This post is in reply to Rep. Thaddeus McCotter’s blog titled “A health dirge night: President Obama’s lefty health club band”.
Rep. McCotter states many so-called “facts” in this blog, but he doesn’t tell the reader where these “facts” come from.
He states, “President Obama’s Lefty Health Club Band warbles that a radical bill must pass – now! – because our broken health care system is in crisis. Why? Because they said so.”
I would like to point out to Rep. McCotter that we on the left have a reason for wanting to pass health care reform quickly. These are facts, not tongue-in-cheek opinions from a Representative whose top five campaign contributors include the insurance industry and health care professionals.
• "As many as 22,000 Americans die each year because they don’t have health insurance." –Bill Pascrell. This fact was rated as “True” by the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner, PolitiFact.
• According to Families USA, in 2006 the number of adults between the ages of 25 and 64 who died from lack of health care was twice that of people who died from homicides.
He claims, “…the vast majority of Americans believe our health care system is good or excellent, and they are satisfied with their current plans.”
• By 72 to 20 percent, Americans favor the creation of a public plan, the June survey by the New York Times and CBS News found.
• The U. S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance. "World Health Organization Assesses The World's Health Systems," Press Release, WHO/44, June 21, 2000. http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-44.html
Rep. McCotter says health care is not a human right because “…a cursory review of the U.S. Constitution finds no “right” to someone else’s hard-earned money and talents.”
I’m not educated enough on the Constitution to argue this point. I will say that I consulted what I consider to be a higher authority than the Constitution, the Bible, and it says this:
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
-- Matthews 25:31-46
I think this says God expects us to look after the sick in our society, not dump them on the side of the road.
He claims that, “Over the years of rising health care costs, America’s economy has still grown.”
• The whole world economy has plummeted. Is there ANYBODY out there (besides Rep. McCotter) who does not know this?
• Medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in America, a Harvard Study finds.
Rep. McCotter ends his diatribe by saying, “President Obama’s Lefty Hearts Club Band’s radical “concept” of health care reform “doesn’t go anywhere,” except down the tracks of higher costs, lower quality, fewer choices and lost jobs; …and, no matter how vehemently they says [sic] otherwise, it isn’t needed by and won’t work for Americans.
• In 2006, there were nearly 5,347,000 people between the ages of 25 and 64 living in Michigan. Of those, 13.4 percent were uninsured, according to Families USA.
I believe those 13.4 percent of human souls need, and deserve, health care - even if their Representative in Congress doesn’t think they do. What a shame!
Comments
Town Hall Constitutional thoughts by GOP Tea Baggers
Rep. McCotter says health care is not a human right because “…a cursory review of the U.S. Constitution finds no “right” to someone else’s hard-earned money and talents.” *Comment
True! It also says nothing about Slaves being the property of Masters and women being 2nd class citizens without the right to vote......I am sure Rep Mc Cotter miss that part in the Constitution thinking White Males ran and control the politics of America.....
" All Humans are created equal except some Humans are more equal than other Humans" * Paraphasing Animal Farm by George Orwell
Rep. McCotter
is another right wing fool for the money. He expects his just rewards to be here on Earth and is willing to pawn them in case the afterlife isn't as interesting.
His constituants are stupid enough to follow his lead. They expect to suffer here and be rewarded in the afterlife.
Yes, I know both subserviant classes quite well. Sad.
North Carolina. Turning the South Blue!
Declaration of Independence & Constitutional Rights
From Wikipedia: "The first article of the Virginia Declaration of Rights adopted unanimously by the Virginia Convention of Delegates on June 12, 1776 and written by George Mason, is:
That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
The United States Declaration of Independence, which was primarily written by Thomas Jefferson, was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The text of the second section of the Declaration of Independence reads:
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
I believe that Health Care should be a right, not a privilege limited to those who can afford it. I also believe, based on our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and the Preamble to the Constitution, that the "right to life" speaks specifically to the well being of our society individually and as a whole. How can we allow millions to suffer and thousands to die every year because they can't afford to pay the high costs of health care and health insurance? We need to ask ourselves, is this what our forefathers wanted? I seriously doubt that they would want this to happen and they thought that future generations would be intelligent and compassionate enough to read their words and understand that those words were intended to help everyone.
I also believe that God wants us to "love thy neighbor" and follow His many teachings in the Bible about helping one another and caring for the poor and sick. We need to ask ourselves, what would God (or Jesus) do? Would He have turned away from the sick because they couldn't pay to be healed? Not according to the Bible.
It's really quite sad, the right wing Repugnants have claimed Christianity as their party base but yet they do not follow the teachings of the Bible. I believe that God must be looking down at the right wingers and shaking His head and thinking, "children, what have you done to yourselves and how could you possibly have thought that I wanted you to act this way".