i get so much negative BS about the healthcare stuff from my parents and one friend of mine it drives me nuts. I'm sure its not a perfect plan, but I doubt it can be as bad as a certain segment of the population is painting it to be.

Totally agree!
I don't see universal health care as anti-democracy or pro-socialist...its taking care of people, nothing more. It has been ages since I've seen a doctor cause I can't afford it. So far, I've been lucky. *fingers crossed*
Will save the link to read tonight.

The GOP actually *did* come up with something they liked better; they've been pushing their own ideas for health care reform for at least four years that I know of, but they kept getting shut down by the Dems. I suspect it was because the GOP wanted to deal with one issue at a time, giving everyone a chance to study and be clear on them, and not have to accept something they didn't like along with something they did. Instead, the Democrats packaged the good stuff in one big huge stinking gob of bad stuff, while not addressing other health care issues that might have brought costs down for everyone.

In addition to that are two other interconnected things: First, the protest isn't about health care per se; it's about the federal government taking control of a full 1/6th of the American economy. It's a power grab, and that's what Washington cares about. We actually founded this country on the concept of reining in the power of a central government.

Finally, the bill simply isn't allowed by our law of the land, the Constitution. The states can pass health care reform, but the Federal government isn't allowed that power, and the only way it can be is by Constitutional amendment. Every Congressman who voted for ObamaCare, and the President when he signed it, committed a federal crime. So it doesn't matter whether the law's good or bad -- it's simply not allowed.

Oh, and I'm getting thouroughly tired of everyone trying to tie this in with the cost of wars. We went to Afghanistan *after* people there became involved in carrying out an attack against American soil. We invaded Iraq after Saddam Hussein thumbed his nose at numerous UN demands and made moves that convinced every intelligence service in the world that he was building *more* weapons of mass destruction. Why didn't the UN do something about him? Both regimes were vicious dictatorships that exported violence and routinely tortured and killed their own people.

Yes, good point. The very idea that anyone could think of Obama as conservative makes it obvious that our two nations' general political views are as far apart as they could possibly be.

I've tried my best for a long time to go easy on matters political, but this is just way too important for America, a complete change from what we were founded on, which is why it invokes very strong feelings on both sides. I'm hearing now that Democrats and some Republicans are facing threats and vandalism, and it makes me ashamed. I'm also hoping for some changes in our health care system; just not many of these changes, plus I'd like to see others that aren't included.

The problem is, on the one hand I think it's too important not to join in the fight, but on the other hand my liberal friends wouldn't be on my flist if they were people I didn't like and respect, too. Some days my head just explodes. I believe I'll put political stuff under a cut from now on.

This is the conclusion I've come to: the healthcare reform will help some people, leave a lot of people unaffected, and hurt a minority of people who can probably afford to be taken down a notch.

They're still fighting tooth and nail . . . There's currently a petition to allow Michiganders to vote on whether we want to opt out or not. I imagine a lot of other states will have similar situations. I think they said the petition needed 320,000 signatures or something like that.