Darren New wrote:
> Stephen wrote:
>> OK I know that not all Americans feel that way but it seems that the
>> majority of
>> vocal ones do.
> 
> I think it's the corporations who profit from a lack of nationalized
> health care that are most vocal. They become vocal by hiring or
> otherwise getting shills to show up and make a lot of noise.  The actual
> polls show a huge majority of the people asked are in favor. (Where
> something like 85% is a "huge majority" in this country.)
> 

I doubt they had to hire many of the loud voices. Think of it this way,
if they hired people, wouldn't they at least feed them valid points
instead of just turning them loose to yell what ever they wanted? Maybe
I give conspiracies too much credit.

I have heard, through news reports and video of these "town hall
meetings", people yelling the most absurd complaints about national
health care. The two that stuck with me were the person who didn't "Want
(their) money going to pay for someone else being sick", and the
complains about "overpaid government workers getting to decide who gets
what treatment." Obviously, the first person has no clue how insurance
groups work and the second would rather have highly paid accountants
decide what treatment is available. Or more likely, they are repeating
what was televised before and thinking that parroting a talking point
constitutes a debate. I would weep for public education, but that is a
whole different rant. To boot, the side supporting this reform are
guilty of the same thing, just repeating themselves ad-infinitum instead
of listening to valid complaints about how this would be funded and who
would ultimately be responsible for picking what gets covered.

Then you have the possibility that abortions might be covered by
national health insurance, when no one wants to have a rational debate
about when and if abortions are a safe/best/acceptable option and
instead just want to yell at the other side for being wrong. Back up all
of these complains with the undercurrents of classism and racism that
are still rampant in the USA, and you have the perfect opportunity for
both sides to just hold up signs on opposing street corners and yell at
each other.

And that 85% majority, they need to stop being so silent. Standing up
and yelling won't fix anything, but there may still be time to teach
this country how to have a real discussion without name-calling and
graffiti.

off-off-topic, I come back to usenet and my first post gets to be a huge
rant. Now I remember what I've been missing!

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