So poor don't deserve health care
Ezra Klein makes a good point in this piece
in which he acknowledges the VA revelations for the scandal they are —
nobody should be denied needed health care — by showing the vast numbers
of people affected by Republican governors’ cynical decision to refuse
the Medicaid expansion. It encompasses millions of people, many of whom
will suffer and die as a result of this craven political act.
But Ezra leaves
out the salient issue for Republicans: they revere the military for all
its traditional masculine virtues so veterans deserve health care. Poor
people (who are not veterans or elderly white people) do not. This is
the simple equation that guides their philosophy:
If you don’t
have health care through gainful employment or fail to buy it yourself
from an insurance company, you are obviously being irresponsible. (And
no, the government shouldn’t help you with those premiums — no Obamacare
for you!) Therefore, you deserve what you get.
Life is black and white
to these people, at least in the abstract. When it comes to their own
lives or people they know, it’s obviously a different story. The
extenuating circumstances, life’s harsh blows, bad timing and bad luck
explain why a particular person might need some help. But they are also
very harsh with people who develop bad habits or fail to live up to
their behavioral standards. And they assume laziness and sloth among
most people of color so unless they have ascended to the highest levels
of society, like Condi Rice or Marco Rubio, they assume they also
deserve what they get.
The bottom line
is that conservatives can’t exercise empathy, by which I mean that while
they can see themselves in an unfortunate circumstance, they are unable
to extrapolate from that possibility the fact that others in those
unfortunate circumstances deserve the same compassion and assistance. I
guess that would mean these people aren’t “special” and that’s something
they really cannot live with.
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