Gen. Colin Powell calls for universal health care in the U.S.

Puget Sound Business Journal ^ | December 6, 2013 | Valerie Bauman

[pluvmantelo]

Former Secretary of State and longtime Republican Colin Powell is calling for a universal health care solution in the U.S. “We are a wealthy enough country with the capacity to make sure that every one of our fellow citizens has access to quality health care,” he said Thursday at a Seattle fundraiser for prostate cancer. “(Let’s show) the rest of the world what our democratic system is all about and how we take care of all of our citizens." The retired four-star general, a prostate cancer survivor, spoke at the Prostate Cancer Survivors Celebration Breakfast, organized by UW Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center . Powell took the opportunity to share some of his own experiences and to publicly call for a health care solution similar to those in Canada, Japan and other countries that have a universal, single-payer system. In the case of his own cancer diagnosis, he recovered, thanks to what he described as universal health care offered through the U.S. military. “I am not an expert in health care, or Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, or however you choose to describe it, but I do know this: I have benefited from that kind of universal health care in my 55 years of public life,” Powell said. “And I don’t see why we can’t do what Europe is doing, what Canada is doing, what Korea is doing, what all these other places are doing.”

[cynwoody]

But don't you teabaggers dare call him a Communist.

That would be a promotion.

[Lazamataz]

I actually don't disagree with Colin's original thesis (I admit I only read the headline).

HOWEVER:

We should be providing universal health care WITHOUT destroying the current system, which is what Obamacare does. I would have simply made Medicaid available to all, without age restrictions, but heavily income-verifying for qualification.

[Lazamataz]

I just read the article. He, too, would destroy the system, with Single Payer (read: Communism) in a way similar to what has destroyed, for example, Great Britain's level of care.

Powell, you are the enemy. You are a communist.

[octex]

another thing that irks the heck out of me... When people call Bill O’Reiley a Conservative, when what he really is is a poseur-populist with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, just like 0bama.
*****************
O’Reilly is an Independent; not a Conservative. Like Hannity is a Conservative; not a Republican.

It irks me when people say O’Reilly represents Conservatives!

[Wanderer99]

You just said a few posts back that you're about to leave America and move to a "saner" country. Which is it? You gonna run, or stay and fight?

Both. You stay here you wont be fighting at all. You'll just be a poor stick so outgunned and sickly that you'll die before you even stand to firing position.

Set up base abroad and then return to snuff leftist kind from the gene pool forever.

[Señor Presidente]

[LibLieSlayer]

I call for the affirmative action, racist general to be hung for treason.

[LibLieSlayer]

obama half black... powell half black=answer.

[ronnie raygun]

Colon, nuff sed

[jmaroneps37]

When will this guy just go away?

[arthurus]

Christy had that support for a time on FR, too.

[arthurus]

I never trusted him. As a general he was a bureaucrat.

[arthurus]

Republicans are in fact, Democrats, defacto if not dejure. The Republican Party is a division of the Democrat Party responsibal for an image of “opposition” in order to maintain a facade of “democracy.”

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Powell’s not a Republican.
I doubt he ever was...

[Windflier]

You stay here you wont be fighting at all. You'll just be a poor stick so outgunned and sickly that you'll die before you even stand to firing position.

Well, that's entirely incorrect, but don't let that stop you from bravely running away.

[Wanderer99]

How is it incorrect?

State your case

[Windflier]

How is it incorrect? State your case

There are an estimated 100,000,000 armed U.S. citizens, who possess an estimated 300,000,000 firearms. Millions of them are also hunters, which in wartime we call snipers or marksmen.

Even if only one in ten of those Americans chose to stand and face an armed aggressor (foreign or domestic), they'd still number 10,000,000 strong. That's almost ten times the size of the combined armed military personnel of the United States.

During the Iraq war, it's believed that there were never more than fifteen thousand 'insurgents' in country, but they held our entire military at bay for nearly ten years, despite the fact that they were heavily out-gunned by a technologically superior force.

Now I ask you. What do you think would happen if those same forces attempted to subjugate tens of millions of armed Americans through military force? People who are standing and fighting on the soil of their families and forefathers?

I'll tell you what would happen. They'd be crushed.

Factor in the number of desertions, defections, and refusals to fire on their own countrymen by members of the armed forces, and the picture grows even darker for any such misadventure.

[9YearLurker]

I take it you’ve moved beyond Rubio and Walker now, as well?

[pluvmantelo]

Yup.

[Wanderer99]

There are an estimated 100,000,000 armed U.S. citizens, who possess an estimated 300,000,000 firearms. Millions of them are also hunters, which in wartime we call snipers or marksmen. Even if only one in ten of those Americans chose to stand and face an armed aggressor (foreign or domestic), they'd still number 10,000,000 strong. That's almost ten times the size of the combined armed military personnel of the United States. During the Iraq war, it's believed that there were never more than fifteen thousand 'insurgents' in country, but they held our entire military at bay for nearly ten years, despite the fact that they were heavily out-gunned by a technologically superior force. Now I ask you. What do you think would happen if those same forces attempted to subjugate tens of millions of armed Americans through military force? People who are standing and fighting on the soil of their families and forefathers? I'll tell you what would happen. They'd be crushed. Factor in the number of desertions, defections, and refusals to fire on their own countrymen by members of the armed forces, and the picture grows even darker for any such misadventure.

and what are you going to do when they exhaust your bank account and then bring up false charges to toss you into the slammer? Leftists are to be attacked or depleted BEFORE they formulate a plan against you, not during.