Back after the 2004 election President Bush famously announced he had earned some political capital adn he was going to spend it.
he wanted to overhaul out social security and retirement system.
I think the system is in need to reformation and expect without intervention we’re going to have some rough seas ahead. (that”s not to say I endorsed any particular Plan of Bush’s, just that I agree with the need.)
The Democratic party fought Bush tooth and nail on the plan and managed to kill it by pulling out the sharpest shiv in the cell block known as American Politics, Scare The Seniors.
Once they had scared the seniors, the Democrats had won their war.
Now it’s 2009 and President Obama is trying to reform the Health Care system in this country. Again I agree it needs to be done with agreeing to any particular plan out there right now.
The Republicans are now the ones fighting tooth and nail and they have taken the weapon sharpened by the Democratic party and used it to their own ends. It’s another round of Scare the Seniors.
Neither party is made of principles and both parties are more interested in killing the others legislation than in really solving the problems we face.
Sad. And you couldn’t be more correct in both instances. Regarding health care, I currently have two friends in couples where no one has a job (One fired, one retired, two were laid off as part of force reduction due to the economy). One couple is in Florida and one is in New Jersey. They are receiveing health insurance through COBRA but that is going to run out soon. The husband of my Florida friend is battling cancer and the husband of my New Jersey friend is battling a large, unknown mass in the abdomen (Possible cancer) BUT he needed a double by-pass before the mass could be biopsied and treated. They have massive, MASSIVE out-of-pocket costs and the New Jersey couple might lose their home because there is simply no money. (This is not part of the housing collapse right now. They both lost their jobs in a string of bad luck within the first year of purchasing their home.)
No one should have to be impoverished by illness. No one should lose their home because of medical bills. The system we have does not work. We MUST fix it. Scare the Seniors may work and that will be a shame because we need to try SOMETHING – even something not perfect – and then we can modify it later until we get something that works.