Explain why free healthcare doesn't work without using right-wing propaganda.
GO.
This.
Do you know what would happen in the US if people received "free" healthcare? I say "free" because it's not "free" anywhere in the world, but rather "subsidized".
All the right wing nutjobs (who vote for right wing politicians who don't even care about their constituents and have nothing whatsoever in common with them) would bitch and moan and call everyone socialists until they asked their neighbor about how they could afford a new house and a new car when health insurance is so expensive for a family of four. When said neighbor says, "I don't pay health insurance, I use the free health care plan from the government", the nutjob will gasp, be taken aback, and then disagree and grumble about how it's socialism and how they would never do it. They will then go back inside their house and think about it for the next several days, and as they will clearly see how much better their neighbor's quality of life is than their own, they will eventually succumb to it because the most important thing for Americans is buying shit to show off to their friends. If the gov't wants to sell this health care reform, they need to put it in layman's terms. If you choose free health care, you can afford that Mustang Cobra you've always wanted. Americans will be all over that shit like white on rice on a paper plate in the snow.
If you can explain to them that they can get a new car every five years and a new tv every 3 or 4 or a new computer every few years without breaking their wallet due to the government's health care plan, they'll do it...idealism will go right out the window and consumerism will take hold again. After a few years pass, they won't even remember why they objected in the first place and this whole hubbub will die down. Europe will then welcome them to the 19th century. Americans need to realize that pragmatism works, and idealism only works if you can afford to be wrong, which is why you'll notice the right wingers in the US who are so idealistic and are so vehemently against this are all people with enough money to buy a small country.
I also pose this question to the people who "support the troops" and love to tie in how "they're fighting for your freedom" relates to somehow protecting the US from socialized medicine: do you realize that most of said troops joined the military in the first place for the benefits of the military, SUCH AS FREE HEALTH CARE?!?!?! So when you call people who want healthcare reform "communists" or "socialists", do you realize you're also slagging the military you love to name drop so much with your cute little yellow ribbons and catchy bumper sticker slogans? The military has free health care, so if you're saying it's not good enough for you to have free health care, are you saying that the military should pay for their own health insurance then? (Actually it DOES pay for it's own insurance, it's just paid for by the government with a small co-pay by the member) According to you it's a terrible system and is bad for the country, so does that mean that you're ok with the military getting free health care and not you? If you "support the troops", then don't you think that if it's good enough for them it should be good enough for you? And by the way, health care in the military is great.
This isn't directed at anyone in particular, just the consensus of naysayers.
