Palin, the GOP, and Health Care

Recently, Palin expressed (or rather, echoed) her views on health care reform through Facebook. When I read what she had said, I was infuriated.

"And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. 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."

I was shocked at this, although, I shouldn't have been. The idea of "death panels" like out of some 70s, 80s B-rated science fiction movie has been spread across the Republican base. People such as Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh spread this idea. They feed it. I find myself questioning if they really believe what they say, or if they say these things only to be against the Democrats and liberals. Possibly both, depending on the situation?

"People at a certain age with certain diseases will be deemed not worth the investment, and they will just as Obama said, they’d give them some pain pills, and let them loop out till they die and they don’t even know what’s happened. It will be rationed. You’re not going to be able to choose your doctor. Probably after a while, will not be able to hold on to your private insurance or your current insurance, which is all by design, but they are going to be able to regulate, call you a risk based on do you smoke, do you not smoke. How far do you drive to work? Do wear polyester, it’s more flammable. They could get ridiculous, but that’s who these people are, and that’s the kind of control they want.” - Rush Limbaugh

So tell me, Mr. Limbaugh, how is this any different from actual health insurance companies that we have right now? It's called "preexisting condition." Do you have a history of medical claims? Are you terminally ill? Do you smoke? Do you have any form of defects?

And when you do? You are denied coverage, or your coverage comes at higher rates. Why? Because you are being rationed, "by design," by the insurance companies. He just inadvertently described what really happens to low and middle class citizens who seek health coverage. Or, health coverage is just too expensive to afford. Millions of people are uninsured because they either cannot afford it, or are denied coverage, often because of a preexisting condition. So tell me, Mr. Limbaugh, how is "able to regulate, call you a risk based on do you smoke, do you not smoke. How far do you drive to work? Do wear polyester, it’s more flammable" any different from "able to regulate, call you a risk based on do you smoke, do you drink alcohol regularly. How many medical claims have you made in the last ten years? Do you have cancer, it’s a greater liability."

Oh, now some say those who are uninsured are mostly illegal immigrants. So let's take a look. It's estimated that there are roughly 11 million illegal immigrants are here in the U.S. in 2008 (even a year later, let's go to an extreme fititious number and say 20 million, just for the sake of argument) - Decline Seen in Numbers of People Here Illegally

Now, an estimated 46 million from 2005 are uninsured. 3 years before the 2008 study of illegal immigrants. - The Number Of Uninsured Americans Is At An All-Time High

Even using the fictional 20 million that I used, that's still a 26 million discrepancy. Using numbers from 2005; which, the trend was, that number was increasing, by the way. Stated in the second link: "The number of people without health insurance was 46.6 million in 2005, compared to 45.3 million in 2004, and 41.2 million in 2001"

Now, going back to Palin. Death panels? Seriously? Of course, that is bullshit. Although, really, not much point in point it out, as the opposition who believe in it will just shout something that equates to conspiracy (note that I said believe in this euthanasia claim; not those who are against it for other reasons, yet do not believe in the euthanasia scare). Of course, this comes from Palin, who's Wasilla church had a guest speaker, Thomas Muthee, who is not only a huge supporter of the "Third Wave of the Holy Spirit," (I won't link that, but rather, I will later make a post about it), but also who, I'm sure, helped feed into this incident. Actual people getting killed.

But what angered me the most, it wasn't the death panels, no. I saw that as just stupid. It was that it was "downright evil." Evil? Evil!? You know what, Palin, the one here being evil is the GOP. It is you. It is Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Beck, etc. Because you, them, are willing to sacrifice millions of people. You are against reform; that means they continue to live without coverage, living in the hopes that, god forbid, they don't get sick or injured, because they will not be able to afford it without being forced to live below their means (and many of them already do live below their means). That is what is evil! When you have Limbaugh saying he wants the President to fail:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_011609/content/01125113.guest.html

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_012209/content/01125117.guest.html

When you have Glenn Beck joking about assassinating Nancy Pelosi:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/06/glenn-beck-jokes-about-pu_n_253448.html

Not only could one define that as being evil, not only that, but I consider those- and I think this is even more important- traitorous. It is one thing to speak your mind, of course. But with Limbaugh, does he honestly not understand the aftermath of such? Would he really rather see our country crash and burn, because of his hope that Obama and his policies will fail, than rather wait out a Democratic-controlled exectutive branch until the next election? Does he even comprehend what kind of damage that would do?

Or Beck joking, nay, insinuating, about political assassination? You can get arrested for making such comments if you aren't so famous! I saw a clip from the Rachel Maddow Show, and she makes a good point. Even though they may not realize it, such remarks, such "jokes," feed into their represented ideas. There are those who listen and follow these people like sunflowers turning to the shining sun. Such comments can, and I dearly hope won't, incite actual violence. Real violence. With situations such as this, I fear it is only a matter of time before one turns into a riot.

As for the Rachel Maddow clip: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/32337676#32337676

And that's all I have to say for now.