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Mar. 23rd, 2010 07:47 pmYou know after spending far too much time reading reactions to HCR passing and the GOP's continuing screaming temper tantrum (several blog-led coordinated intimidation attempts) I started watching "Seven Samurai" and I actually burst into tears during the scene where the young acolyte tosses the desperate peasants a few coins so they can replace the rice (their only means of payment and sustenance) that was stolen from them. He sees their desperation and poverty and offers them a little money.
It doesn't financially wreck him, but it saves their honor, their lives and ultimately their entire village. Just a few coins.
And that to me is what this whole health care feak-out is about. The argument comes down to people being unwilling to part with a few more dollars in taxes to help out suffering fellow human beings. All the arguments not based on a faulty understanding of history, the Constitution and legal precedent boil down to, "I'm not paying for their health care!" The "they" in this particular statement being whatever financial or minority group the person saying it believes is unworthy. All the while failing to realize that they already are.
I'd really like to know where all these would be Constitutional scholars were when Captain Codpiece and his merry band were happily wiping their asses with that very document. I also don't seem to recall those of us who were outraged by their actions and watching our own tax dollars going to fill the coffers of Blackwater and an unknown number of Iraqi con men and bent politicians as we needlessly threw the lives of our military away on a pointless war chasing imaginary weapons of mass destruction, throwing bricks through peoples' windows or declaring ourselves in favor of armed rebellion. No, our side was getting tossed in jail for wearing the wrong fucking t-shirt to a Bush speech.
It doesn't financially wreck him, but it saves their honor, their lives and ultimately their entire village. Just a few coins.
And that to me is what this whole health care feak-out is about. The argument comes down to people being unwilling to part with a few more dollars in taxes to help out suffering fellow human beings. All the arguments not based on a faulty understanding of history, the Constitution and legal precedent boil down to, "I'm not paying for their health care!" The "they" in this particular statement being whatever financial or minority group the person saying it believes is unworthy. All the while failing to realize that they already are.
I'd really like to know where all these would be Constitutional scholars were when Captain Codpiece and his merry band were happily wiping their asses with that very document. I also don't seem to recall those of us who were outraged by their actions and watching our own tax dollars going to fill the coffers of Blackwater and an unknown number of Iraqi con men and bent politicians as we needlessly threw the lives of our military away on a pointless war chasing imaginary weapons of mass destruction, throwing bricks through peoples' windows or declaring ourselves in favor of armed rebellion. No, our side was getting tossed in jail for wearing the wrong fucking t-shirt to a Bush speech.
