What's Been and What's Ben

I have a feeling that the opposition to healthcare reform is really just an outlet to hate on Obama. The lies about “death panels” just reminds me of the so-called birthers that believe Obama is not a citizen. The stupidity of the argument requires me to think that these people can’t think that Obama wants to kill old people. The senate and house is full of old people. Obama is a young president at the age of 48 – two years away from AARP membership. Why would they want to kill off their friends? The problem (for them) is that every step we make towards a universal single-provider system the faster we snowball towards this socialist system. They know that and I pray for it. Why not be a little socialist? What is medicare and social security then? I think capitalism is required, at least for now, because people are lazy without motives. The crazies drown out reasonable problems people have with it. Personally, I think that we should just bite the bullet and have universal healthcare just as we have universal K-12 education – if you don’t want it, and have the money, go buy some private stuff. We don’t trust government – especially federally. I would be fine with states’ rights because Minnesota pays 1.42 to the federal government for every 1 dollar we get back – only Connecticut has it worse because so many corporations are headquartered there. It is Southerners (republicans) who don’t want the North (democrats) to bail them out and give them healthcare.

Anybody who knows me knows I love debate. I play devils advocate for fun because it is. I get angry because I often agree with the foundations of conservative thought. I sometimes think about becoming a conservative, but then I remember that I don’t hate poor people.

The upside is that this could be a counter-conspiracy. Obama is smart. He doesn’t really misspeak. During professor Gates-gate when Obama said that the officer acted stupid he knew what he was saying. Why not keep the far right worried about Obama’s birth certificate. It makes them seem crazy. It paints them as the narrow party they are now and will be. Republicans will lose Texas in 2016, maybe even 2012, because of demographic shifts. Rural white people are not a party – it is a ho-down!

I realized I talked very little about race in an article titled “hidden racism” so here is some race stuff: Gates-gate: Gates was stupid to get in the face on a officer that was making sure nobody broke into his house, the officer was stupid for arresting somebody who did nothing near worthy of an arrest, Obama was stupid for getting involved with the word stupid (although I guarantee it was planned, check the tape), and talking-heads on TV are stupid for how they covered an altogether stupid series of events. If somebody involved would have backed down a little bit and deescalated the situation we could have had more Michael Jackson coverage.

I am against affirmative action. It is lazy policy-making. I agree that slavery requires a form of reparations (and that the South is too poor to pay for it in a lump sum of money). The answer is not to have under-qualified surgeons and lower the bar. We should provide SAT prep classes, not just add on points. I consider affirmative action to be a little bit racist because it assumes that if given the same opportunity that affected groups are not capable of success. We should always expect more of humanity because we have yet to fail.