Some of the glad friends are glad for altruistic reasons, or at least they think so -- they work with people who are very poor, and they empathize; perhaps they think, "but for the grace of God, that would be me."
Some of the glad friends are glad for personal reasons -- they have lost their jobs, or lost their spouses, and find themselves without medical insurance.
Some of my Christian friends are mad that the health bill passed.
And some of my Christian friends are not vocal on the matter. Most of the time, that includes me. Since I am a member of a very conservative Christian congregation, my silence implies solidarity with the vocal ones who opposed the bill. I realize this. I see that they are SO angry, so I don't want to discuss the matter with them, because I suspect they will transfer their anger to me.
I have heard and understand their reasons. I have sensed the extremity of their emotion on the matter. I realize they think they have the mind of God.
I think they don't.
Someone is pulling their chain, I think. Someone is pushing their buttons. They are not opposed to citizens forming governments to oversee the roads we all use; and they do not judge public road-use as "entitlement mentality," nor do they see it as socialism, nor do they realize that once-upon-a-time roads were private property and private enterprise.
Some of my Christian friends think that the passage of this health care bill equates with Biblical Armageddon.
This blog was written in March of LAST YEAR. I found it as a "draft" in my shoebox here, and decided to go ahead and publish it.
ReplyDeleteI think the health bill is a fantastic thing, and I find your comparisons to roads interesting and relevant. We have social healthcare here in Australia, and the end result is that we don't have to pay a quarter of our wages in health insurance (although the option is there), and we don't end up homeless in the event of illness or injury. The MRI I just had on the public system, for example, cost just less than my fortnight income before rent, meaning that if I had to have that and didn't have the public system to fall back on, I'd be behind on the rent and bills this week, and not able to buy food. As it stands, even those without a centrelink benefit only pay $70 or something (the 'gap'), and medicare covers the rest.
ReplyDeleteOur taxes are a little higher (something like 1% higher than US taxes according to American friends I've compared notes with), but our quality of life and health support about waaaaaaaay better for the average person. To refuse to pay that 1% (and people have argued that if you're earning 100k per year, 1% is $1000, but I argue that if you're earning 100k per year, you can afford $1000 ... taken out in weekly tax deductions, that's less than $20 per week from a $1923 weekly income) is just selfish.
And if you're on an average income of $20,000 per year, that adds a whole $3 per week to ensure that poor people can have healthcare AND a home.
That's a VERY good point!
ReplyDelete