Sarah Ibarruri
Sarah Ibarruri's JournalI know! I think it boils down to racism.
The ones voting against their own self interests are poor Southern whites. Poor non-whites are wiser in that regard and don't have to vote against themselves.
We think of the Civil War as being something long past. However, it is still quite fresh in the minds and hearts of poor Southern whites. They inherited that "sense" of white superiority from their poor white families and ancestors, ancestors who might have gone hungry, but by golly gee at least they felt superior compared with non-whites. They could boss around non-whites, they could go hungry but saw that non-whites went even hungrier than they did, and they felt special because there was that group that had less of everything, and which had once been considered not to be human, but property. Southern poor whites felt that if they had nothing else in this world, at least they had that - they were considered "superior" to non-whites. They long for that. It's what they've grown up around. It's the only thing they had that made their suffering tolerable, a superiority over non-whites.
Nowadays, as the U.S. hobbles and limps toward full racial equality, that superiority and sense of importance is being stripped away bit by bit from them, and they are forced to face that they truly have nothing. That must feel hellish to Southern poor whites. They learned racism on their ancestors' knees and clung to that because it was the only thing that made them feel special.
In the absence of exposure to a higher education (not necessarily schooling - I think most of what we learn we learn, we learn from people we are exposed to, not from books and teachers), all they are stuck with is a very limited world and world view, which struggles to cling to the vestiges of that sense of "white superiority" their ancestors once felt, and that disdain for non-whites which still gets passed on from poor Southern white family to family. That sense of importance for being white can even be found in their small churches, where they worship their white Jesus among other poor whites, and grasp desperately at proof that they are still as important as they were when at least they were more "important" than non-whites. Otherwise, all they will be able to see in the mirror is poverty and ignorance.
Of the two parties in the U.S., the one that is indisputably racist in every imaginable way, also happens to be the one that has been working overtime for 33 years to tear to shreds the very programs that Southern poor whites depend on and need to survive. It's the party that fights tooth and nail to destroy any public education, because the GOP is terrified of the poor having access to good education. But Southern poor whites are single-minded and have never known much else but their pride in their white skin, so they hang on to their wish that the world were still a world of slavery, when they could feel important for having white skin, even if they barely had anything to put on the table for their families. Even those Southern poor whites who might realize that Republicans are out to destroy any lifeline they might now have, can't help themselves in voting for the savagely racist political party. It's an itch they just need to scratch.
Basically, the South is chronically ill with a deep-set racism that I had never witnessed before until I moved from Miami to North Florida, near Georgia. It is truly something to behold! I could write a book about the shit I've heard from Southern poor whites near here. As crazy a place as Miami is, nothing, nothing beats this for sheer insanity.
Update on governors accepting or refusing the expanding of ACA (Obamacare):
Here are the states whose governors signed to allow the expansion of ACA (Obamacare):
•Arizona: On June 17, 2013, Gov. Jan Brewer (R) signed into law legislation that will expand Medicaid to an additional 350,000 people in the state. The signing came after Brewer called a surprise special session on the 2014 budget and Medicaid to try to resolve a deadlock among lawmakers on the two issues.
•Arkansas: Gov. Mike Beebe (D) on April 23, 2013, signed the state's expansion plan into law. Under the plan, Arkansas would accept the federal money for Medicaid expansion provided through the ACA but would use it to buy private insurance for about 250,000 eligible low-income residents. The federal government approved the plan in September 2013.
•California: Gov. Jerry Brown (D) on June 27, 2013, signed legislation that would expand the state's Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, to more than 1.4 million additional residents under the ACA.
•Colorado: Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) signed the expansion into law on May 13, 2013. He says that the expansion will save the state $280 million over 10 years and help cover an additional 160,000 adults.
•Connecticut: Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) was among the first governors to sign up for the Medicaid expansion after the ACA was enacted. The state was one of five states that opted to expand eligibility early.
•Delaware: Gov. Jack Markell (D) in January 2013 reiterated his support for the Medicaid expansion, including an additional $35.8 million for Medicaid in his FY 2014 spending plan. On July 1, 2013, Markell signed a FY 2014 budget plan that includes $29.8 million to "fund the State's Medicaid commitment."
•District of Columbia: D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray (D) in a statement on June 28, 2012, said, "The District is not at risk of losing any Medicaid funding as a result of [the Supreme Court] ruling, because District officials have already begun implementation of the ACA's Medicaid-expansion provisions and will continue to implement the expansion." D.C. sought permission from the federal government to expand its Medicaid program on May 13, 2010. The move expanded Medicaid to an additional 35,000 residents.
•Hawaii: Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) has said his state will participate in the expansion. In a statement on June 28, 2012, Abercrombie said, "The Affordable Care Act is our ally in this effort" to "to support a healthcare system that ensures high quality, safety and sustainable costs." According to the Department of Human Services, the state is expanding Medicaid eligibility through the ACA.
•Illinois: Gov. Pat Quinn (D) signed Medicaid expansion into law on July 22, 2013. Approximately 342,000 low-income Illinois residents will be newly insured under the expansion.
•Iowa: On Dec. 12, 2013, Gov. Terry Branstad (R) announced that his administration and the White House had agreed on the finals details of his plan to expand Medicaid. Two days earlier, CMS approved Iowa's alternate expansion proposal, which would allow the state to use federal funding under the ACA to help more than 100,000 low-income residents purchase private health coverage through the new Iowa Health and Wellness Plan. Branstad also proposed a small additional premium for certain beneficiaries. Under the agreement, Iowa will levy the additional premium on individuals with incomes exceeding 50% of the federal poverty level beginning in 2015. The state promised that it will not drop individuals' coverage if they fail to make payments.
•Kentucky: On May 9, 2013, Gov. Steve Beshear (D) said that expanding Medicaid is the right choice for Kentucky, noting that it would halve the number of uninsured in the state. He reiterated that sentiment in a Sept. 26, 2013, opinion piece in the New York Times. On Sept. 3, 2013, a federal judge cleared the way for the state to participate in the Affordable Care Act, ruling that the governor has the authority to expand Medicaid and establish an insurance exchange.
•Maryland: On May 5, 2013, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) signed into law HB 228 to fully implement the Affordable Care Act.
•Massachusetts: On July 5, 2013, Gov. Deval Patrick (D) signed into law HB 3452, requiring Massachusetts to come into compliance with new federal regulations under the ACA. On July 12, 2013, Patrick signed into law the state's FY 2014 budget, which supports full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, including the Medicaid expansion.
•Michigan: On Sept. 3, 2013, the Michigan House voted 75-32 to grant final approval to a bill that would expand the state's Medicaid program beginning in April 2014. Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signed the bill into law on Sept. 16, 2013. The proposal contains cost-sharing provisions for Medicaid beneficiaries; it received federal approval in December.
•Minnesota: Gov. Mark Dayton (D) in February 2013 signed legislation that expanded Medicaid to an additional 35,000 childless, low-income adults in the state.
•Nevada: Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) in December 2012 became the first GOP governor to commit his state to expanding Medicaid under the ACA. According to Sandoval's announcement, nearly 78,000 Nevadans would be covered by the expansion.
•New Hampshire: On March 27, 2014, Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) signed bipartisan legislation (SB 413) to expand Medicaid coverage to an estimated 50,000 low-income state residents. Starting in April 2014, the state will move eligible residents into Medicaid programs. The plan then calls for enrolling those residents in private coverage options through the ACA insurance exchange in 2016, which would require a federal waiver. The law requires the state to receive that waiver by March 31, 2015; failure to do so would result in termination of the program three months later.
•New Jersey: Gov. Chris Christie (R) on June 28, 2013, signed a state budget that includes $227 million for Medicaid expansion in the state. However, he vetoed legislation that would have made the expansion permanent in the state.
•New Mexico: Gov. Susana Martinez (R) on Jan. 9, 2013, announced that the state would participate in the Medicaid expansion.
•New York: On June 28, 2012, in an announcement immediately following the Supreme Court's ruling on the ACA, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said the state would participate in the expansion.
•North Dakota: Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) in April 2013 signed legislation expanding Medicaid in the state.
•Ohio: The state's Controlling Board—a special bipartisan legislative panel—approved Medicaid expansion in 5-2 vote on Oct. 21, 2013, allowing Gov. John Kasich (R) to expand the program on Jan. 1, 2014, without approval from Ohio's Republican-controlled Legislature. Conservative lawmakers have pledged to mount a fierce legal campaign against the move.
•Oregon: The state has moved forward on Medicaid expansion with the support of Gov. John Kitzhaber (D). Starting on Jan. 1, 2014, state residents earning up to 138% FPL will qualify for Medicaid, up from 100% FPL in 2013.
•Rhode Island: On July 3, 2013, about one week before the state General Assembly adjourned for the year, Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I) signed a fiscal year 2014 budget measure that included a plan to expand Medicaid, which he endorsed in June 2012 and outlined in his 2014 budget proposal.
•Vermont: Health Care Access Commissioner Mark Larson in July 2012 said that Vermont would receive federal funds to expand its Medicaid program under the ACA. The expansion is expected to insure an additional 47,000 state residents.
•Washington: Gov. Jay Inslee (D) on June 30, 2013, signed a state budget that would expand Medicaid in the state.
•West Virginia: Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D) in May 2013 announced that the state would expand Medicaid, extending coverage to an additional 91,500 state residents.
http://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/resources/primers/medicaidmap#lightbox/1/
Of course, my state is not on the list, Florida, but we have that Medicare fraud criminal of a Republican governor.
Because the GOP wasn't able to defund or destroy Obamacare, instead...
They got together and decided to wage the biggest-scale propaganda machine to trash it.
Not only that, but the Repuke governors, got together and opted to make this first version of this first attempt to insure everyone, a disaster by denying their own states' residents coverage by REFUSING to allow the Obamacare EXPANSION.
http://www.bustle.com/articles/6227-gop-governors-reject-obamacares-medicaid-expansion-millions-to-stay-uninsured-as-result
Boy, they must be some kind of angry.
Maybe the Repukes will just do themselves in when they realize that this first version of the first-ever program to insure all, IS GOING FORWARD ANYWAY.
Don't let the Republicans in here passing as Democrats let you know. Read this:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1102&pid=15862First Doctor Visit in Five Years: Why Repubs Want Us Broke or Dead
First Doctor Visit in Five Years: Why Repubs Want Us Broke or DeadThey'd love to make us work 473 hours for a visit, some blood work, and a single medication. How many House ACA repeal votes now? And how many "replacement plans"? They'll fight with fervor to return us all to that standard, to enrich their owners and themselves while we die, until we fight back. Until we win.
That means fighting to protect and strengthen the law that allowed me to get there today. It may not be perfect but its a hell of a lot better than allowing a group of immoral insurers and politicians to kill us, at the bank and in our bodies, so they can live the high life.
And if those snakes running the insurance company cartels think the ACA was rough for them, they'd better wait to see what we do when we run the scum that work for them out of office. I'll be happy to show them catastrophic. I'll be happier to grin and pull the plug on an ugly industry when we finally achieve single payer. But for now, I'm happy to have coverage and relieved so many no longer have to work hundreds of hours to secure what should be a fundamental human right.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/26/1287424/-First-Doctor-Visit-in-Five-Years-Why-Repubs-Want-Us-Broke-or-Dead?detail=email
Why are so many rape, murder, kidnap, and battery criminals running free? This is why.
Tax Deductions are a HUGE form of welfare, and the richest people are getting the most welfare
Tax deductions are a HUGE form of welfare. Right wingers constantly say that deductions aren't welfare, but that's bs. If one person can't afford to take a deduction (for example, the mortgage tax deduction), then that person is not keeping money.
Those people who can afford to take a deduction (say, those who are buying homes because they have money enough to buy one), are the ones getting to KEEP money rather than pay it to the maintenance of the country. Keeping money rather than paying it in to maintain the country, is the same as being sent a check in the mail.
There are more ways in which the wealthy get welfare in this video:
Imagine you're a highly competitive person rewarded with fat checks... then the fat checks stop
Imagine you're a highly competitive, results-oriented person whose job once rewarded your work with a fat check. Then the world's economy crashed. It's your fault. As a result you have new rules about what you can and cannot do. You're catching up with new compliance regulations and working harder than before, but you can't produce the money you once did. The means of production you once had are gone.
Perhaps it would be rash to call it a spate or a trend, but in the past six months a number of financial professionals from the United States to London to Hong Kong have committed suicide.
So it's time to talk about why.
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-wall-street-bankers-committ-suicide-2014-2
A little history - When the Soviets liberated Auschwitz - an account by one of the Soviet officers
I honestly can't post any of the article on here, because it's too heart-wrenching. Nonetheless, the Soviets liberated Auschwitz, and here is the account told by one of the Soviet officers that liberated it.
http://www.jspace.com/news/articles/anatoly-shapiro-the-soviet-jew-who-helped-liberate-auschwitz/13238
Profile Information
Name: SarahGender: Female
Hometown: North Florida
Home country: U.S.
Current location: North Florida
Member since: Sun Sep 11, 2005, 09:28 PM
Number of posts: 21,043
