No one was willing to get rid of expanded Medicaid or the policies that allowed children to be on their parents plans well into adulthood though. What they got rid of was the individual mandate and it’s penalty. That’s it. Only the hardest dyed in the wool conservatives wanted to drop the provided coverage for people who got it.
Many states refused the Federal money to expand Medicaid and it was still a rallying cry, even if it’s reliant on the ignorance of those voters who largely would benefit.
First step should be to stop using phrases like “deprogram the brainwashed”.
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I’ve said this in various forms before, but Canadian universal healthcare is so fundamental to people that I’d compare it to gun rights in the US. It’s just assumed that it’s a basic human right by most people. Looking at a place where they don’t have universal health care is just…bizarre. Throw in that it’s really really free - no copay, deductible, maximums, it’s $0 across the board. And from what I’ve read, the system is still cheaper than the US.
Example - we were in the US some years ago and were talking to a very pregnant waitress. She was working two jobs because even though she had health insurance at one job, there were still additional costs so high that she was working to save for them. She said she’d be off work for a few weeks, then right back at it to earn money. In Canada, you pick if you want home delivery or hospital, and it’s 100% free either way, as is all pre and post care. Then you can take a full year off work, with a good part of that covered by unemployment benefits, and you can split some of that time off with your spouse. It’s so ingrained, we don’t think about it anymore than we think about the cost to pave the roads we drive on everyday.
It’s also weird to imagine a time when Canada didn’t have universal health care. Fun fact, Keiffer Sutherland’s grandfather is credited with introducing this to Canada.
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Some religious groups need to be attacked. Every religion has an extreme element within it if given power is detrimental to everyone but themselves. Currently the loudest voices in American Christianity are some of the most extreme. Televangelists have moved into specific political messaging and support, religious radio is worse. Yesterday I heard on American Family radio during a bit regarding the good Christians that have fallen away from God (you know Christians that vote D not R) the host say (paraphrased) “80 million, well I don’t believe their were 80 million votes for Biden, how many were run through the machine twice, how many were dead people, how many made up.” Then he continued his spew. That is some QAnon bullshit there. Purely not Christian just political. (and IMO if you consider Trump the more Christian choice you got a wackass view of Christianity).
Christianity needs to get its shit together. Most Christians are not these leaders, most even if they go to a church with this type of extreme leadership tolerate the views but do not believe them. Christian voices need to challenge this politicized, hate spewed in the guise of love, profiteering in their midst.
Christianity (or religion) itself is not all bad, only a fool would say so. Christianity in America needs self reflection.
How do you plan to solve insanity without having any words for it?
I’m with Nick in that I’m not a fan of saying group X “needs to get their shit together” because of subgroup Y. Apply the same to: Blacks, Whites, Democrats, Liberals, Men, Women, Muslims, etc.
It’s insulting and inapplicable to large swaths of X, who have nothing to do with Y, and don’t identify with them at all.
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Once we get Prager U certified as an institution of higher learning, their trust in higher ed will return.
I think the language is borderline sometimes. Are there people in the church who are rotten? Absolutely. Is the church rotten? No. The most rotten are always the loudest though. That is nothing new. I think when claiming rottenness maybe limit it to the people who are rotten. As a Christian and a pastor some of these folks are Jerry Falwell Jr, Franklin Graham (apple fell a long way from the tree here), and Pat Robertson among others. Unfortunately a lot of people have been misled by these people as well.
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Thank you friend.
Why does the institution get a free pass? I’d sooner accept the people are good than the institution.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say “it’s free” . . . might also consider Canada’s tax rate vs. US tax rate.
I won’t disagree that the total costs are likely lower in Canada; but some of the cost differential, I believe, is tied to the cost of professional physician insurance (I believe that the US is far more “sue-happy” than Canada).
I would also point out that while the “additional” costs aren’t there for health care, there are also stories of how quickly you can get medical service (I know that these stories are likely rare, but not non-existent). And this access to care “when you want it, where you want it” is likely a big hang up for many Americans with going full on Universal Healthcare.
Probably worth noting here that gun-rights is a wedge issue. It’s a huge deal for the Republican base, while gun control is pretty important for the Liberal base.
Universal health-care is another wedge issue. Liberals by-and-large want universal health care. The Republican base decries it as Communism. The actual facts don’t matter, it’s all spin (and frankly any health-care system is so convoluted that it’s easy to spin facts any way you want to).
Abortion, gay rights, and anything else religion are our other wedge issues.
Oh and taxes.
And everything else.
It’s funny to me that liberals and conservatives reliably fall on the same sides of these issues. There’s basically nothing intrinsic about ‘abortion rights’, ‘gun rights’, ‘socialized medicine’ that suggests they should be strongly correlated.
We just need to pick a team, I guess.
…Anyway, it kind of doesn’t matter, except in as much as these issues allow Trump et. al. to undermine reality.
Because institutions are comprised and lead by people. So why give “people” the benefit of the doubt?
Leaders in institutions should be held accountable by their populace/constituents. However, whenever a leader tells the people something they want to hear, the people generally flock willingly.
That is how someone like Hitler was able to ascend to power. By the time his “real” agenda was understood, he was too entrenched in a position controlling those with power (not to mention a military culture of “unquestioning obedience”) that people didn’t have a recourse to make any changes.
On a religious front, many religious nut-jobs get to a position of prominent visibility because they project an image that many think is “righteous” and “prosperous” (in terms of secular prosperity and wealth) that people want for themselves and become convinced of their message.
FTR, teaching better “critical thinking” in schools isn’t going to change this. There is a culture issue that has to change from the inside.
I agree. I was raised Catholic. I watched so many Catholics down play the behavior of the Church with regard to pedophile priests. I understand the religious teachings of how The Church believes sin must be addressed. But that does not matter to the world at large. The crime matters the sin does not. I’ve had too many arguments with Catholics trying to express that separation, the duality, the give to Caesar what is Caesar’s aspects of this heinous crimes. If The Church is good and just and godly then it will survive the sins of the few. It will not survive the tolerance of those sins by the many. I am not trying to imply the political activity is equal to pedophilia rather the behavior of those within a good group that tolerate bad behavior.
I hold the separation of church and state sacred, the duality of man, the worldly and spiritual, separate and equal, yet forever united. I think we have done a pretty good job of keeping the state out of the church, I think we have done a crap job of keeping the church out of the state. To protect society from its own government institutions, like churches, must be influential in the lives of people. So churches should be pushing to limit the reach of government rather than extend the reach in the “right” way.
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The church to me is the body of believers. I am not sure these people qualify. They are charlatans and they use religion as a platform to gain power and influence.
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Jesus and Paul both taught this. I am not sure why American Christian Nationalists think they should be in power. That’s not our job as believers. Maybe they should read scripture instead of taking someone’s word for it.
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For example instead of fighting abortion laws how about we support policies that would lead to less abortions like access to healthcare, access to birth control, real wages, etc. All of these either prevent unwanted pregnancies or help a woman who has become pregnant want their child instead of being overwhelmed by it.
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The tax thing, everything I’ve seen says it’s comparable. I dunno what you people pay for health insurance but I’m sure I’d be horrified. Further, pretty sure everyone here gets the idea that distributing the costs across everyone is better than distributing only across some people.
In terms of the stories of service, that’s a bit misleading as it leads to people thinking we’re all waiting for healthcare treatments. That’s definintely not the case. typical doctors stuff and regular appointments happen promptely. And urgent stuff - that happens just as quick here as anywhere else. You’re not needing heart surgery and they put you on a 1 year wait list.
Where the delays come is for non-urgent stuff. Diagnostic-only MRI’s, non-urgent specialists appointments, things like that - there is often wait times. Aaaaand that’s pretty much all anyone has,and IMO having to wait for non-urgent healthcare only isn’t exactly a deal breaker.
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I think the very act of organizing is perilous. With a government it’s a necessary evil that warrants significant oversight. I’m critical of organized religion for this reason though, I think the community, charity, etc. of a local church/mosque/etc is great but the broader organizational structure across dioceses and larger comes with a lot of baggage.