WTF.

[feuervogel]

OK, so in comments to GRRM's post on the health care reform law, some fellow named saxster busts out with the Mars-logic:

This opens the door to pure Socialism, which I firmly believe is the intent of the bill and especially of Obama and his handlers. This will push us towards a Global government one more step.

Considering I just watched a terrific German-made film, 'The Lives of Others', just last night, which shows in stark terms how life was in Eastern Germany before The Wall came down, I am disgusted by what I see happening in this country. The will of the PEOPLE was ignored. The vast majority of Americans came down against this bill and the Democrats ignored their constituents in every case.

(I should point out that I'm vaguely offended this person likes a movie I loved.)

Scrolling down, we get

However, we might very well end up with a Feudal society again at this rate. The sword on my wall is a constant reminder to me that I'm not a slave and never will be.

and

East Germany is hardly that much of a leap from where we are heading right now. History is rife with leaders run amok. There is a reason why this Congress has the lowest approval ratings in United States history.

And some appeals to states rights (he lives in Texas, and invokes unconstitutionality of federal control over health insurance. Which of course totally existed in 1776.)

These are the wackaloons that make me cringe when I hear the word "libertarian."

Oppose the law ON ITS MERITS. Don't just make shit up that's just scaremongering and knee-jerk reactionism and Mars-logic. oh noes, Socialism! It's the USSR! We're gonna go back to a feudal society! (Seriously, I don't get that one. Anybody? In the thread, someone called him on it, and he never responded. I don't know if it's because he didn't have a good response or if GRRM froze the thread first.)

National health insurance will not take away your right to vote. NHI will not invalidate the first amendment (or any of the others.) NHI will not destroy the market economy. NHI will not move into your house and tell you what to eat. It won't even pay for fucking abortions, thanks to women's health being used as a political football YET AGAIN.

It will, however, make it easier to compare insurance plans. It will make it easier to find out how much a procedure costs. It will (oddly enough) make restaurants put calorie information on their menus. Yes, it also expands federal regulations, and if you think that's a bad thing, so be it. But to equate it with the fucking Deutsche Demokratische Republik (which was neither democratic nor a republic) isn't anything founded in Earth logic.

(I worked in county government for 2.5 years. I know there's a lot of waste, incompetence, and nepotism. I think waste should be minimized and competence maximized, for maximum efficiency. I'm very Teutonic in that respect. Ordnung muss sein! und so weiter.)

Comments

[yhibiki]

Agree with you fully, but my actual comment...

OMG YOU SPEAK GERMAN! Which I knew. But it's more real seeing it typed out.

Ehrlich gesagt, ich müsste eigentlich mein Deutsch üben, meine Mutter meint ich hätte einen starken Akkzent. Welcher hoffentlich nicht sooo stark ist, aber ich sehe ein, dass ich vielleicht nicht ganz perfekt spreche. :X

[feuervogel]

Kann ich verstehen! Man kann etwas wissen, aber nicht ganz glauben, bisdem er Beweis hat.

Weil ich fühle, dass mein Deutsch täglich schlimmer wird, mach ich einen Intensivkurs in Berlin. Einfach in Deutschland sein sollte mir damit helfen. (Ich krieg meistens meiner Mannschaft-Infos von spiegel.de, weil es gar nix auf Englisch gibt!)

[yhibiki]

Meine Mutter liest auch immer den Spiegel, sollte ich vielleicht auch machen. Ich will ja Übersetzen studieren, da hilft es wenn man etwas mehr liest. *g* Aber ich hab' mir von meiner Tante einige Fantasieromane auf deutsch zuschicken lassen, hoffentlich sind die interresant genug, dass ich etwas
Übung bekomme.

Würd's dich interressieren, wenn ich auch auf deutsch blogge? Wäre ein weg, etwas mehr die Sprache zu benutzen.

[feuervogel]

Ich würde mich total dafür interessieren! Ich kenn so wenige, die deutsch können.

Ich werde SF-Romane in Deutschland suchen. Vom Englisch übersetzt oder im originalen Deutsch ist mir egal. (Er, that's probably horrible. Prepositions always mess me up.)

Oh, by the way!!

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

Don't comment on that post! GRRM has "closed" the comments, but I don't think he knows how to do it manually, so he just issued a proclamation. ^_________^

[intravenusann.livejournal.com]

If you connect socialism and feudalism you automatically fail political philosophy FOREVER. FOREEEEEVER. So, I mean, addressing the points of his argument is just unnecessary, but you do a good job of it anyways. Very concise. I want to print it on a little card and hand it out to people on the street.

Now, I still disagree, but I am resigned in that disagreement, because it's a disagreement that pales in comparison to my pleasure that real life problems of increasing urgency are being addressed. I think it can make improvements in a lot of people's lives, including mine and my loved one's. I think in some ways it is still going to be more of the same, just with fresh thumbscrews. Thus, I experience resignation. I clap politely, sigh slightly, read more about the issue than a lot of the frothing screamers and move on with my life.

Corporations and government controlled programs both fail, they just fail in different ways and I would say the will of the people is actually more likely to be respected by a government controlled program than a corporation. It just, uh, depends on which people's will we listen to, because no solution to a problem offered by a select group is going to address the will of every individual. HOWEVER: The current system is totally broken and does not respect the needs or wishes of people as individuals at freaking all! To ignore that would be sheer lunacy. So, even if I don't like this, there's times when you just have to look hard at a situation and say, "There is clearly a lesser evil here, or at least something that is trying its damnedest to be the (significantly) lesser evil."

Wow, I have kept my inner feelings on this pretty much inside. You are the first person to make me write it all out.

eta: Up until this point I've just looked people straight in the face and said, "We already have that. It's called Medicare. Don't be ign'ant." Because HOLY CRAP PEOPLE. GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS EXIST. YOU BENEFIT FROM THEM. SHUT UP, OMG, SHUT UP. NOAA AND OSHA ARE NOT DRAGGING US BACK TO THE EARLY IRON AGE, YOU IRRATIONAL CUSSES.

[feuervogel]

<3

I wish it didn't have to be a lesser of two evils situation. I, for one, do not welcome our corporate overlords.

[intravenusann.livejournal.com]

:Db

Sigh, yeah, and thanks for being such a rational person! Most people I know are so absorbed by the cult of personality around Obama and anything he touches that, unfortunately, they do not see it as a situation of a really HORRIBLE thing versus a very imperfect thing full of its own bad issues that is at least aiming for good. Thus, I have not talked about it if I can help myself, because I get SHUNNED so fast by people I consider friends.

Sry, I am just a constant political malcontent, folks, and think we have a moral obligation to question everything. My philosophy of life is very much "It can always be better."

[feuervogel]

I do my best! After all, I can't rattle on irrationally in a post where I rail against irrationality ;)

I spent 8 years being labeled anti-American* because I said there were flaws in the system. Because I think America's (basically) a pretty great country, I think it's my duty to point out the flaws and ways to make it better.

*Not literally, but people like me, who said things louder and more publicly