This morning on NPR, they were interviewing voters in Iowa, asking them about what issues were important to them in the upcoming presidential election. I tuned in just as a woman was saying that Universal Health care is her number one concern. She is a breast-cancer survivor, and, despite having insurance, the residents of her small town held a fund-raiser to help defray the amount she still has to pay. She said without that help, she, as a single mother, never would have been able to pay her debt and would have had to file bankruptcy. She also said that her insurance company made her feel like they'd have preferred it if she'd died; it would have cost them less.
The next person they interviewed said that she (proud to be a Republican) does not want the government to be involved in her health care, nor does she want her tax dollars to go toward helping others. As she said "I work hard and make a very good living. I don't see why I should have to pay for somebody else's kid to eat breakfast at school."
What the hell has this country come to when we don't think a child, who would otherwise go hungry all day because his family is poor, deserves to start his day with a warm, nutritious meal?
How can a person be so selfish and afraid that their tax dollars might go toward helping others who are less fortunate? That whole "I work for it, it's MINE, and if you need a helping hand, well, too damn bad" attitude makes me CRAZY!!! And yet, as David pointed out when I told him about this "If they were CEOs of a company that they ran into the ground, they wouldn't hesitate to ask the government to bail them out."
That woman's statement is going to stay with me for a very long time. I just hope she never has the misfortune to be diagnosed with cancer or ends up at a homeless shelter. If she does, you can bet your ass she'll be thankful that MY tax dollars are providing her with a roof over her head and a warm meal. And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.
As the bumper sticker says: "Better a bleeding heart than no heart."
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I AGREE !!!!!!!!! It just makes you want to find those people and hurt them, shake some sense into them. And the worst of it-----there's no way to ever find or contact the mouthy ones, they hide. So we're left venting and fuming !
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