The battle over health care reform has reached absurd heights -- or should I say depths?
The latest manifestation of right-wing insanity -- and one of the many reasons why conservatives have become so marginal in the United States -- were the creepy President Barack Obama "Joker" posters with the bolded word "socialism" on top and bottom.
The posters, seen all over Los Angeles, reflect the ugliness of the intensely polarized health care debate in the United States.
Foes of Obama's efforts to reform health care and create a "socialized medicine" system in America love pointing to "problems" in Canada's health care system. I'm currently writing a column about the myths and distortions in the U.S. health care debate when it comes to Canada's medical system. I won't give away too much of my column in advance, but suffice it to say that some ignorant conservative commentators -- who know absolutely nothing about the Canadian medical system -- have been spreading outrageous falsehoods about health care in this country.
Here's how they try to get away with their big lie: They dig up a few of the worst, most flagrant examples of people in Canada falling between the cracks and not getting adequate care, then they insist that these examples are the rule -- not the exception -- in Canada.
As Toronto physician Michael M. Rachlis pointed out in The Los Angeles Times: "Unfortunately, many Americans won't get to hear the straight goods because vested interests are promoting a caricature of the Canadian experience."
True, Canada does not have a perfect health care system by any stretch of the imagination. But it has a pretty damn good system that works a lot of the time. And the cost of basic health care -- such as hospital stays, treatments for illness, etc. -- have never financially ruined any Canadians.
This anti-Canadian campaign in the United States should come as no surprise. The right-wing smear machine is in high gear around health care. Throughout American history, whenever ordinary people have enjoyed great gains, there have always been men and women from the "pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstrap" school of thinking who've launched their own little jihads against any all humanitarian progressive policies.
These people are dirty political fighters. They'll tear apart the characters of those who disagree with them, create gruesome caricatures of President Obama, and spread lies and half-truths about the Canadian health care system. No wonder the debates have become so polarized over health care. With one side always so full of vitriol and hatred, it is inevitable that the other side will go to extremes to dig in their heels and resist the nasty disinformation campaigns.
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