Originally posted by The17sss
It doesn't... I'm just making the point that elected officials are supposed to represent the people who elect them. Once they start deciding they know better than the people, and vote how THEY see fit, damn their constituents, then they undercut the very foundation of what we're about.
Yes, because everyone is always represented exactly as they want by the government. When the has this ever been the case or mattered to you before?
We get to chose a side to make decisions, thats the only representation any of us TRULY has. You don't like it, don't vote for them again.
Also:
quote:
"Today is the death of freedom as a cause for celebration," Rep. Marsha Blackburn just said as she opened the House Republicans' argument against the health-care bill. Her stem-winder was quick and clean. This bill, she argued, will make Americas less free.
There is a tendency to think this sort of inane hyperbole an innovation of our polarized age. But it isn't. When Medicare was being considered, the American Medical Association hired Ronald Reagan to record a record housewives could play for their friends. It was called Operation: Coffee Cup, and you can listen to it in the clip atop this post, or read the text here.
Reagan was a more graceful speaker than Blackburn, but his point was much the same. Kill the bill. "If you don’t do this and if I don’t do it," he said, "one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.”
Well, the bill passed. And moments ago, Rep. Paul Ryan was on the floor of the House, bellowing against Democrats who would dare propose "across-the-board cuts to Medicare." This is breathless opportunism from Ryan -- he has proposed far deeper across-the-board cuts to Medicare, and is making arguments against the Democrats' bill that would be far more potent and accurate if aimed at his own -- but leave that aside for a moment. The GOP's embrace of the program that Ronald Reagan fought, and that Newt Gingrich sought to let "whither on the vine," is based on the lived experience seniors have had with the bill: It has made them more, rather than less, free.
Blackburn's introduction aside, people do not "celebrate" the freedom to not be able to afford lifesaving medical care. They don't want the freedom to weigh whether to pay rent or take their feverish child to the emergency room. They don't like the freedom to lose their job and then be told by insurers that they're ineligible for coverage because they were born with a heart arrhythmia.
When faced with the passage of programs that would deliver people from these awful circumstances, the Republicans adopt a very narrow and cruel definition of the word "freedom." But when faced with the existence of programs like Medicare, and the recognition that their constituents depend on those programs to live lives free of unnecessary fear and illness, they abandon their earlier beliefs, forget their dire warnings and, when convenient, defend these government protections aggressively. There's nothing much to be done about that. It is, after all, a free country. But Americans should feel free to ignore these discredited hysterics.
By Ezra Klein | March 21, 2010; 3:02 PM ET
Clovis
quote:
Originally posted by The17sss
lol
Michael Ramirez, another in dunce.
Lews
But that's what the government was all about when it was founded. One of the reasons why they set up the electoral college was because they didn't want the government to be held accountable to the masses if the masses did something unintelligent. While they are supposed to represent the people, they don't have to.
Just ask Joseph Cao. The people in his district strongly want health care, yet he voted against it. He said that it wasn't wrong to go against one's constituents, but it was wrong to go against one's morals. How does that not go both ways?
The people elected these congressmen and congresswomen. They were put in control of government for their terms. These congressmen and congresswomen decided to fix this mess that we call health care. They voted and a majority of them supported this bill. There is nothing wrong about it.
yukii
YAY.
The17sss
quote:
Originally posted by Clovis
Yes, because everyone is always represented exactly as they want by the government. When the has this ever been the case or mattered to you before?
We get to chose a side to make decisions, thats the only representation any of us TRULY has. You don't like it, don't vote for them again.
Also:
No, not every single person... but people obviously get elected to their district/county/state or whatever based on representing the wishes of a majority of people of that group. Yeah we can vote them out- but lets say that happens in November. Fine... but the law will still be in place and virtually impossible to repeal. It won't be like prohibition or something.
lol... why did you post that soundbite by Ronnie?
Edit: Ahhh... you meant to put the article by Ezra Klein in there. His comment about Paul Ryan is wrong; I watched Ryan today debunk that very accusation when challenged in an interview by some talking head. But talk about wads... Ezra Klein? lol
Clovis
quote:
Originally posted by The17sss
No, not every single person... but people obviously get elected to their district/county/state or whatever based on representing the wishes of a majority of people of that group. Yeah we can vote them out- but lets say that happens in November. Fine... but the law will still be in place and virtually impossible to repeal. It won't be like prohibition or something.
When people find out it is actually going to help them none of that will matter anyway.
I posted that Ronnie soundbite to remind you what republicans were saying before Medicare way back then. AKA the same ing bull as today, like
quote:
"one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.”
Yeah I wonder what it was like...
The17sss
quote:
Originally posted by Lews
The people elected these congressmen and congresswomen. They were put in control of government for their terms. These congressmen and congresswomen decided to fix this mess that we call health care. They voted and a majority of them supported this bill. There is nothing wrong about it.
Nothing wrong except for all the lies, backroom deals, bribes, and arm-twisting that happened between 1 year ago and now. If it's such a great bill, why did they have to throw the kitchen sink at their own party just to get enough votes? But anyway... you think it's fixed now? This is just the beginning of decades of contentious debate to come.
The17sss
quote:
Originally posted by Clovis
When people find out it is actually going to help them none of that will matter anyway.
... because they're too dumb to understand it right now. Can't keep up with those intellectuals in Washington.
Fledz
quote:
Originally posted by The17sss
... because they're too dumb to understand how much Faux News is brainwashing them and are incapable of forming an individual opinion
fyp
Zharen
quote:
Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
i love the reforms if for no other reason to see hacks like 17sss whinge like bitches.
HERE HERE! I'm so tired of his ultra-partisan tripe in the PDD.
pkcRAISTLIN
generally speaking, the less politicians listen to their ignorant, prejudiced contituents, the better.
