Oh, for fuck's sake.
The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

-Sarah Palin on health care reform.

'Fess up, those of you in countries with socialized medicine! We want to hear all about the Death Panels, government mandated sex changes and killings of the olds (their time is up when the crystal flashes in their hand, dontchaknow).

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sevendeadlyfun
2009-08-10 10:10 pm UTC (link)

OT: I love that icon. Every time I see it, I giggle just a little bit. It's what I imagine Terry Jones's icon would be if he popped on here for a discussion.

That aside, I understand how you feel. There's definitely a sort of cynicism in political discussions these days and those of us groping for a reasonable middle ground usually end up wishing we'd worn our asbestos suits. If you aren't for it, it's because you're a rich, privileged whitey who wants to save fetuses so you can watch them die of preventable illnesses. If you are for it, you're a sticky-fingered s0cia1ist picking the pockets of the hard-working middle-class to find money to redistribute to addicts and whores.

Political discussion in America these days is practically a no-win situation.

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	naive_wanderer 2009-08-10 10:25 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks! I can't remember where I originally snagged this icon, but I have to smile every time I see it. And that is probably the best summary of political debate in the US that I've heard in a while! (Reply to this)(Parent)

if this comment is incomprehensible, i apologize, i'm tired.

felinephoenix
2009-08-11 05:38 am UTC (link)

This is really completely OT, but have you ever watched Split - A Divded America? It's a documentary about political debate in America that tackles this very subject. What I found fascinating about it was how it showed that most Americans could agree on the big problems facing the country! It was just that they had a hard time coming together because everything has become so polarized.

We really do live in a culture where - often by choice! - we're not exposed to other viewpoints, particularly poltically. Our politics tend to match our neighbors's politics and we tend to follow the news sources that agree with our biases.

Interesting stuff.

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Re: if this comment is incomprehensible, i apologize, i'm tired.

naive_wanderer
2009-08-13 08:44 am UTC (link)

I know this comment wasn't directed at me, but -- I think I'm going to have to watch that documentary now! That seems extremely interesting.

It is strange how someone with a very strong party affiliation will just refuse to hand someone of the opposing party any credit. But really I think we are all aware of what our problems are, and in what vague direction to take them -- we just disagree about how to get there.

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