Dustin Baker and Healthcare

This is just going to be a short little post/rant. My good friend Dustin Baker (over at GaLiberal), posted a facebook status the other day and has accumulated many responses, some in agreement, some otherwise; some substantive, some otherwise. I like his technique: every time he sees Republican hypocrisy, he makes it out to be a joke. I.e., Car Insurance vs. Health Insurance..."why does the state of Georgia mandate that I have car insurance?...no citizen should be forced to buy something by the government." Republicans, I don't blame you. It's hard to exist in this world with the positions that you take unless you resign yourself to enjoying the way your foot tastes. Understood. The funniest part about it is when Republicans don't even understand that the joke is being played on them. They're pro-life...until it comes to the death penalty; they want government out of healthcare...but don't have the guts to call for Medicare's repeal; they welcome everyone into their big tent party...unless you disagree with the party on even one issue, then you're out; they want to decrease the deficit...except with the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, they'd like to keep handing those out. I would say that it's unbelievable, but that would be a lie. It's common now. I mean, if you're the party whose highest positive rating for a 2012 candidate goes to Ms. I-Make-Up-My-Own-Words Sarah Palin, I'm not really expecting anything substantive out of you. But I've really digressed now.

My problem with the comments on Dustin's post is simple: they miss the point. While everyone with healthcare sits and argues about who should or should not have, or how we should or should not pay for it...PEOPLE ARE DYING. I'm just about tired of hearing about the problems that privileged, upper-middle class white people have with national healthcare. There are actual human beings in this country being buried by their families because they could not AFFORD to stay alive. Not because the treatment doesn't exist, not because the doctors aren't out there, but because they aren't well-off enough to pay for life. I really do not a give a damn if I pay for healthcare, in a national pool or otherwise, and never go to the hospital. If it means that someone else is benefiting from it, so be it. Those people are somebody's someone. They are grandparents, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, etc. They have value. They have human value. The soul has value. Dignity has value. And that value is far and beyond any dollar amount that you have a "conservative", self-righteous, political problem with.