Comments on: Turkeys voting for Xmas: the American electorate

By: Mr. Fusion

Mr. Fusion — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:07:14 +0000

An older gentleman I know is radically against universal healthcare. I always had a quiet chuckle knowing how this mid 70s man was covered by Medicare.

A couple of days ago I learned that his wife died from injuries sustained by a drunken, uninsured driver. The medical bills bankrupted him and he lost his farm. Although this all happened nearly 20 years ago, before I first met him, the lesson wasn’t learned.

What really angered me isn’t his denial of a social safety net that would have prevented this. (That farm had been in his family for well over 100 years.) It was that this isn’t the only similar story of bankruptcy I’ve personally learned of. I know of several others that have lost their houses and now live with relatives, or seen someone die because the insurance was inadequate or non existent.

By: Jägermeister

Jägermeister — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:54:48 +0000

If it was just North Americans… E.g. The Germans have a proven history of listening to stories instead of reason. A good story is more interesting than dry facts.

By: Cinaedh

Cinaedh — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:45:25 +0000

So, the moral of this story is; you can get North Americans to believe any insane nonsense and vote for any mentally ill idjit — if the mentally ill idjit just screams gibberish long enough and loud enough?

I really have to look into emigrating to Iceland. I really do.