A few points on the healthcare debate:
- If you are a private citizen, and your party membership determines whether you are for or against the healthcare bill... then shame on you. Inform yourself and make up your own mind.
- If you are a member of congress, and your party membership determines whether you are for or against the healthcare bill... then I call on you to resign immediately.
- Before you use the word socialism in a sentence or paint it on a sign... make sure that you know what it is.
- If you're scared of socialism... walk over to your nearest post office because that's a government controlled business. Socialized! But it seems to compete just fine against FedEx and UPS. Also think public universities vs. private.
- The Public Option is... an option. If it's an option it means there are other choices. Think: toilet paper. There are lots of options, some cost 3-4x the cheapest option, yet no one option dominates.
- There are no death panels. There never were. To the people that used it in the media or still believe it... see point #1 (inform yourself) and point #2 (the party line). I was extremely disappointed to see Sarah Palin use this term in an interview. Same with Rush Limbaugh.
- Please everyone stop making signs of Obama with a Hitler mustache. Obama is not Adolf Hitler. Hitler's policies murdered somewhere between 11 and 14 million people. Murdered. The core of Nazism was: (a) state/dictator control of the entire economy, (b) racism, and (c) world domination. This is not what the United States is about.
- If you think Nationalized Healthcare is the first step towards the "state" taking control, then realize that this plan doesn't nationalize healthcare (see point 5). Also realize that Hitler didn't nationalize healthcare in Germany (Otto Von Bismark did in the 1880's http://bit.ly/dTVVn). So let's stop with the Hitler/Nazi comparisons please.
- Lack of information leads to speculation. Speculation leads to worst case / extreme case thinking. Obama's team should have gotten a summarized version of the facts out to the public at the inception of their effort. Where was the marketing plan??
- Democrats are watering this bill down to the point where it wont have anywhere near the needed impact. If you firmly believe in something, stick to it and improve it where you can. Don't just change your tune the second you get pressured.
