These ARE the End Times

[oselle]

Twice in the past week I have found myself watching Sarah Palin on television. You who follow my journal know what a fan I am of apocalyptic fiction, yet in all my travels through that genre I have never met a fictitious dystopian villain as over the top as Sarah Palin is in real life. The one that may come the closest is Randall Flagg, Stephen King's grinning, denim-clad antichrist in The Stand. Folksy psychopath (and would-be President of the U.S.) Greg Stillson, from King's The Dead Zone, is also a contender. But none of these characters -- NO fictional character -- even comes close to what Palin puts out there. Her shtick makes the Walkin' Dude look like a two-bit carny hustler. Some people laugh at her but I don't. She scares the living shit out of me.

Comments

[oselle.livejournal.com]

how come health care reform was called an 'abomination to God'.

The Republican propaganda about healthcare reform spread thick layers of apocalyptic-sounding lies that many, many people in this country swallowed hook, line and sinker. To name just a few:

Death Panels: If the government "controls" healthcare, they'll ration it out to those who are young, healthy and productive. Faceless government bureaucrats will sit on "death panels" that will literally "pull the plug on grandma." BTW: It was Mrs. Palin herself who coined the term "death panels."

Abortion: Good Christians who are morally opposed to abortion will be tyranically forced to fund the slaughter of innocent little fetuses via their tax dollars. The number of abortions will also go up because women will have access to free, unlimited abortions unwillingly paid for by these tormented Christians.

Communism: Obama's ultimate goal is to turn America into a Godless, communist state. Socialized medicine is the first step towards that goal.

And that's just a few. There's also a lot of bizarre mishmash about "freedom" that I barely understand and I've lived here all my life -- something about how if the government covers people's healthcare, then none of us are "free" anymore. It makes no sense at all. The sainted Ronald Reagan was spewing the same bullshit forty years ago when the Republicans were trying to kill Medicare (Medicare is, literally, socialized medicine for senior citizens, which, in forty years, has not yet managed to turn America into a Godless, communist state, like Reagan and others predicted).

Because making sure everyone gets looked after is so evil?

The dark underbelly of the American character is that we don't want everyone to be looked after. There are many people here who think that something like healthcare is a privilege that should only go -- at a high price -- to those worthy enough to earn it. And those who are "unworthy" really don't deserve to live anyway. Fuck 'em.

I often think about how people laughed at Hitler for many years. And then look what happened.

[sixth-queen.livejournal.com]

Specifics on the "privilege" talking points:

"Why should I pay for somebody else's insurance. They're trying to spread my wealth!"
"I work hard to pay for my own insurance, why should I support these freeloaders?"
"Go to Canada. Oh that's right, you have to wait 6 months to see a doctor in Canada. We have the best health care system in the world..."
"These uninsured are just choosing not to buy insurance."
"Get a job!"

I was just discussing this with a nurse friend of mine. Health insurance companies are now hiring consulting companies who specialize in how to look for loopholes and drop people from their insurance plans. Yes you read that right.

This, of course, blows the Privilege talking point out of the water. These people DO work hard, they DO have jobs, they pay for their OWN insurance, nobody is spreading ANY wealth to them. And yet HI companies are STILL screwing them over. And it's only going to get worse as the date for the Exchanges nears. The credit cards did the same thing -- jacked-screwed us before the new law kicked in. But there's a huge different between credit and physical pain.

It wouldn't surprise me, really, if the next Congress puts in for a Public Option, under the radar. It's easier to play the reconciliation card the second time.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

These people DO work hard, they DO have jobs, they pay for their OWN insurance, nobody is spreading ANY wealth to them. And yet HI companies are STILL screwing them over.

Aaaah, but then these folks are supposed to rely on the good Christian charity of their family, friends and neighbors. I know over the summer several Republican lawmakers plainly stated that what we "really needed" was for people to help each other more...and the audience applauded. It's the sort of thing that sounds real pretty and folks lap it up without thinking about what it actually means. They think it means doing something kind, now and then, when you can. But bringing a casserole over to your ailing neighbor's house isn't going to pay for his chemotherapy. A community bake sale wouldn't cover one month of hospitalization for someone who was seriously sick or injured. And how funny that people stand up and cheer for this warm-n-fuzzy notion of folks comin' together...when these very same people go into a spitting rampage over the idea of just a few their tax dollars being used to help out those same "somebody elses." Yeah, I really want to be dependent on the human kindness of people like that. Assholes.

[sixth-queen.livejournal.com]

"Aaaah, but then these folks are supposed to rely on the good Christian charity of their family, friends and neighbors."

Not only that, but rich people should get a better tax break for donating to said Christian charities This is what John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, wrote in his Wall Street Journal editorial. I still haven't bought anything at a Whole Foods since, and I don't intend to.

There's a huge difference between acting like a real Christian and just scoring brownie points with God -- while others are watching, of course.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Well, we all know that tax breaks for the rich are the cure to all our problems. Because wealth trickles down and rising tides lift all boats and without them none of us would have a job because they're the thinkers and creators and producers who make our society run and so we should all be grateful to our corporate overlords and give them many, many, many tax cuts.