More on healthcare… refuting the lies and liars

I'm not sure length of time for involvement in the struggle for healthcare reform has anything to do with this discussion--- in fact, I know it has nothing at all to do with anything because access to healthcare is a basic and fundamental  human right.

I have always--- since 1968--- supported any healthcare reform no matter how small; yet, I oppose this draconian piece of legislation which violates the most fundamental and basic constitutional rights of the American people--- forcing people to purchase health insurance from private corporations.

In fact, some kind of legislation could very easily have been forthcoming that was public and universal financed just like Social Security.

I doubt the mandatory aspect of this legislation will stand up to a court challenge. It is one thing to tax the people for a public program; quite another to force and coerce people to purchase insurance from private-for-profit insurance companies and then use the United States' Internal Revenue Service as the collection agency--- this is blatantly unconstitutional on its face.

Obama argues that people are forced to purchase auto insurance; wrong, wrong, wrong--- the government doesn't force anyone to own a car or to drive a car... this is voluntary.

John Cline does not have a clue as to what progressive is. He isn't even able to provide a concrete example. What he has done is fabricated the reasons we on the left are opposed to this health insurance legislation which is, in fact reactionary and regressive--- that there are approximately 18 points in this legislation that will in fact help some groups of people within the framework of the for-profit healthcare system is not the point because had Mr. Cline and his friends who SABOTAGED the single-payer movement for the political expediency of saving Barack Obama's worthless political butt, the good points could have been incorporated into a piece of legislation and passed on its own as a stand-alone.  There are in fact dozens of points in this legislation that hurt the working class as a whole but that doesn't matter to the middle class Mr. Cline for whom politics is a mere game. If there had been just one point of help to people Mr. Cline would have supported this legislation.

Anyone can set strawmen up in a row to gallantly knock down as Mr. Cline has done... not one single person or organization does Mr. Cline cite as being the ones who supposedly adhere to the views he claims to refute.

So, what is progressive?

Progressive is the point where liberals and leftists come together to push a common platform and agenda for change; simple as this.

Chris gave a perfect example, above, of progressive. Liberals aren't ready to support socialized healthcare; leftists support socialized healthcare. Liberals and leftists came together to push for progressive change known as single-payer universal healthcare. Very simple what progressive is all about and it is easy to understand yet Mr. Cline never came close to providing us a definition by way of example of what progressive means.

I find Mr. Cline's position really quite dishonest because he fails to note that the "leaders" of virtually every single organization whose members supported single-payer deserted their own memberships who wanted to struggle on for single-payer.

Here is a name for you Mr. Cline; Roger Hickey and the Campaign for America's Future, an AFL-CIO think-tank along with all the organizations and think-tanks falling under the umbrella of the Century Foundation decided to attack the single-payer movement in the most dishonest way by claiming they were for single-payer at the very time they were undermining the single-payer movement. In fact, you can look at the Campaign for America's Future's website and find a number of discussions between myself and the leaders of that organization who "refuted" my accusations that Roger Hickey had a book going to press for the explicit purpose of undermining the single-payer movement when in fact these dishonest people did in fact have such a publication going to press.

Mr. Cline; just as you do not know the meaning of the term "progressive" you do not know the meaning of the word "reform." This legislation is reactionary and regressive because it takes the responsibility and cost of healthcare off the back of business--- small and large--- and places the cost on the back of the working class.

This legislation should have been titled,"The Health Insurance Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010."

Mr. Cline; whether you know it or not, Wall Street is our enemy and healthcare legislation cannot serve both the interests of Wall Street and the working class at the same time.

Mr. Cline; if you were the least bit intellectually honest you would take apart each piece of this legislation and place in one column those aspects of the legislation that help some people and those parts of it that almost universally harm us all (except of course those who stand to make a profit). Then we would have a better concept of where we really stand.

Also, to be completely honest, you would provide the costs involved and who the profits will go to. I other words, who pays and who profits.

What you make no attempt to explain is how working people who are in dire financial straits already, unable to pay rents and home mortgages, unable to pay heating bills and homeowner's insurance not to mention auto insurance premiums are going to be able to afford healthcare premiums with little co-pays? Have priced out the cost of health insurance these days for a young family of four with parents still in child-bearing years? I doubt that you have since you don't print this figure--- or, perhaps you are ashamed to publish this figure--- and, oh, did I mention the unemployed? Who will pay their health insurance premiums? Perhaps the government? LOL!!! Like a bankrupt government spending trillions on wars can cover this.

And, Mr. Cline; you say you checked the proposals coming from the "left." Obviously you did not check anything I have written because I have repeatedly stated that we could provide every single American with free healthcare simply by halting these dirty wars and using that money to create a world-class public healthcare system... instead of 800 U.S. military bases dotting the globe on foreign soil protecting Wall Street's access to cheap resources and labor, we could have 800 public healthcare centers strung out across this country serving more than 30,000 community and neighborhood walk-in clinics. And, if we cut off all funding to the Israeli killing machine we would for sure be able to create a "no-fee/no-premium, comprehensive, all-inclusive, pre-natal to grave quality universal public healthcare system--- publicly funded, publicly administered and publicly delivered... just like our public schools--- I am sure not even you would suggest that we could teach 300 million people to read and write without a public school system so why would you think a private-for-profit healthcare system could provide our nation with quality healthcare? After all, the best healthcare in this country comes from two socialized healthcare programs: VA and the Indian Health Service.