Across the Pond

The war for healthcare reform continues to rage here in the United States. I know it must be bewildering for some of you (why in the world would anyone fight against universal health coverage?), but believe, me it’s bewildering for us Americans too; and in the long hot summer recess, cable news adds fuel to the fire.

Every day from dusk till dawn, pundits, politicians and lobbyists for various corporate interests do their best to shape the narrative of the day.  So I’m going to give it to you straight, at least how I see it.

There are three components of the resistance:

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he key group opposing healthcare reform is the health insurance industry. All totalled, the healthcare complex accounts for approximately 18 percent of America’s GDP - one of its single largest sectors - and health care costs and share of GDP are only going to continue to rise.

Any serious reform will rein in costs and shrink the healthcare industry’s profit margin, and when money of this magnitude is imperilled in any way, whether by price controls or the outright nationalization of healthcare, the industry will defend what’s theirs - the public good be damned.

You may wonder how a group of corporations can influence policy debates; well that’s a simple one. The healthcare industry has deep pockets; it can afford to donate millions to the electoral campaigns of senators and representatives, ensuring that candidates favourable to their causes are elected.

Insurance groups can then set up think-tanks, lobbies and political action committees to reinforce their positions with polls, community activism, and advertising.

Most often these think tanks and lobbies are disguised with inconspicuous names such as the Lewin group, or the Galen institute.

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here are many reasons for Republicans to resist healthcare reform, much of which goes back to the embrace of laissez-faire capitalist principles, compounded by a deep distrust of government fostered by the Conservative movement (and its vehicle, the Republican Party), and reinforced by cases of horrible mismanagement and corruption, real and imagined.

Ironically enough, the most horrible cases of corruption and mismanagement - The Savings &Loan Scandal, the horrifying events of September 11th, the ill conceived and unnecessary war of choice in Iraq, and the pathetic third world response to Hurricane Katrina - have all occurred on a self-proclaimed Conservatives’ watch.

I guess when you believe that government is merely a police force and enforcer of contract law, you will not govern well.  For well over 50 years, the Conservative movement and its vehicle (The Republican party) has hammered home its arguments, and after a while they began to stick.

They oppose government expansion on principle and know full well that an effective and cost efficient healthcare reform package, championed by a popular Democratic President, will spell the death knell of their party.

As of this moment, the Republican Party is in the process of losing national appeal and becoming a regional party. Quite possibly the only thing that has propped them up even to the extent that they are, is the existence of their propaganda network: Fox News.

Republicans know that they absolutely have to prevent healthcare reform if they are going so survive as a political force in the future.

This is where the alliance with the Insurance companies comes in, as there are now a pair of heavily entrenched groups here that are have no interest in reforming the status quo, as reform will lead to a loss of power or revenue.

These groups have been fighting reform in a rather stunning display of asymmetrical political warfare by manipulating the final group, the Angry Mobs.

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ou can see the angry mobs in action at “Town Hell” meetings (you know, the ones comparing America’s first Black President to Hitler). They’re joined by the surly gun toting protestors you may see on the television (you know, the ones that are eerily reminiscent of the militia’s in Iran and Iraq) - or how about the woman holding up a birth certificate and claiming the President is from Kenya?

These people are authentic, they are angry, and some would never accept a non-white as a President.

Some are lashing out against the system that has sacrificed them on the altar of corporatism, while others are true believers. For them, a Democrat or a lefty or a “socialist” can never possess any good ideas.

There are even a few that have legitimate questions about the proposed reforms.  But as real as these people may be, as real as their emotions are, the “grass roots” anti-reform movement is not authentic at all.

The movement is funded and organized by insurance industry think-tanks and action committees, promoted by Republican politicians and pundits on television and in various editorial pages.

It’s a one, two, three punch that has impressively eroded public opinion of President Obama.  Insurance industry think tanks publish engineer polls (yes polls can be engineered to give exactly the answer people want to hear) and biased “reports” under the aegis of “non-partisanship”.

Republicans of all sorts then inform the populace that Obama’s healthcare proposals will: euthanize your grandparents, use your tax dollars to treat illegal immigrants, and bankrupt the nation.

Finally the angry mob, sufficiently brainwashed, is organised and transported to town hall meetings across the country with instructions to turn them into “Town Hell” meetings.

Tactics include: artificially inflating your numbers, being disruptive early and often, trying to “Rattle Him” and refusing to have an intelligent debate.

Then there are the armed gun nuts that are beginning to appear outside of town hall meetings with slogans that ALMOST call for the assassination of the President.

Whenever Democrats get into power, the guns and militias come out: it happened with Clinton and it’s happening with Obama, but even earlier and at a faster rate.

I’m hoping that this is the low point in domestic politics here in the States, but I don’t see it getting any better any time soon.

The anti-reform forces are no longer even interested in arguing facts and figures but in demolishing one heinous straw-man after another, and the Republicans are rapidly drifting away from the mainstream.

For them, it’s a vicious cycle. The smaller their base gets, the more they depend on the rabid radical fringe. The more they depend on the rabid radical fringe . . . the smaller they get.

It goes on and on and on. The cable news stations aren’t doing the situation any favours either, as there’s no chance of a serious debate when political strife yields ratings, and ratings yield advertising dollars.

Once the struggle for healthcare reform is resolved, there will be other struggles - climate change and immigration reform. I’m not holding out hope that those struggles will be any more honest or civilised than the current one.

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p ketcham said:

... WOW what an even-handed, non-biased, intellgent, indepth, explanation of what is going on with healh care in the US............. NOT!

August 27, 2009

G. Jones said:

... Obama himself is responsible for his continuing to fall in popularity!! It is not a matter of black or white to the majority of U.S. citizens..you need to have lived in one of the southern border states for a few years to see for yourself just exactly how much the illegals are bankrupting us !!! They send what they do earn here back into Mexico!!!And live off our free government programs. IT IS NOT A REPUBLICAN movement !!! We are from all areas of citizenry !!Apparently you are NOT one of us who are angry and causing all hell! We firmly believe that it is our right to decide what medical care we should have. We cannot afford to continue to pay for those who are not even legal who choose to go to the ER and therefore cost us more---but what the heck? they don't have to worry about it--the citizen who pays taxes does...and we are being driven to be taxed even more!! By the way, we have the best of medical care in the world, why else would others come here from all over the world for medical treatment????!!! We are fed up with the spending this administration is doing, all the while being told that we will have new taxes to have to cover what they decide we should. If Obama's health care plan is so great then WHY does Congress EXEMPT itself from having it ???? READ the bill---it is so full of deceptive language to mask what they mean and then they try to justify and LIE to brainwash those who are so bull-headed as to even try to consider reading it,to understand and see what is actually going on !! Those of us who do oppose it are well educated, law abiding, moral, responsible adults who have lived our lives being responsible for our own debts and live with in our means and have gained wisdom over the years to know what is best for our individual needs. Don't let the biased Obama News media fool you--- we are doing this on our own and we have every right to be HEARD! In America we, the people are supposed to be government!!!These law makers are PAID by US!!!That is what America was founded on! It is an insult to try to silence us by saying degrading things and not admitting the actual factual numbers of us...we are the majority of the average citizens.. So please do not act as though you speak for all Americans !!! FAR from it !!!And by the way, the stat's show that unemployment is down---sure because the workers comp has run out and they are no longer eligible to draw unemployment checks!!! So don't forget to figure all the those who are not on the unemployment rolls !! Since Obama has been in office, companies will no longer be able to produce and employ people because of the taxes imposed on them..It is not good policy to heavily tax corporations to the point that they can not afford to operate....they are the ones who keep us employed.... Another thing, you failed to mention the groups who are the ones you talk about disrupting the town hall meetings, being organized from the special interest liberal groups--they far out number the few of those who oppose it being a part of any organized group !!

September 03, 2009

Edwardo Himeniz said:

... Well at least these illegal immigrants are willing to pick up your garbage and do the other dirty jobs that Americans feel too proud to do - and yet you sit on your butt and complain and pull the victim card... Grow up, take responsibility for your life and your actions and make something happen - instead of expecting sh!t to be given to you on a silver platter

September 04, 2009

Mr J said:

... Mr. Jones why do I get the feeling that this post has been copied and pasted from the Free Republic website or a news letter somewhere...it hits all the proper talking points: illegals, taxes, undue concern for corporate fat cats. There is just so much to refute in this comment that I don't even know where to begin. But for starters a civics lesson is needed because sometimes I wonder if people are truly aware of how our government works. (I know this is a UK based site so most of you have no care or concern but please keep reading!) As of right now there IS NO SINGLE BILL to read. There are five or six of them that will be reconciled into two distinct bills, one for the House of Representatives and one for The Senate. Both will be voted on, and sent into a committee which will then reconcile these two bills into one. That's when we'll actually have a bill. So honestly reading it now is useless as any one bill that you may read...is not neccessarily the final form of The Healthcare Reform Act. Now when people say "We have the best healthcare system in the world" By what do you measure that? The ability to have plastic surgery on demand? The ability of the rich to have whatever they want done whenever they want it done? That must be it because according to the World Health Organization America's ranked in the 30's. Richest nation in the world, with an infant mortality rate higher than Cuba and Brunei? I couldn't find Brunei on a map if my life depended on it, and Cuba's been under an embargo since the 50's and still manages to outperform us in this most basic of things...keeping new borns alive. For you to sit back and say that we have the best healthcare system in the world is pretty shameful. Further, I shed no tears for the fat cats in corporate America who cry about their tax rates and you shouldn't either...since by and large, your tax dollars were used to bail them out just one year ago...and just so it's known 66% of American corporations pay no taxes. Zip, Zilch Zero. There are enough loopholes and offshore accounts and Enron style accounting tricks to keep profits in the hands of owners. So let's not live under the illusion that corporations are being broken by taxes.

September 05, 2009

Jane Smith said:

... There's a linguistic gap between the US and the UK. It's hard for us Brits to understand the mindset of people who consider 'liberal' as perjorative. To us, to be 'liberal' is to be open minded, tolerant, accepting of another's point of view. In essence it is a state to aspire to. It seems the word has an opposite implication when used in the US. This applies here across the political spectrum.

September 13, 2009

DuaneboyX said:

... I have been a registered Dem. for 22 years now and what my party has been doing the last 10 months is just right down evil. The people at the town hall meetings are just concerned not angry, and are asking real questions. The violence that the article refers too was from organized groups ( ACORN, ACIU ). There was a black Rep. beat up in ST. Louis, remember that one. The price of universial health care is just to high and gives the Gov. to much control my personal life. I make 40,000 a year and i have damn good health care, but the Gov. would rather me use there health care when i dont want to. Well congress can kiss my ass. They work for me, it's not the other way around. If congress wants health care reform then fix medicare and help the poor to aquire insurance, but that is as far as it should go. My Gov. already owns or controls 30% of my nations economey (car co. and banks) if health care & cap and trade goes through it will rise to 56%. I'll be dammed if i spent 8 years in the military protecting my constitution to watch my country turn into a marxist state.

October 16, 2009

From An "Across The Pond" Conservative said:

... For many Americans the idea of ceding our health care to a government that has not done well recently at just about anything is silly. Yes, there are many who ahve gotten rich in the healthcare industry. However, making a living and doing well in business is not an open door for pols who would co-opt the business into their own private domain. Who is right? Right now I'm siding with the market over the government.

December 03, 2009

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