. It will be like a tax cut!

Living Wills and a Public Option that will help small businesses…two ideas you would think promoters of individual liberty and advocates of small business would embrace. Not in this BAZARO Republican Party.