a teeny-weeny bit of socialism?
I know that a lot of you are baking or broiling in the early summer heat, but up here the ample
rains and winteresque tempartures have us calling this month June-uary. It drizzled to poured
all yesterday. I cranked up the woodstove to knock the chill out of the air.
We’ve averaged 50 millimetres (2 inches) of precipitation the past four Junes on the farm.
We’ve had 186 mm so far this month, and we’re pushing 16 already today.
I put up a lot of firewood yesterday. We had a huge stack of it under our even huger maple
tree, so I had enough canopy to work comfortably and safely. I even had time to sit in the
tree’s swing and listen to selected favourites from the Miami Sound Machine’s Primitive Love
tape. I was blasting it with headphones on, saving me from any inkling of how I was handling
“Words Get in the Way”. Slinkee supplied some feedback, though, by howling along.
According to the usually-accurate-within-20-hours Environment Canada weather website,
it’s supposed to clear up this afternoon. Nonetheless, at mid-morning it looks like it’s going
to be around much longer than that. I’ve made coffee and enhanced it with Kahlua Especial.
I’m prepared to stay in all day.
This allows me some time to ponder the significance of the ruling by SCOTUS to uphold
Obamacare. I’m sorting through predictable smugness from the Left and even more
wrongeous indignation from the Right. The threadbare claims that this is terminal socialism
echo the original response to the crown jewel of FDR’s New Deal, the Social Security Act.
This seminal legislation was drafted in 1935 by Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins,
the first woman to hold a Cabinet post. It now includes retirement assistance, disability insur-
ance, unemployment benefits, Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare. It’s the very spine of the
national safety net that has helped countless Americans. The Old Age program alone keeps
about 40 percent of people 65+ out of poverty.
A member of the Senate Finance Committee asked Perkins in a hearing if the Act was socialism.
She just said no. He persisted, “Isn’t this a teeny-weeny bit of socialism?”
I can assure you from observing the U.S. political scene for 50+ years that the percentage of
socialism, if any, contained in Obamacare will never be determined. It will be debated without
resolution for the rest of our natural lives.
In the meantime, the health insurance companies and their minions will continue to undermine
this admirable step toward universal coverage. Good on ya, Obama, for this courageous act.
Comments are closed.
Anchor Struck 
smugness.. yep.. i guess so.. after 8 years of bushs asshat bullshit i feel i can be smug about something. moslty though i feel amazed that it happened.. and relieved. now we can listen to all the republican governors saying how they arent going to allow this/etc/etc.. always a fun time.
It’s going to be fascinating to see how the decision ripples through the political pond. Mark Shields commented yesterday that the Dems have the spring back in their step. Michael Savage is blaming Chief Justice Roberts’ flight into insanity on an epilepsy medicine he may or may not have taken.
i think glenn beck has some conspiracy theory about threats made to roberts family or some such piece of crap.
All Beck needs to develop a conspiracy theory is a blackboard and chalk.
Just stopping by to say: Yay, Obama!
Very funny phrase, a teeny-weeny bit of socialism–it’s hard for a Canadian who has never suffered medical bills, to understand the unbelievable fear attached to the word “socialism”–as if it’s the cause of gonorrhea, madness, outbreaks of dangerous snake populations, and so on. On a scale of 0 to 10, how socialist are these measures, really?!
Stay dry,
Julie
Hi, Julie. How’s the weather on the prairie? The response of the Rabid Right to the upholding of Obamacare has been predictable yet unbelievable. I think they’ve hit the ceiling on hyperbole. They’ll assure you that this is the end of freedom, worse than the Holocaust, a countdown to Armageddon and, of course, the cause of gonorrhea. Their continued and willful misunderstanding of socialism would be more amusing if it didn’t affect
so many people. They rail night and day about government intervention in health care, but think nothing about accepting services from Medicare, Medicaid or the Veterans Administration — all run by the Evil Empire.
Hi, Allen. Happy July 4th to all the Americans who read your blog. The weather in Saskatchewan has been unpredictable. Storms, wind, and some tornadoes, fortunately not touching down in populated areas–this after weather forecast said a week of hot sunny weather. Lots of disappointed people, but personally I don’t like it hot, and I feel for the people down south in that extreme heat!
There were mammatus clouds in Regina, they are little cotton ball shapes, and they came after a thunderstorm. Yesterday, a car crashed near my house, and I thought the big bang was just more thunder until my son alerted me to the sirens, police car, fire truck, and ambulance arriving across the street. I don’t think anyone was hurt.
Happy holiday,
Julie