The GOP, the ACA and the WTF?

[daveon]

As a furener living in the US many things bemuse me.  The adorable way they pretend that taxes don't exist by not putting them in prices and then applying them at the checkout.  The interestingly archaic way their banks operate which has yet to drag itself kicking and screaming into the 20th century, let alone the one we're living in. The obsession with sticks that go bang.  The way they infantalize their teenagers over drugs and alcohol.  So many many things.

However, healthcare is probably the main thing that astounds me.  Prior to moving here I'd known about US healthcare and it's oddities, but until you actually live here and experience the true horror of the US healthcare system in all it's glory, you really REALLY don't have a clue.  And the weirdest thing - they think it's good!  Between the random co-pays that you can't predict, to the difficulty with actually getting to see a doctor when you're sick - much worse than the NHS btw.  It just doesn't work, and the fact that they're spending on this hodgepodge of stupid than the rest of the world and delivering something unfit for any purpose except rewarding doctors - although even there I've a friend who is a primary care physician and she has worked out she'd be better off as a GP in the NHS....

So, I'm actually against the ACA in so far as it's stupid.  It's a stupid idea that keeps healthcare in the hands of the insurance companies.  OTOH - it's the only game in town and it's a start, so I accept it.  It's also going to make life better for a lot of people, so they're better off with it than without.

Which brings me to the GOP and the WTF.  Firstly, the idea that a small caucus of idiots can actually shut down government because...  I'm still working on the because because I really don't have the first clue what their problem is.  You see my brain cannot actually process the mindset of people who call themselves conservatives and yet support an insanely expensive healthcare system that bankrupts millions of Americans and forces the rest of us to pay for ER delivered primary care through our insurance and taxes.  No fiscally prudent conservative could possibly believe something so bloody stupid.  Could they?

As for what happens.  I think we're seeing the end of a long game Obama has been playing since January 2009.  He's given a lot but always to get things moved forward.  He's negotiated because he had to, and he wanted to get reelected.  Thing is.  He seems to me to be done with it.  He's in office.  They can't get rid of him and he doesn't now have to negotiate with a bunch of Violet Elizabeth's who want to scweam and scweam until they get what they want.  And watching the news, it seems that this has confused the fuck out of the GOP.   The thing is, I can't really understand that bit either.  His strategy was obvious for a long time.

And finally we come to another US oddity, the debt ceiling.  I'm actually semi-optimistic here.  While there is a small caucus of insane Tea Partiers, there's a lot of sane republicans who want to actually live in the real world and have to live with the consequences.  I wouldn't want to be a North Eastern Republican, or for that matter a Republican with any ties to the financial or defense industries.  I wouldn't want to be having the backroom conversation with the representative of Lloyd Blankfein while they explain, quietly and calmly, that not only will they lose their seat in Congress, but they will make sure they never get any consulting, lobbying or anything remotely resembling employment again, and that will go for their children too.  Doors will be closed to them forever.

Obama knows this.  I suspect it was the subtext of the meeting with the scary mother fuckers he met with yesterday.  He's got the GOP by the balls and I have a feeling it ain't going to be pretty.

I also suspect that Hillary Clinton is already measuring the drapes in the Oval Office because this clown car of twits isn't going to field a candidate who will be electable in 2016.

Comments

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I also suspect that Hillary Clinton is already measuring the drapes in the Oval Office because this clown car of twits isn't going to field a candidate who will be electable in 2016.

Not a good metaphor. The first one, I mean. Having lived in the White House for eight years, Hillary already knows how long the drapes are.

I have no problem with the clown-car metaphor. Except that I've now heard it a bit too often. You come from a nation celebrated for articulate insults-- I hope you will consider putting out a bit more effort next time, to make your countrymen proud.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I was trying to moderate my tone :)

Yes, I suppose she does but as Terry Pratchett said, cliches are the hammer and screwdriver in the toolbox of communication.

I'm trying to think of suitable insults for what the GOP currently is but my Fuck-o-meter doesn't go all the way to 'the full Tucker' so I'm a bit stumped. :)

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

It's a cult. Some of them drank the Kool-Aid, others are just raking in the dough.

Oh, and their sticking with the ER-based care makes more sense when you realize a) they plan to eliminate that bit and let people unvirtuous enough.to not be rich just die in the streets and b) in their worldview, plagues stop at the edge of the ghettos, as do polluted air and water, tainted food, and all other such ills.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Well, if they get rid of ER-based care, they would be undoing the great work of Saint Ronald of Reagan.

[replyhazy.livejournal.com]

I have only one bone of contention with what you write here:

Hillary measured for those drapes a really long time ago.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

:)

Ok, ok :)

[replyhazy.livejournal.com]

Didn't see the previous comment until now!

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, there is a significant minority of the people in this country who really do believe that there Ain't Supposed to be No Guv'mint and are convinced that the government does nothing at all but take money away from them. They don't understand any of the things tht are done by government. I partially blame our education system, wherein to save money, we cut classes in civics, so people grow up with no idea how how the country actually works. They think that things "just happen."

But putting that aside, I am hoping that the Republicans splinter enough to get the government back in business. The way the Republicans are rolling, it's as though they really want to destroy their own party, or rather than a very loud portion of the party believes the don't-need-no-guv'mint line seriously and are trying to implement it. Every time they lose, they declare it's because they're not extreme enough. Push thing far enough and you get situations like in California where the Republicans have imploded so badly that the Democrats have super-majorities in both houses of the legislature and the governorship, so they can pretty much do as they wish.

I used to believe that "divided" government wasn't so bad, but that was when both major parties were actually willing to negotiate and horse-trade so you ended up with moderation in all thing. Now I think the best thing that could happen would be for the current version of the Republican party to destroy itself in a race to see who can be the craziest, leading to a series of Democratic majorities in the Congress (preferably at least 60 seats in the Senate). But one-party rule is bad, too, so I would expect eventually the more conservative Democrats (they do exist) would eventually find themselves in a new conservative party or possibly the Republicans could come back and join the real world rather than their paranoid fantasy-land.

There are also some procedural changes that have got to get done: the House Speaker's power to prevent anything he doesn't want to come to a vote needs to be trimmed back. The idea that an absolute majority of the House (albeit a majority of the majority party) can block everything forever is stupid. Also, the Senate is going to need to do something about the debate limit rule; possibly drop cloture to 55 votes or force people to do real talking filibusters, not the pretend ones they're doing now.

[timill]

Extremism plays well for House Republicans. Fewer than 20 of them are not in safe seats, so the only threat to them is an attack in a primary, and primary voters tend to be more extreme than the general electorate. So the more extreme they are, the safer they are.

[k6rfm.livejournal.com]

It only took about 8 years (1852-1860) for the Whigs to explode and be replaced by the Republicans. We can hope.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

It's a long time to 2016, and there are many a slip twixt cup and lip. /end clicheorama/

More seriously, Hilary's 2008 campaign was really quite poorly organized, and there's a significant "anybody but a Clinton" faction in the Democratic party. I would not be surprised for her to not even run for the nomination, and I would be surprised if she won it.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. We'll know in about 18 months I suppose :)

Either way, I suspect that the next incumbent in the White House will be a democrat.

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

I said in FaceBook that I really want to go back to Canada. This country is batshit, for all the reasons you've listed above.

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

Yep, you're right. Thanks for a valuable perspective, as usual.