On Meet the Press this weekend, NPR’s Michele Norris made an interesting point about Americans and the Healthcare debate.
MS. NORRIS: But outside of the Beltway there’s an interesting data point here that people involved in the process talk about, the fact that some 90 percent of the people who voted actually have health insurance and three-quarters of them are satisfied with what they got. And there’s different ways of looking at that. And one way to look at that is to say that perhaps there is not the public mandate for this that would dictate this sort of rush to legislation, and that’s going to make it harder to make that point and sell that when they, when they…(unintelligible).
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31982038/ns/meet_the_press/page/4/
If that stat is correct, 90 percent of actual voters have health insurance and most of them are happy with what they have. The debate should focus more on affordability rather than universal coverage but U.C. is important to prevention costly conditions and to stop people from using the E.R. as a doctor’s office.
The numbers of issues voters decide for people who don’t vote amazes me. All of the good work we (Capitol Hill Democrats) did for struggling Americans during the Clinton years should have made Al Gore’s election a cakewalk. But certain folks don’t vote; don’t vote but are busy messing up the nation.
As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and who are the squeaky wheels…voters. And who are the most squeaky wheels—those tea partiers. They are doing it big down here and in the court of public opinion, those voices register because they are bring stats and facts to the table.
Here is a new stat for the discussion: what is the percentage of non-voters should we give a rat’s ____ about? (Wow, that is a rough question and it ended in a preposition.) Some voters would say zero percent while the compassionate might say 100%. In the barbershops in my community, people often say it is hard helping people who won’t help themselves or vote. In the end, reasonable people are concerned on some level because the actions of everyone ultimately impact are safely and financial well-being. The “most real” guys in my neighborhood break it down so hard as to say that the answer for assisting poor people is to limit the number of poor people…China style.
An old friend who is a conservative sister asked me about their efforts/failure to approach the Black community seven years ago—where did the time go. I told her then what I tell her during our weekly telephone policy debates: most members of her pachyderm party don’t want people unlike them around in the same way they sometimes use private schools and home-schooling to get away from certain elements.
Michael Steele’s efforts to attract more minorities would drive away equal numbers of members who join to get away from those he is seeking to attract. Not so fast; conservatives in the South are comfortable in the pachyderm party without “us” in general but they need a few percentage points of BWAV (Blacks Who Actually Vote.) These people don’t realize that the average person you see getting arrested (Black or White) on Cops doesn’t vote and BWAVs experience the worst affects of the worst elements.
If we consider how the Right plans to take power again, the answer doesn’t involve appealing to current moderates or centrists. Oh no. As quiet as it is kept, the answer is to employ the politics of fear to scare non-voting Whites into a defensive posture about losing their country…. “You better start voting Right or else.” Being a southern, I know it could work because history has a way of repeating itself. (I was going to type “the apple don’t fall too far from the tree” but decided against it.)
For the last time (today), our community needs better/more representation on the Right…mark my word.
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