Hey Anti-Medicaid People– Meet A Dreg
Much of the hate speech I’ve see in comments on the D&C “storychat” area focuses on throwing the less fortunate in our society under the bus. The local GOP is hoping to harness that hatred every time they talk about the Medicaid bogeyman as a scapegoat for their own mismanagement at the county level.
Much of this hate comes from what presidential candiate Barack Obama accurately calls an “empathy deficit” in this country. It’s like Scrooge not caring about the poor until he actually realizes his actions can directly affect them (e.g. Tiny Tim).
Ghost of Christmas Present: Yes! So perhaps in the future you will hold your tongue until you have discovered what the surplus population is and where it is. It may well be that in the sight of Heaven you are more worthless and less fit to live than millions like this poor man’s child.
Compare that to this tidbit I found up on the D&C “storychat” about Brooks/Minarik’s new plan:
The young, educated and/or upwardly mobile citizenry of the Greater Rochester Area have and will continue to show how they feel about the prospects of subsidizing the dregs of society by leaving.
Typical of people who want small/no government, they believe that everyone should be in it for themselves with no compassion for anyone else. Well, Scrooge, I’d like you to meet a dreg:
Medicaid allows him to get what he needs to be all he can be, to overcome his disability. It keeps his family from going bankrupt. He may never climb a mountain, but someday this smart, loving, hard-working kid might dispatch the fire engine or ambulance that saves your family.
So I will not, cannot, allow your hateful selfishness to go unanswered. Just because the hole isn’t on your side of the lifeboat doesn’t mean you’re not part of the problem. And part of the solution.
Folks, it’s this kind of hate that the right-wing uses to further their interests. There are many reasons to fight for what’s right, but standing up for “the least among us” is a big one.
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An incredibly powerful post btp. The Dickens quote is progressive literature at it’s best and Dickens was painfully aware of those less fortunate than himself. This empathy is present in all his writings. (He’s an awful sweet little dreg.)
Wonderful post, love the Dickens. Interestingly, Tiny Tim said “God bless us, everyone,” excluding no one in his sentiment. Several children in my family are disabled and are dependent upon Medicaid for their lives, so thanks for this post. Adorable little guy there.
That young man stands taller than almost any politician I’ve ever met. We will ALL stand up before we’ll let them take him down.
The truth is that almost everyone knows someone on Medicaid today, whether OR NOT they aware of this. For most folks, if they realize that someone they know is benefiting from the Medicaid program, they generally believe this person deserves such services. Its everyone else they’re concerned about. You know, the ones that others think deserve such services. I for one know of at least two people (one a Republican whose waking up on this issue) whose children are enrolled in Medicaid, while they attend graduate studies.
We’d be so much better off just having everyone in society join one of these single-payer health plans. Everyone would have an incentive to maintain quality services, and we would be able to cover the costs of the currently uninsured with all the administrative savings that would arise from ridding ourselves of the crazy private health insurance model we continue to employ.
By the way, hopefully, you can take heart from one of today’s stories in the Washington Post. “Taxes, Health Lead Hill Agenda”
The tectonic plates are shifting…
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