Killer Politics by Ed Schultz

Democrats have never organized as tightly as the Republicans. You want sixty votes on any issue? You probably need seventy Democrats because many of the Democrats come from conservative districts. Really, in some respects in America, we have two conservative parties, one is just less extreme than the other.
    Here’s the landscape: We are expecting one hundred senators with job security, a great pension, and the best health care on the planet to fix this problem. The institutions in the health care industry that don’t want change are filling the campaign war chests of their favorite lawmakers. Health industry lobbyists outnumber lawmakers in Washington by at least four to one.
    For all the mistakes and foot dragging on the part of Democrats, do you want to know the biggest reason why you and your children will not be seeing universal health care anytime soon? Not only did the Republicans oppose reform in a strategic effort to damage Obama, they set the table for this bitter feast by helping George W. Bush blow up the budget. Had Bush been fiscally responsible, the debt would have been erased and the nation could have much more easily afforded an investment in universal health care.
    YOUR CHOICE: FINANCIAL RUIN OR DYING
    If you don’t have health insurance and you come down with a big medical problem, you must choose one of two options—financial ruin or dying. And in my America, we have to debate the politics of it all? Let me tell you, brother, when you are circling the drain, you just want a lifeline. Just a chance at making it. Just a few more heartbeats to spend some time with the grandkids, to see a few more sunrises. That’s what this is all about.
    When it has been tried, socialized medicine has worked. Take Medicare for instance. Could you find ten retired Republicans in America willing to give up their Medicare benefits? Of course not. Not even the dozens of congressmen on Medicare would give it up. So what’s the big argument about? This one was decided long ago. Opponents are wrong now and they were wrong in 1964 when LBJ delivered on Medicare.
    In 1964 the Saint of Conservatism, Ronald Reagan, blasted Medicare in a speech. “Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community? Realize that the doctor’s fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can’t socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business.”
    Let’s break that down.
    Handouts for Whom
    Who’s really getting the handouts in our health care system? In 2003, President George W. Bush drastically expanded the Medicare program with Medicare Part D (which subsidizes prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients), which I guess was OK, although it was as much a benefit to elderly Americans as a license to commit highway robbery for the pharmaceutical companies, which get to sell drugs under the program without any pesky negotiations to drive down prices. Oh, that was fiscally responsible.
    Socializing Patients
    I guess Medicare makes Grandma and Grandpa Commies. I’ll bet if you check the closet, you’ll find a statue of Karl Marx. Well, you had better hope Grandma and Grandpa have plenty in the bank, because according to Fidelity Investments, retiring elderly couples will need $250,000–$300,000 in savings to afford most basic medical coverage.
    An Assault on Business
    Are you kidding me? The assault on businesses has been the inability to be competitive while shouldering employee health care costs. From a competitive standpoint in the global economy, doesn’t it seem ludicrous to expect our businesses to start in such a deep hole? The natural reaction is for businesses to relocate, taking away American jobs, in the interest of competitiveness. Yes, there are all sorts of other factors, from tax havens to the disparity in environmental regulations, but,