Stream of consciousness.

Oh, health care reform, how you have replaced the war in Iraq as the big, divisive subject in this country (which is amusing in the not-so-funny way when you consider how an emphasis on quality of life has replaced an emphasis on death and destruction). My current political philosophy seemingly coincides with my educational background, and largely follows what the statistics would predict: the more education one has, the more liberal one tends to be. I’d also wager that my coursework, so largely focused in sociology, doesn’t hinder my desire for a more progressive society, either.

I’ve incited some arguments on my Facebook page lately, probably against my better judgment. I probably should just know better and keep quiet, especially since I generally hate debating (I have to be in the mood, and that mood is ever so fleeting). But, gosh darn it, I think this bill does some great things for the United States and I want the right wingers to get that. Instead of focusing on the good (no more pre-existing conditions! no more getting dropped by insurance companies when you become sick!), they see a Big Brother/1984 loss of all individual rights and a conversion to full and utter control by Big Government.

*sighs*

I get the concern. I really do. I love George Orwell’s 1984, Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta, and a whole assortment of dark and dreary plots where governments rule our every thought and action. I am not entirely thrilled by the requirement that everyone has to buy health insurance. I get the implications of that. I also acknowledge that a good reason to implement it is so that people can’t just buy health insurance when they need it in order to get away with paying the bare minimum. However, I just don’t believe that enacting this requirement means Obama is socialist, communist, Marxist, totalitarian, Hitler-esque, or whatever. I do not think it means Democrats want to destroy this country and remake it into Cuba. But I do admit, by using these words and association, that it’s a good way for right wing leaders to create mass hysteria amongst their followers and incidentally incite some violence. I don’t know, I just think that this is a conspiracy that doesn’t hold much in the way of reality. And maybe part of the reason I feel that way is because when the Republicans had power, holding a mantra of “less government,” they didn’t really, you know, act like they were being “less government.” That aspect of all of this is hard for me to disentangle.

I’d much rather see this legislation for what it’s trying to do—extending such a simple and human concept as health care to more people. It enables this country to be something special. The Republicans tend to think that we’re only extending health care access to people who are lazy, no good scum who just want freebies from everyone and everything. That is always their argument to ward off progress; their desire to maintain current levels of stratification is relentless. But there are people whose life situation simply doesn’t allow them access to affordable health care, given the way the current system works. I know quite a few people who have experienced that type of thing. Helping those people out is what makes this all worthwhile. That's the kind of country the United States should be: full of compassionate, tolerant people who want to help each other. Why do we want to support a health care system that screws good people, allowing companies to rake in the dough off our illnesses, sicknesses, and deaths?

Hell, if Richard Alpert would have had access to better health care, maybe his wife wouldn’t have died, he wouldn’t have been arrested for accidentally killing that greedy bastard of a doctor, he wouldn’t have been sent on a slave ship to the New World, and he wouldn’t have crashed on the island (the island is a cork?!).

See? I can connect Lost to anything. God I’m going to miss that show when it’s over.

-KP

Yes, We Can

1. Molly and I watched the returns on CNN last night. CNN, apparently, has decided it is the 24th century and has implemented hologram technology ala Star Trek. There's nothing like seeing will.i.am being interviewed as a hologram.

2. I got giddy when they projected Pennsylvania, but I was still cautious. Cautious went out the window when they projected Ohio. Then, when the polls closed on the west coast and the president-elect announcement was made... that was a special moment.

3. It was also pretty special seeing Roland Martin (a CNN contributor who is African American) tear up on the air. He told the story of his nieces and nephews having dreams of what they wanted to be when they grew up but, when they said they wanted to be president, couldn't help but think that they needed to redirect those ambitions. But now, with the way this election has turned out, their dreams are entirely possible to achieve. Obama's election is a big deal to a lot of people who felt they didn't have access to the 'American Dream'.

4. I got pretty emotional during Obama's speech. I'm not a fool--he's not going to make this country one for me to be proud of overnight, but I believe with all my heart that he is the better man for the job and that he can eventually turn this country around. The fact that this country elected this particular man... it gives me hope. It really does. And it's not blind hope.

5. This year's ballot measures on banning gay marriage aren't looking so good, are they*? This makes me sad. I don't like living in a society where such prejudice, intolerance, and discrimination is still the status quo (and, unfortunately, not even Obama gives me hope on this one...).

*Proposition 8 had the support of 52% of the counted votes (92% of precincts reporting) when I wrote this.

6. Arkansas' ban on gay couples adopting children? *sighs*

7. I'm really glad, though, that Colorado's proposed amendment to define human life from the moment of conception failed miserably. That would have been very dangerous territory.

8. Go, Michigan. Allowing medicinal marijuana and stem cell research. Seems rather progressive of you...

And that, my friends, is that for the day. I probably should get some work done.

-KP