-Prissy Hamilton
Can you explain? I’ve been wrestling lately with people’s attitudes and my not understanding them. I know that I’m not super bright, but I know that I’m not super dumb, either. The truth is, I do more homework and research than most.
Health care. Why don’t people want universal single payer health care? Why don’t they want public option? I’m not asking the big pharma or the insurance companies, we all know why they don’t want it. I’m asking the common public folks. The folks whom it would help immensely. What is wrong with it? What do you/they suggest that would be better?
I don’t get very adequate answers. The folks that are against it are quick to argue about it, quick to call names, quick to judge, quick to spout ridiculous answers that have nothing to do with the question, and everything to do with some kind of fear about it, but they don’t seem to have any real solutions.
This leads me to believe that they don’t care about their fellow man. They don’t give a damn that people are dying due to not having health care. They don’t seem to care. These supporters of the status quo health insurance, don’t seem to care about other people. They like it that they have health insurance and others don’t. They want the cake, they want to eat it, but they don’t want others to have anything to eat. Not cake, not soup, not bread - just let them die. Let them suffer and die without any health care at all. Who cares? They don’t.
What exactly does that say about them? It says that they are narcissistic. It says that they really don’t care about their fellow man. It says that they are immune to the suffering of others. It isn’t in their family (yet) so they aren’t bothered to really think about it. It says they are not concerned for the goodness of the whole, they are only concerned about themselves.
The most confusing thing is, lots of these folks call themselves religious. According to the ‘word’ that they supposedly live by, one is supposed to threat others as they would like to be treated - somehow that completely passes them by. Jesus healed the sick, the least they could do is make sure everyone had health care and give them a chance to be healed.
Lots of other people that are against it have their homes, have their insurance, and have their health. They have never been in a situation where illness struck and they were out in the cold as far as medical treatment goes. They have never seen their child suffer and die, never seen a family member in pain and die due to an illness that they could not be treated for.
The whole thing simply is insane, inhumane and boggles my mind how folks can support the status quo in the Health arena. Something is terribly wrong with these people - terribly wrong.
2 comments:
I agree with your thoughts but I don't think it's that simpler. Some of the people I talk to seem to be basing their positions on fear and misinformation. They don't have the imagination to think that they might be in the same situation as someone who is out of work or uninsured or sick - until it happens to them. It would require them to accept that a lot of what they have achieved in life - a stable job, good health, medical insurance, enough money - might have been due to luck and chance and the socioeconomic level they were born into and not their own hard work.
Sometimes they believe that switching to a single payer system will cause their own access to health care to be worse. And sometimes they have examples of people from Canada crossing the border into NY state for surgery to avoid delays and give that as a reason why our system is better. And there is probably some truth to that. If it is a non-emergency situation, there MAY be a wait to get elective surgery scheduled.
And some of them say that they don't think it's their fault that someone else doesn't have employer-provided coverage. I have a friend who would say that he worked hard, he made tough choices, he kept his job when he didn't always like it, he saved his money, he took care of his family.... And that would all be true.
Many people still believe the Horatio Alger myth that anyone who works work hard and takes responsibility for himself can become rich and successful. And since that success is due only to his hard work, everyone else had that same opportunity. As long as people continue to believe that, we will never have an altruistic society.
Prissy, I agree with the parallel you draw that the people against single-payer health care -- and indeed, health care for all -- seem to be only concerned with themselves.
Our country is missing its compassion and tolerance and acceptance and just old fashioned caring and sharing the burdens we each bear... and it's not 'cause the 10 Commandments are not in a courthouse, nor the Bible in schools... it's something pervasive and sad and growing.
It's indicated by the violent entertainment we watch and all our kids to take part in (from video games to lazer tag to paintball to movies and tv shows that depict death and violence so matter-of-factly and with such titillation). It's rooted in a lack of role models for young people to simply see others extend kindnesses toward each other, help someone out, express concern, stand up for another less fortunate, question authority if it seems counter to the public good...
i have no answers, but know what I'd like to see. all i can do is raise my kids to be kind, caring, responsible, sharing, give-a-hand-up adults and hope that they remain true to those ideals and serve as an example to more... and through my imperfections, i'll try to be an example, too.
Thank you, Prissy. Keep on!
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