WARNING: Intensely Political Discussion

I originally sent this out as an email to a few friends, but decided to put it on here, not because I expect it to get wider readership or because I particularly enjoy pissing people off, but simply because it's a short essay on my feelings about what I see as an increasingly partisan, polarized government. In this post, my aim is directed at the Republican party, simply because they're the noisiest. But I'm fairly egalitarian in playing Whack-A-Mole, so I'm sure something else will stick its head up sooner or later that will change my focus of derision. With that said...

...I find it very interesting that the Republican party is so adamantly opposed to viable health care reform and say we're headed for socialism, yet they don't want to get rid of--or even alter--Medicare or Social Security, both of which are government-provided social services, and both of which as they exist right now, are draining this country dry. Apparently the Republican party has decided that it's acceptable and expedient to pay people who choose to retire from the workforce, and that it is one of the rights of being an American, but the caveat is that you have to survive to retirement age first. Social Darwinism at its finest, Creationists.

Furthermore, a certain statistically significant percentage of Americans (I won't pretend I can quote hard statistics) may reflexively say they are against "socialized medicine," but if you only ask these average people if they think insurance companies shouldn't be able to deny coverage, have caps on coverage, and any number of other individual items included in this bill that was passed on Sunday, March 21, they're enthusiastically in support of it. It's only when they hear the phrase "universal healthcare," that they think "socialism," and give a reflexive kick, sort of like the doctor thumping your knee at a checkup.

I do have to give a certain sneering credit to the Republican party for this smear campaign. Their rhetoric about "Obamacare" has successfully discouraged a great many people from engaging in thoughtful discussion and self-education both about the greater health care issues themselves, and more specifically about the bill as passed. Kudos to them for a propaganda campaign possibly rivaled only by Nazi Germany prior to and during WWII. America so desperately needs to shift politically toward fascism, don't you think?

I consider myself independent, politically. When I vote, it's a patchwork of who I think is most qualified for the job, not on which party they belong to. But I don't like the looks of the place where the Republican party is currently headed. Since it appears that the Republican party is going through a purge in which moderate voices are unacceptable, I don't think I'll be casting many votes for members of that party very soon.