Tuesday, October 1, 2013

GOP = Deafness to the will of the people


As noted in mid-September in the CNBC poll, in spite of the phony excuses that they are listening to the will of the people, the right wing fringies are clearly not.  Although that would be consistent with the tin foil hat wearing crowd, who want to take the country 'back' from the rest of the citizens of our fair nation.  They want to restore the dominance and dominion of the old white crabby and flabby ignorant-but-religiously-fundamental-elite that is the essence of the tea party conservatives.

This parallels how the conservatives in Congress are equally immune to the overwhelming majority who favor universal or vastly expanded gun sales background checks and other gun control legislation.  This is the party that sticks their thumbs in their enormous ears, wiggles their fingers, while tonelessly declaiming "LA la la la LA LA la laa lah!".

The GOP is NOT even remotely populist; they're just middling angry that they are fading into the mists of history as irrelevant, and a wee bit dangerous because of their high level of belligerence.

But the righties are dangerous for a more practical reason; repealing Obamacare means fewer people have health care coverage, and fewer people seek or receive adequate medical care.  Repealing Obamacare also means that health care costs continue to rise steeply, that more people will be filing for bankruptcy over the bills for an illness or injury, and the economy will be hit with less growth and fewer new jobs.

If you factor into this the public health issues of a vastly increased danger in the event of an epidemic if we do not make the necessary reforms accomplished by Obamacare to making health care both more available, more affordable, and less likely to result in the financial catastrophe to individuals or families, the actions of Republicans is even more a hazard to us all.

For example, the Cornell University Chronicle addresses the probability of an epidemic of Chikungunya, here.  And as noted earlier this year here, while the righties are gung-ho to spend money when it comes to the military and terrorism, and scream and throw temper tantrums at spending money on infrastructure and health care as a terrible attack on their FREEDUMBS, the reality is that influenza alone does some $90 billion-with-a-b damage to our economy, and kills around 36,000 Americans.  The CDC puts it at $87 billion-with-a-b in losses; other sources put it higher; $90 BILLION per other sources.

Instead, the righties want to put all of us at greater risk, have more people die who shouldn't or be ill who shouldn't, and of course want to risk tanking the economy and huge costs and losses by shutting down the government that are completely avoidable.

We just can't trust the judgment of these people, who REFUSE to listen to us, in government.  They have to go.  Or at least, we have to get them enrolled in Obamacare so we can get that problem deafness treated.

from CNBC:

Poll: Majority opposes defunding ACA if it means a government shutdownAmy Porter
7:48 PM on 09/23/2013If the price for defunding Obamacare is shutting down the government, a new CNBC poll shows, most Americans aren’t willing to pay it.
The CNBC All-America Economic survey of 800 people found that a vast majority of Americans oppose defunding Obamacare by a plurality of 44 to 38%. When you add on the issue of shutting down the government and defaulting, that number spikes even more: with that at stake, the poll found Americans oppose defunding–59% to 19%–with 18% still uncertain. The 4% of respondents remaining say they want to defund Obamacare, but then became unsure if they would maintain that position if the result would be a government shutdown.
On Friday, the GOP-led House of Representatives voted 230-189 to adopt a short-term government spending bill that would eliminate all funding for The Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s signature health care law. But this action could also lead the government to the brink of default in less than two weeks.
About 51% of Republicans support the move to defund the new health care law in general, with 36% against it and 13% unsure. However, those numbers flip when you add in talk of a fullblown shutdown or default: 48% actually oppose defunding Obamacare and only 36% still want it.
Opposition among Independents remains much more widespread. Among those surveyed, 44% to 40% oppose defunding it. There’s a drastic increase to 65% opposition when considering a government default, causing support to drop to 14%.
Not many surprises here: 54% of Republicans who identify themselves Tea Party supporters want Obamacare defunded no matter what – even it means shutting up shop.
The poll was conducted from September 16-19 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4%.

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