We’ve gone on about this before, but it doesn’t seem as though it will ever be resolved. There’s a reason we operate on essentially a two-party system: because American citizens tend to hold very different beliefs about the government and its role in citizens’ everyday lives.
Take health insurance, for example. If you don’t believe the government is compelled by the Constitution to provide it, you’re free to purchase it on the open market. However, things get a bit more complicated when you think the government should get into the insurance business: then you end up with awkward baby steps like Obamacare, in which the government mandates that you have health insurance and fines you if you don’t.
Maybe it’s just us, but of those two scenarios, being forced by the government to purchase health insurance doesn’t sound like the one based on “freedom.” But that’s where we are: hundreds of millions now seem to believe freedom can only be realized when the government provides all and eliminates personal responsibility.
Take, for example, Andy Slavitt, who was brought in to fix healthcare.gov after it rolled off the assembly line broken and inoperative. He wants the word “freedom” itself back, damn it!
I want the word freedom back from those who intend to take freedom from those who are old, poor, or sick.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
See? If you don’t enjoy the freedom you used to have now that you’re old, it’s not the aging progress to blame — it’s the GOP. Hell, you’d never grow old and never die if Republicans would just stop obstructing the progressive agenda.
It reminds us of Rep. Nancy Pelosi going on about “job lock,” and promising that once Obamacare was the law of the land, no one would have to work a job they didn’t want to just to keep their health insurance … everyone could be an artist or a photographer or a filmmaker! Except that didn’t happen.
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Nobel laureate Paul Krugman is way smarter than we could ever hope to be, though, and he’s on board. Obamacare equals freedom; repealing it would be taking freedom from the sick, poor, and old.
Read this thread. And call your Senator. https://t.co/4zciw4Qjnr
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) July 22, 2017
But first, read this response:
Unfreedom is "poverty as well as tyranny…Despite…overall opulence, the contemporary world denies elementary freedoms to vast numbers"—A. Sen https://t.co/9cEAz1uMMB
— Adam Mount (@ajmount) July 22, 2017
That quote about “unfreedom” is from Indian economist Amartya Sen, though you’d be forgiven if you’d thought it was newspeak lifted straight from Orwell’s “1984.”
OK, here’s the thread, and it’s chock full of charges of misogyny, making us miss Obama and every single one of his cronies even less were that possible.
1- Senate, WH, and GOP govs are busy this weekend working on TCare deals.
Will tweet later if you want to follow.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
2- Part of the permanent record for Senators in the Trumpcare vote next week will be how they responded to bullying, lying & misogyny.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
3- I'm sure I only see a tiny fraction of what is happening to & with your Senators but this is where at least some of the effort it.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
4- The bullying is coming from Trump, his fundraising arm & conservative PACs. Flake & Heller have been obvious targets.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
5- Trump has attempted to humiliate them both publicly, show financial muscle & make private threats. They are well reported.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
6- Flake's public comments sounds like he's given in. Having made 3 trips to Arizona, this would massively disrupt a great Medicaid program.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
7- The lies have have been legion. Here's what I wrote yesterday. ?And…https://t.co/nMZoYcX2XM pic.twitter.com/6Jz3BJoTLC
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
Hold up … lies? Like promising the full text of bills like Obamacare would be posted online for public comment for five full days before a vote? Or best of all, PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year, aka, “If you like your plan, you can keep it.”
8- The lies are so pervasive, people shrug them off. Here's a just a few of the statements from 1 person, @SecPriceMD.
They are not true. pic.twitter.com/hkaGklvJ54
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
9- The issue of misogyny in this bill pervades both the stark impact on women & how the bill is being managed.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
10- The impact of the bill, would reduce the availability of services like maternity per CBO.
Cruz Amendment would make it even worse.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
11- Back before the ACA, it cost women much more than it cost men to get coverage. Preventive and family planning svs weren't available.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
12- The obsession with defunding Planned Parenthood would eliminate access to care for so many women. And it's illegal. And it's not over.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
Sorry, what was that? Something about an obsession with keeping Planned Parenthood funded with taxpayer money?
13- Taxpayers don't pay for abortions. Not paying @PPact 4 basic services is political & harmful.
It was ruled out of he bill but …
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
14- Leaders are apparently telling RTL members they will either get it back in or have a workaround. And likely 1 that hurts more women.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
15- No Senator who supports @PPact can allow this bill to proceed given these commitments to bend the rules.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
Again, who’s obsessed with keeping Planned Parenthood funded to the tune of around a half-billion a year of taxpayer money?
16- It should go without saying that when you hurt women, you hurt kids and families too.
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
17- The Senate bill also excluded all the women Senators from the start.
And the attitudes don't appear far from the surface.? pic.twitter.com/dZ0Gi5AcOB
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
18- If the bill survives a MTP vote, we will all know that bullying, lying & misogyny work. And should expect more of it in the future. End
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 22, 2017
Yep, bullying, lying, and misogyny … way to argue the specifics of the legislation at hand so that the public can decide if it wants more of the brand of “freedom” offered by Democrats.
Honestly, are there any grown-ups anywhere in Washington, D.C. or the newsrooms of New York City? We’d love to talk to one.
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Related:
Not even PolitiFact can overlook this year's obvious 'Lie of the Year' http://t.co/LPNVFeOjru
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) December 12, 2013
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