Rejection of Health Care a Racism Issue?
I would have to agree with President Carter that many of these demonstrations have had racist demonstrators, but I do not think the whole debate is a racism issue. Sure there are many people uncomfortable with the president of the United States having African roots. This does not mean that everyone who opposes the health care bill is a racist. There are some legitimate concerns about the bill. For instance, who will pay for the almost $900 billion dollar program.
Are we not all a little bit concerned as to where this bill is going? How much do we really know about what we're getting ourselves into? Besides the fact that it's costing a fortune and that illegal immigrants may or may not benefit from this. Thanks Joe Wilson for that piece of insight! The reality is that all this arguing has distracted everyone from the real issue...what exactly is in this bill and why isn't anyone discussing this. I know that if I take an initiative to find the proposed bills, I will find them and will be able to read them. But let's be realistic for a minute. How much am I really going understand? And for that matter how much will regular every day citizens understand when they come across these bills.
So what needs to be done?
I personally would love to see a breakdown of the bill with some bullet points and words I can understand without having to reach for a medical dictionary every two seconds. The White House has so many new communication tools that it can use to "communicate" with citizens and explain the bill; why not use them. Honestly, anything would be great even an old fashion television address. I just want to know how health care reform will make my life better, and more importantly how will it improve visits to the emergency room. I can almost bet money that everyone has sat in an EMERGENCY room thinking... this is actually going to make my condition worse than it already is or I am going to pick up something new.
Point is the American people want clarity, democrat or republican.
While it's not from someone of power, Ezra Klein has basically been going through all of the newly released Baucus bill today, talking about the major points. You can find it here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/, all the posts starting with "The Baucus Bill." A pretty helpful resources to get your feet wet with the whole health care reform business.
ReplyDelete-Colin