When George W. Bush took office, one of his first moves was to eliminate the huge Clinton budget surplus by handing out massive tax breaks to people in the highest tax brackets. (The 2001 recession contributed to the deficit, but the tax cuts were the prime factor.)
In 2003, he dragged the country into Iraq. He refused to raise taxes to pay for it. Your kids and your grandkids will still be footing the bill for the disastrous "War Against Weapons of Mass Destruction," long after you've gone on to your reward. The Iraq war is estimated to cost approximately $2 billion per week.
But President Bush has now promised to veto a bill expanding health insurance benefits for low income children. The bill would add $35 billion to the program over a five-year period. (In other words, the cost of 17 weeks of war in Iraq.) The expansion would be financed not by printing money, but by raising the federal cigarette tax by 61 cents per pack.
Good gracious. Where did the Great Decider's sudden concern for balancing the budget come from? Especially since the insurance would be financed by taxes on those persons who chose to worsen their own health and the health of people around them by smoking?
Bush has promised a veto, saying the measure is too costly, unacceptably raises taxes, extends government-covered insurance to children in families who can afford private coverage, and smacks of a move toward completely federalized health care.
Source: AP story, 9-22-07. Ah yes, "federalized health care." It all becomes clear. It's not the money, it's the principle of the thing.
Virtually all Democratic Congressman, and a substantial number of Republicans, support the expansion. Maybe Mr. Bush should get out and talk to doctors and hospital personnel -- and meet some of their young patients -- right there in Washington, D.C., just blocks from the cozy security of the Oval Office. Or even while back in God's country, Houston and Dallas.
Let him take a good look at the desperately ill children of low income families. Let the president look their parents in the eye, and explain to them his lofty theories about how they could have afforded private coverage if they'd really tried. And about how it's ok for the government to bail out banks when they make foolish home loans, but how when parents "fail" to find enough money to obtain health insurance, their kids simply have to live with the results of that "failure."
When forced to get out and meet voters where they shopped, while running for president, George Bush the Elder was amazed to discover that supermarkets had these new-fangled gadgets called check-out scanners. We were amazed that he was amazed. But who knows? Maybe son George W. might encounter some amazing epiphanies of his own -- if he ever emerged from his protective cocoon long enough to look around at the real world.
2 comments:
This reminds me, rather ironically, about the story of Siddhartha. His father kept him secluded from the world for his entire childhood. He was so isolated, in fact, that when he finally had exposure to reality, he was shocked that there were such things as poverty, old age, and death.
His response to these discoveries, however, was something that would take a great deal more humanity than Bush has ever had: He became the most prolific teacher of his day, and founded a new sub-set of Hinduism called Buddhism.
Hahahaha! Terrific analogy, as far as the emerging from a cocoon.
But "ironic" is an understatement. George as the Buddha is a pretty hard image to swallow. :D If Siddhartha hadn't learned about reality until his 60's, he probably would have run back inside his palace and hired some Indian versions of Rumsfeld and Cheney to protect him from the horrible sights!
I'm going to file your idea away in my brain for future "unconscious" plagiarism. ;)
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