Where is this idealistic viewpoint coming from?
Speaking of acting like them. The past week or so there are many many posts about the Obama death panel deciding grandma must die. But Grandma is already on socialized medicine which is bankrupting the country with social security. Right now the death panel talking points are popular here because :1) democrats use similar lines to get seniors votes, 2) seniors probably dont trust Obama especially now 3) it's politically expedient at this time.
I am not bothered by my sense of fairness because I know democrats use similar arguments against republicans. My fear is that republicans are setting a stage where entitlements can never be cut, ever. In other words even if Republicans take power the spending and borrowing will continue unrestrained and the republicans hand wringing and disowning will too. Notice when it comes to the deficit, republicans claim medicare is democrats fault.
The argument proposed for this I get pinged with is “who cares about what happens after Obama?? We must defeat Obama NOW in any way we can, nothing else matters” similar to the McCain must win argument that didnt fly. But this is the same argument democrats told each other the past few years to win that got them in the mess they are in now with the public. Likewise republicans will never approach entitlements if in charge, and just give us more tax cuts spending and debt ala Bush.
Moral, republicans stand for nothing but 'vote for me' same as last year.
Sickoflibs: Your point is a good one. Medicare has to be reformed one day. There is already I think $37 trillion in unfunded liabilities burdening Medicare now and in the future. That will bankrupt the country and clearly is not sustainable. We’re not going to be able to touch Medicare to reform it in the future if we conceed the untouchability of Medicare point. There are definitely stronger points to use in fighting Obamacare.
On the other hand, having seniors mobilized to fight Obamacare and also hopefully to help end Democratic one party rule next year is a hard ally to pass up. But your overall point is valid.
What happened to doing the right thing? What happened to honesty and integrity? Don’t ignore those values.
The Medicare premium is $303 per month. The GOV pays $227 and the insured pays $76.
Let the insured pay more of the premium. They aren’t poor. The DEMS want to cut the care, not cut the subsidy.
There is a HUGE difference, my friend.
“Right now the death panel talking points are popular here because :1) democrats use similar lines to get seniors votes, 2) seniors probably dont trust Obama especially now 3) it’s politically expedient at this time.”
Those three points don’t include me. I’m against the government being involved with making my health decisions. To achieve this, we must make sure the goverment is not involved in paying for it, because as soon as they do they’ll feel it’s their money that they’re spending so they can dictate pretty much anything that might impact your health including the food you eat, how much you eat, what you drink, what you inhale, the level of risk in your activities, etc, etc endlessly.