Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Liberals Have Guns Too

Across the nation tonight, millions of armed Liberals lurk in the shadows, waiting for unwary Tea-Partiers to cross their path. Their Socialist agenda advanced, the liberal hordes look next to the guns and values of American Conservative families. Glenn Beck's doomsday is upon us all!

What the heck is going on with our nation? For the last nine months, a series of bills have been debated that would attempt to resolve a problem that better than 75% of the citizens believe needs to be solved. The bill signed into law was consistently opposed by 45%-50% of the nation that hated it, and the 10%-15% of the nation that felt it wasn't LIBERAL enough. Do not take my word for it; go to this poll, and this poll. A majority of your neighbors wanted something to be done along the lines of what was signed into law by the President. If you are one of the many who believe that this bill is wrong, for any reason, then you can be thankful that you live in the United States. There are a number of democratic avenues for redress of grievances available to the citizens of this proud nation; many of which I will cover below. I would also note that most of the items in the bill that anger folks the most, don't take effect until 2014.

That last point means that citizens will have the chance to vote in a new Congress and a new President before the majority of the bill takes effect. Of course you will have to live with the consequences that do enter force this year like:
  1. No more "pre-existing conditions" for children
  2. A rebate for seniors in the Medicare gap ($250 this year and rising annually)
  3. Up to a 50% tax credit for small businesses providing health coverage (please note that this is despite them not "having" to cover anyone yet)
  4. Unmarried children covered on their parent's plan up to their 26th birthday
  5. No more lifetime caps on coverage, and limited caps on annual coverage until 2014 (when they will be banned)
  6. A temporary pool to cover adults with pre-existing conditions (those pesky cancer patients can buy insurance now)
  7. New plans must cover preventative procedures without a copay
  8. No more rescissions (unless you defraud the company...this means that if your wife gets sick again, Humana won't decide she is low margin and boot her off the plan)
  9. **EVIL REGULATION** Insurers will have to disclose how much they spend on overhead
  10. New plans will have to offer a clear appeals process (Humana would have to explain why they have "lost" my doctor's request that they cover the medication I need...you know, the insurance companies won't be able to stand between me and my doctor as easily as normal)
  11. **EVIL TAX** The GOVERNMENT will tax tanning booths!! (John Boehner is really pissed!)
  12. **EVIL INVASION OF PRIVACY** New screening procedures will be implemented to reduce fraud and abuse
  13. Medicare coverage will be improved by ending the payment disparity between rural and urban areas
  14. **EVIL REGULATION** Non-profit insurers that get tax credits will have to operate under a medical loss ratio of at least 85%, to ensure that they are, in fact, non-profits
  15. **EVIL REGULATION** Chain restaurants will have to display (on their menu boards) caloric contents
  16. A program supporting businesses that cover employees in the expensive 55-65 demographic will be implemented
  17. Web support will be offered for small businesses shopping for coverage
  18. A 2 year credit of up to $2 billion will be offered to encourage research into the treatment of preventable disease
This week, Republicans have announced many tactics that will be used to fight this bill, all of which I endorse. They have promised that they will not cooperate on any more legislation this year; legislative non-cooperation is perfectly acceptable in this democracy. They have, under the auspices of 18 state's attorneys general, sued the Federal Government on the standing that the law is unconstitutional; our three branch government is designed as a system of checks and balances for just this purpose. They have also promised to win big in the mid-term elections on a platform of repealing this legislation; this is the principle of democracy at work.

All of these avenues are legitimate, respectable, and thoroughly American approaches. This separates the legislative Republicans from some of the folks who have resorted to terrorism to threaten or bully the bill out of existence. Messers Cantor and Boehner were good enough to denounce some of the nonsense that happened last weekend during the protests, and I know for a fact that most of the folks who are angry at the legislation are proud Americans uninterested in turning our nation into a Western Pakistan.

For those, however, who think that the supporters of health care reform can be "persuaded" by threats and/or acts of violence...think again. It is a myth that Liberals and Liberal-leaning independents are weak. The law was passed by the democratic process specified in the Constitution...nobody cheated. This notion that being on the losing end of a political debate that proceeded according to Constitutional guidelines, is somehow justification for threats of revolution, is one beneath the majority of those against this bill. I have known for months that most of those who oppose this legislation have NEVER READ IT THEMSELVES...so read it! If it is unpalatable then, use the processes that the Founding Fathers gave us to reverse the legislation. Just do everyone a favor and come up with an alternative in the meantime.

The Rational Middle fervently hopes for reasonable, fact-based debate American-style.......

1 comment:

  1. Well, one of the campaign planks for Democrats in 2008 was healthcare reform. They won a lot of seats and are making it happen.

    Elections matter.

    ReplyDelete