So President Obama spoke to a joint session of Congress this week to really emphasize the importance of health care reform in America, and by most people's standards he did very well. Early polling indicates that a few people who had been opposed to reform beforehand changed their minds having seen it. Obviously not all of them, but it is still impressive nonetheless.
However, the speech also shone a light on some of the very loud, ignorant voices still out there. Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina heckled Obama by shouting "You lie!" at him while he was speaking. This is in reaction to Obama's statement that the proposed health care legislation did not cover illegal immigrants. Wilson was convinced that providing a public option for health care would mean that people who had no right to live in the United States would have their health care costs covered by American tax payers. Seems like a reasonable objection until you realize that there is a section in the bill that states in no uncertain terms that illegal immigrants will not be covered by the plan. So he was flat out wrong, and I'm not even going to go into the method he chose to protest his objections to this delusion.
Another of the ignorant voices was former half-a-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who now is apparently a professional facebooker. She picked up on Obama saying that the plan for health care reform would cost less than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently this cost comparison was tentamount to 'demonizing' the troops and the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I really should stop being surprised at how ignorant this woman is.
I can understand a cost concern about the health care reform though. That to me is the most legitimate argument against it. Health care reform will cost a lot of money. Money which the United States government really does not have. There seems to be no solution to this problem...
Actually there is. Politicians just do not want to propose it because it would all but guarantee that they would not be re-elected. Raising taxes. Sadly, the simplest idea is the one that nobody wants, and understandably so. Nobody likes paying taxes, and of course nobody likes paying high taxes. The sad fact is that at some point down the line American taxes need to be raised. The national debt is mounting all the time and that cannot go on forever. The longer it is left, the higher the tax rate will have to be.
This blow to the American working public could be softened somewhat if Obama makes good on his promise to close the corporate tax loopholes. Giant corporations are getting away with posting billions of dollars profit and paying virtually no tax because they can claim their headquarters are overseas (usually just a PO Box on a Caribbean island somewhere). If the loopholes were closed and the big corporations were made to pay their fair share of tax then some progress could eventually be made. The problem is that the Republican party would call that 'socialism' and 'spreading the wealth'. Luckily, the party seems to becoming more and more radicalized and evangelical. As a result, support is dwindling (the remaining supporters are still just as loud, obnoxious and ignorant though) and soon the Republican party will really struggle to claim it is a national party.
As much as I hate to say it (because I want to live in the United States, and I do not particularly like the idea of paying lots of tax) taxes need to go up in order to maintain America's place in the world as the dominant superpower. It can either be a huge increase on the people while leaving the corporations to operate as they choose, or it can be a slight increase with corporations paying their fair share. Ideally it would be the latter, but as long as those corporations own the politicians and lobbyists it will most likely be the former.
However, the speech also shone a light on some of the very loud, ignorant voices still out there. Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina heckled Obama by shouting "You lie!" at him while he was speaking. This is in reaction to Obama's statement that the proposed health care legislation did not cover illegal immigrants. Wilson was convinced that providing a public option for health care would mean that people who had no right to live in the United States would have their health care costs covered by American tax payers. Seems like a reasonable objection until you realize that there is a section in the bill that states in no uncertain terms that illegal immigrants will not be covered by the plan. So he was flat out wrong, and I'm not even going to go into the method he chose to protest his objections to this delusion.
Another of the ignorant voices was former half-a-term Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who now is apparently a professional facebooker. She picked up on Obama saying that the plan for health care reform would cost less than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently this cost comparison was tentamount to 'demonizing' the troops and the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I really should stop being surprised at how ignorant this woman is.
I can understand a cost concern about the health care reform though. That to me is the most legitimate argument against it. Health care reform will cost a lot of money. Money which the United States government really does not have. There seems to be no solution to this problem...
Actually there is. Politicians just do not want to propose it because it would all but guarantee that they would not be re-elected. Raising taxes. Sadly, the simplest idea is the one that nobody wants, and understandably so. Nobody likes paying taxes, and of course nobody likes paying high taxes. The sad fact is that at some point down the line American taxes need to be raised. The national debt is mounting all the time and that cannot go on forever. The longer it is left, the higher the tax rate will have to be.
This blow to the American working public could be softened somewhat if Obama makes good on his promise to close the corporate tax loopholes. Giant corporations are getting away with posting billions of dollars profit and paying virtually no tax because they can claim their headquarters are overseas (usually just a PO Box on a Caribbean island somewhere). If the loopholes were closed and the big corporations were made to pay their fair share of tax then some progress could eventually be made. The problem is that the Republican party would call that 'socialism' and 'spreading the wealth'. Luckily, the party seems to becoming more and more radicalized and evangelical. As a result, support is dwindling (the remaining supporters are still just as loud, obnoxious and ignorant though) and soon the Republican party will really struggle to claim it is a national party.
As much as I hate to say it (because I want to live in the United States, and I do not particularly like the idea of paying lots of tax) taxes need to go up in order to maintain America's place in the world as the dominant superpower. It can either be a huge increase on the people while leaving the corporations to operate as they choose, or it can be a slight increase with corporations paying their fair share. Ideally it would be the latter, but as long as those corporations own the politicians and lobbyists it will most likely be the former.
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