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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRepublican Joni Ernst Admits Why Republicans Really Hate Obamacare
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/10/republican-admits-why-republicans-hate-obamacare.htmlBy Jonathan Chait
Conservatives have made a series of specific predictions about the effects of Obamacare overall costs would rise, insurers would flee the exchanges, premiums would go up, the ranks of the uninsured would not even fall. All these predictions have failed. And yet conservative opposition to the law has not diminished. If you want to know why this is, listen to these secretly recorded comments from Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst, via Radio Iowa and Greg Sargent. Here Ernst, speaking candidly to supporters, gets to the root of conservative opposition:
Thats the fundamental belief that motivates most, if not all, the conservative opposition: Health care should be a privilege rather than a right. If you cant afford health insurance on your own, that is not the governments problem.
I happen to find this belief morally bizarre. People who cannot afford their own insurance either dont earn much money, or have health risks, or family members with health risks, too expensive to bear.
All of us non-socialists would agree that there ought to be some things rich people get to enjoy that poor people are deprived of. Access to health care is a strange choice of things to deprive the losers of not least because one of the things you do to earn the ability to afford it is not just the normal market value of earning or inheriting a good income, but the usually random value of avoiding serious illness or accident.
..more..
shenmue
(38,506 posts)They think if you aren't rich, you have a moral fault, and you don't deserve to be healthy; you should get sick and die. It's a cult of feudalism: the nobles were born that way because God wants it, and to heck with the peasants.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Thomas Hobbes - a life that is nasty, brutish and short. The wet dream of the .1%/Repigs and Libertarian fucksticks.
Ampersand Unicode
(503 posts)Calvin:
Hobbes:
The kinder, gentler, better version:
billhicks76
(5,082 posts)Not everyone has a family with money. What an evil scumbag she is. She should be booted out of her church. She thinks a bake sale is going to treat cancer? The same cancer people get from the pesticides in Iowa she allowed to be sprayed everywhere? And she supports big giveaways to the war contractors but not kids who are sick? She's evil. I hope she gets sick soon.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)that social Darwinism has its strongest adherents among religious fundamentalists.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)CrispyQ
(36,547 posts)Like all the good paying jobs in America.
Hey, Ernst, show us your income vs charitable contributions for the past 10 years.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Or not.
GeorgeGist
(25,326 posts)belzabubba333
(1,237 posts)i doubt the poster was implying heath care
azmom
(5,208 posts)And believe. There ought to be something's that I get to enjoy that you ought to be deprived of.
Why?
pampango
(24,692 posts)bigdarryl
(13,190 posts)When she goes to the Senate she should give up her Federal healthcare.And why doesn't she ask her retired Army Sargent Major husband to give up his government retirement and healthcare provided by the VA.These rethugs are so hypercritical
greatlaurel
(2,004 posts)Not one of the churches in the town I grew up in during the '60's had a food pantry. What utter claptrap is coming out of this woman's mouth. Does she know her 10 Commandments? Bearing false witness is not allowed under those, or maybe those are just the 10 suggestions for her.
These are right wing talking points that bear no relation to reality and the news media lets these statements go unchallenged. If we still had a news media, this woman would never have been anywhere near a position of importance.
The town where I live now used to have a food pantry, for a few years. They discontinued it last year. It was run by a local church, but the church people decided they could not afford it even though almost all the food came from the state and federal government. Everyone has been really hush hush about why it stopped operating. The local government has not set up anything to take its place. None of the other dozens of churches in this area have set up a food pantry, either. All those good Christians who would never vote for a nonbeliever are not doing anything to help the poor in their own community. These people should be ashamed of themselves, but they get reinforced by these crooked politicians telling them how great they are because they are Christians and vote for the Christian GOP. While the government funds for schools and social services are slashed to nothing so that John Kasich can line the pockets of his wealthy donors with public tax dollars. These rich men cannot make any money except by being on the public dole, they are the real welfare queens.
billhicks76
(5,082 posts)These people are what they condemn.
muntrv
(14,505 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Ever ask anyone who is actually involved with a non-profit how they would fare without government assistance in dealing with social problems? They're still out there, struggling like hell to deal with the wreckage caused by your Wall$treet funders. To a man or woman they will tell you they would be so instantaneously overwhelmed they would sink without a trace. It would be like trying to raise the Titanic with a pair of tweezers. Anyone with 15 functioning neurons KNOWS this.
Another reality-denying asswipe dingbat straight outta Dumbfuckistan, like all Repigs these days.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)IdiocracyTheNewNorm
(97 posts)Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)In fact, most, if not all, the fundie-nuts would HATE JC and his poor-loving, afflicted-healing, rich-hating ways.
IdiocracyTheNewNorm
(97 posts)bunch of folks who are A-OK with their version.
Seeing that I do not believe in JC, the Bible, Religion and all that perhaps some folks who think they got it wrong could straighten them out.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)turn them out by the millions. Literally, the MILLIONS.
phantom power
(25,966 posts)Before we invented the social safety net everybody was just a big happy, healthy family where nobody was ever poor or sick because Family and Jesus, or something.
Ampersand Unicode
(503 posts)G'night, John-Boy.
jmowreader
(50,571 posts)John Walton was a business owner who had enough land to farm and hunt, and the guy who owned the general store was so leveraged on his customers' bills he probably never recovered from the Depression. If the Waltons would have been set in New York City or Los Angeles, the show would have been vastly different.
quaker bill
(8,225 posts)We "used to" have huge numbers of manufacturing jobs that paid living wages.
Churches and charitable organizations could pick up the slack when economy was strong the population needing services was small and consisted of the rare unemployed.
Government generally had to step in when the economy was bad, most dramatically in the Great Depression.
For the working class, current income and wealth distributions mimic the Great Depression fairly well.
Ampersand Unicode
(503 posts)Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone
And another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, they're gonna get you two...
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!
billhicks76
(5,082 posts)They are henchmen for the Bush Agenda. All 3.
Triana
(22,666 posts)B Calm
(28,762 posts)Old Nick
(468 posts)Ampersand Unicode
(503 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)whether people who have 2 jobs, working 60 hrs a week cannot afford health care. From their position I can only deduce that they also don't care if you die from some injury or disease easily taken care of or cured. Ernst has health care and won't give it up as do all those clowns advocating for this type of RW bullshit. I really can't stand these pseudo-nazis. They are no better. The RW in this country is full of hypocrites and americans keep voting for these clowns. geez, not very smart at all......
Ampersand Unicode
(503 posts)They're following the playbook to a T, or should I say a T4?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_T4
(emphasis added)
calimary
(81,557 posts)Anybody remember? I think it was John Kingmoderating the debate wherein he followed up some GOP wannabe-"president" who was extolling denying affordable health care to the poor and needy. And the moderator asked the rhetorical question - "well, what should we do?" And some "people" in the audience bellowed "YEAH!!!!"
Anybody remember that??????
I will NEVER forget that. The cold-hearted anti-Christians on parade. Horrifying. They really do want that. Dismaying to say the least. And as a believer in Jesus myself, it makes me feel ashamed.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)that have brought shame on a religion, that is at it's core helpful, yes it did help me through some very difficult years of my life, are the ones that are bringing derisive shame on people who truly follow a warm, empathetic religious doctrine that can be laid at the feet of Jesus. I'm about ready to give up my anger at christians because of knowing how you have responded on this board, you are fair and balanced. It is a segment of coldhearted opportunistic religious charlatans that have created this shameful, hateful circus of RW so-called 'christians of america' joke. I'm going to try to find some faith again, you just hold on to yours. They are loud, but if you are who you say you are and have read the holy book then you know that one day it is a possibility that they will be denied their place because they won't be known by our God. It really is all there is if a person needs a rock to hang on to in a very rough storm..
Hoppy
(3,595 posts)I remember watching a documentary about this guy, Olive Twist. He got all the food and shelter he needed from his church workhouse.
Ampersand Unicode
(503 posts)catbyte
(34,502 posts)Or does she mean that the church ladies will come and pray over your deathbed? GOD I HATE REPUBLICANS. WTF IS WRONG WITH AMERICA?!?!?
For the first time in my almost 6 decades of life, I am so disgusted and fed up that if I had the means I would leave this fucking country for good.
Sorry.
billhicks76
(5,082 posts)Maybe David Icke is right. Maybe they are Reptilian shape shifters who exploit religion to con the masses with a matrix-like grand illusion. How the Hell can anyone explain statements like this. I get that the Mega-Churches brainwash them with a sense of entitlement and superiority but they still have undamaged brains so how can they not see how ridiculous those statements are. Does she really believe them or is she a snake in the grass so to speak lol. Seriously, why can't the Left be just as extreme in the opposite direction to counterweight these filthy scumbags? I'll tell you why...because we nominate centrist, self-serving turncoats like Hillary. Anyone who doesn't see that we need to purge the non-populist, non-progressive champagne sipping sell-outs need only look at Ernst and then the mirror to see why were so screwed.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)My dad was a pastor and ran non-profits and charities. It was really, really hard. And that was in good times. We are living through rough times for low-income people. Private charities cannot handle it and won't handle it.
Also, the private charities give to causes they can brag about. The very neediest are often overlooked or don't get enough help.
And if she is talking about food stamps, she had better watch out because the food stamps subsidize her constituents -- many of whom are farmers or voters who rely on the income of farmers and farmworkers as their customer base.
Idiocy. Ignorance. Low-information Congresspeople.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)reduce overpopulation.
21st century version of ice-floes or willow baskets on a river.
davidn3600
(6,342 posts)$300+ a month for an insurance plan with $6,000 deductible?
That insurance is shit.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)davidn3600
(6,342 posts)Most Americans cannot afford healthcare, even with the subsidies.
Majority of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. They are barely able to put food on the table and pay the mortgage. And now they have to shell out $300+ a month for an insurance plan that is completely useless until they slap down thousands more for sky high deductibles?
People will still put off not getting vital health check-ups and important tests done. You know how much it costs for a colonoscopy? Over $3,000. And that's assuming they don't find anything. If they remove a polyp for testing, the price sky rockets and insurance companies no longer consider the test "preventative." It gets a different code that makes it incredibly expensive. How many lower and middle class Americans have that much money just sitting in a bank account? So many won't do the test and risk getting cancer. This is just one example.
Even with Obamacare, most Americans are still looking at complete financial ruin if they become sick. It is still a system for the rich.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)a starting point.
treestar
(82,383 posts)Or, at least it depends on the state.
The subsidy is meant to make it affordable, as per what your income is. That's the whole idea behind the thing.
So claiming things are as they were before is not true.
allinthegame
(132 posts)She said that BEFORE the election and it didn't stop her from winning...people can be manipulated into doing just about anything (especially if you couch it in terms of helping the poor...unemployed or desperate...)
Spazito
(50,549 posts)City Lights
(25,171 posts)Fuck her and the hog she rode in on.
treestar
(82,383 posts)but with Obamacare you pay your premiums. You end up getting a better policy than the one you could afford if your income is low - not low enough for medicaid, but not high enough for a good policy.
And so what? Why is reliance on the church better? It allows the church to discriminate. And guilt people into attending the church. What about poor atheists?
Vinca
(50,322 posts)- It's the system. It allows for society's most corrosive elements to rise to the top of power. Until this is altered, it will only get a lot worse.
Bonhomme Richard
(9,001 posts)paying for the healthcare the poor do get anyway and,........it is at the most expensive stage of healthcare. We are paying more on the back end than we would if we paid on the front end.
but then, you can't fix stupid.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)Although posting that fact on DU is an invitation to charges of racism.
proReality
(1,628 posts)but I don't have the time to read all the responses. The reason the churches and food pantries stopped serving so many people is because there are too many people who need help and those organizations can't keep up.
Why are there so many who can't reason things out or actually look around to see what's really going on?!
TBF
(32,116 posts)if we had decent tax rates and the 1% were not hoarding all the money, along with shipping most jobs overseas, maybe folks wouldn't be in the position of needing to ask for help. I cannot get over how incredibly stupid and insensitive this woman is.
BeyondGeography
(39,390 posts)Whatta joke.
raging moderate
(4,314 posts)Last edited Wed Nov 12, 2014, 09:30 PM - Edit history (2)
They just can't keep up with the increasing number of problems caused by the uninhibited greed, spite, and callousness of the extreme right-wingers! Also, listen very carefully to me: When you refuse to pay people their fair share of the wealth their work is helping to create, then they can't buy things! Not even health care! Rent and utilities and REQUIRED toiletries and basic food take up everything! (Don't tell me these toiletries are not required! Most middle class people are not able to tell the difference between dirt and absence of the perfumes and superior cloth they are accustomed to. When I was starving to get through student teaching, I was told that my freshly washed clothes were dirty because cheap material does not hang as smoothly as expensive material. I wore the one expensive suit (given to me by a kind friend) for weeks, with increasing frequency, without taking it to the cleaners, and I was complimented every time, as it got filthier and filthier. When I was selling an old but clean house, middle class prospective buyers complained that the freshly scrubbed and polished floors were dirty. They could not tell the difference.)
Martin Eden
(12,881 posts)Sounds to me like Joni Ernst is in favor of death panels.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)still have clothes closets and many other social programs. These closets do not offer enough food and clothing for all the needs of the family. They are not meant to - they are for emergencies.
What the churches do not have and never have had is healthcare. Iowa has had a program for persons in need of health care for many years.
In 1958 my disabled daughter needed health care. We were poor so we had a welfare card for local doctors and medications. But she needed more care at the University of Iowa Hospital. Our social worker arranged for transportation (an ambulance that picked up many patients on the way to Iowa City and brought them back home). At the hospital there was housing (Quonset huts like a military barracks) for families (usually one parent) and the patient. When the visit was over the ambulance took you home. There was also a traveling clinic that came to check how we were doing and meet for the first time with new patients. My daughter attended this program for 15 years. After that she had Medicaid in an Iowa county.
So Joni does not even know what she is talking about. All Obamacare does for Iowa is include more people than their original program.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)"And in the years since I was a small girl up until now into my adulthood with children of my own, we have lost a reliance on not only our own families, but so much of what our churches and private organizations used to do."
What stupid fucking dream world does she live in? At 44 she should know that it is her party that has systematically deprived working families of the income needed for 'reliance' on themselves. And that all her bullshit 'churches and private organizations' now just use their tax exempt status to further destroy the social safety net. What a fucking asshole.
This fucking myth that everyone is a self reliant island in the sea of humanity is toxic to the social fabric. It is just another form of self indulgent nihilism.
jillan
(39,451 posts)that call themselves Congressmen and women.
I've never seen such a bunch of lazy assed people in my life. People that take taxpayer money for their salaries, retirement and HEALTHCARE, don't bother working except to try and make everyone's life harder - except their own and their corporate masters.
It's insane and it has got to stop!
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)"The Republicans are wrong, as usual. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness include healthcare. Every other nation on earth knows this, and a tiny minority of psychopaths in the Republican party are keeping this a 3rd world country. Enough is enough"