Once upon a time, fascism was exciting. You had your shiny jackboots and colorful flags with cryptic mystic symbols on them:
You had your death camps:
You had your colorful leaders wearing military uniforms and requiring everybody to salute to him:
You had really cool tanks and bombs and airplanes that they used to attack nations all over the world:
But today's fascism is boring. Today's fascism is... Healthcare?!
Yes, the latest right-wing meme is, fascism is universal healthcare! Which means, OMG, Canada is a fascist nation! Gosh, I had my suspicions, I mean, last time I visited Canada their cities were so clean, and the people so polite, it was clear they were hiding something because every American knows that cities are supposed to be grimy decaying hellholes full of rude people who would lose half their vocabulary if you cut off their index fingers, but what a secret!
But still. Universal healthcare? That's what modern fascism is all about, according to the right wing? But I want jackboots! Why do those silly Canucks not have jackboots?! BORE-ing! I guess those Canucks are just trying to lull us into complacency by adopting universal healthcare rather than universal warfare. Why, if we don't watch it, soon the Canucks will emerge from their fascist hell-hole and conquer us all with their eeeeeevil fascist UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE bwhahahahaha!
And now for video proof of the evil Canuck conspiracy (yes, I know this guy says "Commie" but that's just another spelling for "Canuck", right?):
OMG! It's all a conspiracy! The Canucks are going to DESTROY US ALL with their eeeevil UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE! Why, their white-coated doctors must be lining up at the border this VERY MOMENT to invade and... and... give us healthcare. The horror! Oh the horror!
-- Badtux the Snarky Penguin
The amazing thing is that, even if you search "health care fascism" as a phrase in quotes so it only returns articles containing that exact phrase, you still get 286,000 results.
ReplyDeleteTheCivil War was not about Gettysburg. Just happened that that's where the armies collided.
ReplyDeleteThe war about Health Care is only partially about Health Care for the Left, and not at ALL about Health Care for the Right. That's just where the armies have collided.
The argument is about the supremicy of the marketplace. Government, in the name of the people, and for the benefit of the people is threatening to encroach on an area of commerce that Big Business has staked out as their turf.
Righties are willing to fight and die for the right to perpetuate a system that's killing people primarily on the left (though not exclusively). To Righties if poor people can all get health care today, then tomorrow they will all want a Mercedes. Laugh if you like, but a badge that identified 'haves' from 'have-nots' is under attack and they are rushing to the defense of the Bastille.
For decades they were taught 'Democracy and Capitalism' in the smae breath as inseparable ideas; now an aspect of capitalism is under attack. They are freaked.
But the war is not over Health Care; that's just where the armies collided.
Wow, I never would have thought of that Google search, and I shouldn't be, but I'm actually a bit surprised at how many hits it got.
ReplyDeleteright-wingers... oy, you gotta give them some credit for relentlessly repeating the same stupid messages.
*sigh*
This country is full of old fucks that don't want to die and want everyone else to chip in to help keep them alive to over a hundred while they return to shitting in diapers.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that can all be supported unless you want your taxes to go way up.
actually i think it is beyond big business - it is just about power and getting big biz to finance the road back to power.
ReplyDeletewhen you have assholes like bill kristol outwardly saying this is all about politics you know we have reached a new level
but the people - more and more and more i realize that most of america is just plain stupid and the rest of the world. including places like somalia - are just light years ahead
i really go back to reagan training the people to want something for nothing - and while everyone wants healtcare, not one person wants to contribute a nickel for someone else's
stupid and selfish - welcome to GOP america
What the GOP fails to mention in all their comparisons to Canadian health care are the different rates of disease. I guess they just forgot...
ReplyDeleteie Infant Mortality rate per 1,000 live births:
Canada: 5.08
States: 6.3
The rest are here:
http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/23404.html
Interesting no? America spends more per capita than SOCIALIST Canada, but Canada has better stats on most illnesses
Thanks for this, BT.
ReplyDeleteNot that we don't still have plenty of these still - in spades.
You had really cool tanks and bombs and airplanes that they used to attack nations all over the world
I like TampaDoug's "Just happened that that's where the armies collided" analysis."
Almost everything I see reported on the TV "News" now seems just to be made up for audience gasps. Healthcare costs! Afghani women! Meth! Pakistani nuclear tactics! China's conversion of US dollars to gold (or other currencies) - which although a real problem eventually - just takes the attention off the catastrophic unemployment numbers and the fatal cooling of the American "enterprise" engine.
Don't want to focus on that!
So let's worry about SOCIALISM!!!!
S
I wish more people were gathering around your water cooler.
It's awful down here in the fascist nation of Oz, too. Hospitals, like the one where I'm sitting as I type, full of people forced to get medical care that will ease their pain and prolong their lives. Medical clinics all over the place where people can walk right in and be seen by a doctor -- sometimes without even paying anything at all! (If the clinic does what's called "bulk billing," i.e. not charging anything more than the standard government reimbursement.) Even medicine is cheap here -- the government picks up the cost of any med above $29.50.
ReplyDeleteWHERE'S THE SELF-RELIANT SUFFERING IN THAT?!? It's made Australia into a land of weaklings. Weaklings who don't have untreated diabetes, chronic pain or bankruptcy for medical bills, but weaklings nonetheless.
And at what cost? Why, the tax burden is HUGE! That's why in Australia, no one can afford to buy cars, or eat at restaurants, or go overseas on the six weeks' paid holiday just about every worker gets here. Yeah, it's farking fascistic, how the government takes every cent of everyone's money, just to force them to stay healthy.
Thank goodness the United States is a leader in the world of freedom. America: where the motto is "I'd rather DIE than pay a little more in taxes."
every American knows that cities are supposed to be grimy decaying hellholes full of rude people who would lose half their vocabulary if you cut off their index fingers
ReplyDeleteBT - that is brilliant. You have outdone yourself. When did you visit MI?
BBC - As a gray-haired old fuck that don't want to die, I recommend you have a look at Bukko's comment @ 8:35 a.m. Then ponder that, as I have said repeatedly, England did it in 1948, when they were flat-on-their-ass broke, and had rather a large fucking part of their country to rebuild.
JzB the aging (and somewhat impatient) trombonist
Well, if they are going to invade they should wear Flames or Canuck home jerseys, because the other teams are no more exciting than the uniforms of the Defense Forces.
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to be a fascist you have to have a good looking uniform, none of that hospital scrubs crap.
It has never ceased to amaze me how readily Americans are willing to be taxed for wars, but refuse to pay taxes to make their own lives better.
If I need medical help I'm going to my vet, because my cats get better medical care than people, for a hell of lot less money.
Bryan @ Why Now?
Jazz -- I've lived in a lot of cities from sea to shining sea. Only halfway-civilized area is the SF Bay area, mostly because everybody is an immigrant from somewhere else and doesn't know about the middle finger bit :).
ReplyDeleteWhyNow: And don't forget the hat. Every good fascist needs a nice hat to go with the shiny jackboots and spiffy uniform. Those Canuck earmuff-hats are pretty boring though, and probably too warm for our conditions. Sigh.
Fascism just aint what it used to be, eh?
Bukko, the horror, oh the horror! Unfortunately Australia is not a hospitable place for me to relocate due to some slight unpleasantness with the Australian embassy back during the Clinton years that I will not go into further detail about.
Southern Quebec: The U.S. infant mortality rates are skewed by its large population of African descent, who have a much higher incidence of infant mortality for some genetic reason we do not understand yet. This is true of all people of African descent whether living in Canada or France or the U.S. If you remove African-Americans from the equation infant mortality rates are similar, as are all other mortality rates. Yet Canada is spending half the money to get the same mortality outcomes... curious, isn't it?
TampaDoug, DCap, there are far too many people who never graduated from high school debate club mentally. It's all about winning at any cost for them, and the actual issues are irrelevant to them. Tighty righties are against universal health care because Obama is for it, not because they have any real ideological dog in the show. Indeed, if you showed a tighty rightie a description of the Swiss healthcare system (which is a universal system based upon mandated individual purchase of health insurance policies from private companies) he'd probably like it... unless you re-labeled the first page as "Obama Health Plan" rather than "Swiss Health Plan", at which point they'd suddenly discover that it destroys freedom or is fascism or some other talking point to use to oppose it without actually saying anything of substance about it.
"Tighty righties are against universal health care because Obama is for it, not because they have any real ideological dog in the show."
ReplyDeleteBT - If I understand you, then the motives of the wingnuts (which are not unanimous) are a knee-jerk reaction rather than ideological.
You are a smart guy, but I disagree. I see an enormous power struggle between business and government. Take one facet of health care as an example, offering health care across state lines, which I see as a tactic to side-step the states authority to regulate the industry and allow the health care industry to set up shop where the business climate is most favorable. Business wants to run free, and good government wants to rein in the abuses.
In the end, either the policies of health care will be regulated by government or the policies wil be dominated by and for the profit motive. This is ideology in the purist sense.
If you have read J.R.R. Tolkein, only one hand could wear the Ring of Power - the same is true here. The government and Big Business are struggling here, the health of individuals and the nation is of secondary importance to the Dark Lord.
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