Tuesday Afternoon Musings

Well, I have gone a few days without updating the blog, so I figured it's time to get off my ass and spread some more of my musings.  Now, this is one of the first rather political oriented blog posts that I've ever made, and I have the distinct pleasure of actually reporting on a rather Left Wing Issue. Health Care.

Now, I'm from Canada, which was most lately lauded as the home of North American Socialized Healthcare. That's because it is, we brought it in, and we only share this massive landfuck with the United States of America, so obviously, with our reputation as being the polite, kind, unassuming icemen from the north, nobody really was suprised to find out that we have health care up here.  After all, with cases of Polar Bear maulings and frostbite every day, you clearly need to socialize the health care, so everyone can stay out there trapping furs and what not.

But recently, there has been a huge revelation in the North American worldsphere, whereas President Barack Obama managed to finally push his Health Care bill through, making it a possibility that our friends south of the 49th will actually see this. I was saddened to learn that some states are actually working on a constitutional challenge of this bill, and are hoping to kill it before it finds it's legs, and in conversation with a few of my American friends, I came to a realization.
A great majority of Americans hate this bill. They don't want it, and they have no realization that just because they currently can afford Health Care, that not all people can.  That's not the bigger issue here though, I'm a firm believer that we as human beings are selfish, greedy and generally a self-destructive species.  We care for our young and as a vast majority, we'll let other people's die in a gutter, so long as we can ignore it happening.

What struck me as apt in this whole ongoing saga, is the memories of history lessons I had in our great land of Canada, when socialized health care was brought in.  A lot of people hated it.  A lot of people associated it with Communism, and thought we were inviting the Soviet Union to invade us politically (mind you, we passed it when there actually was a cold war going on with the Soviet Union).  There was limited support of it, and most people reacted in a way that was basically "why should I pay for them to go to the hospital".  All of these seem to sound startlingly familiar in today's world.  Fast forward 40ish years to today, whereas Tommy Douglas, "the father of Medicare" was voted as the Greatest Canadian in History.

So what do these whole similarities bring to mind for me?  It's actually quite patronizing, and rather mean that I say this, but at this point in America's progression, I view them as children.  Yes, that's right, the most powerful nation in the world, when it comes to healthcare, is like an unlettered child merely finding it's way into adulthood, leaving behind petty concerns and moving into viewing the bigger picture as a whole.

In the conversation I alluded to earlier, there was one American and two Canadians taking part.  The American couldn't understand why it was necessary, and why he should have to pay for others. The other Canadian got extremely heated concerning the focus was not on the individual, but those others who are less fortunate.  I merely stated, what I still truly believe. Universal Health Care is not a priviledge, but a right.  And from it all, I simply said, I have hope that eventually America will grow up, leave it's self-centred moral stance, and embrace the community as a whole in their collective thinking.

For the record, I'm what you would call in Canada a Conservative. In American doctrine this relates to being a Republican, though not quite as extreme.  So, from this, a Conservative man, I say to you America: Live in Hope, a brighter day is coming.