# Congress will kick the can down the road on health care **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 19, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015 "2009-05-19T21:55:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/61 "2009-05-20T12:21:38Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > You’re talking “ahistorical”. History is not the sole arbiter of what policies should be implemented. For conservatives it is. The past is golden. Any future which is not exactly like the past is lead. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/62 "2009-05-20T13:35:35Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > Oh, well, _now_ you’ve convinced me. Enjoy your Hallmark moment. You asked a question about when people considered the government to be the best solution. I answered. Are you saying that if your house was on fire, that you _wouldn’t_ call the fire department? Do you have a better free market option that I just don’t know about? ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/63 "2009-05-20T13:56:33Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > So what? U lose. You understand that this isn’t a political issue, right? There are Democrats right here in this thread lambasting a Democratic congress for not doing what’s right for its citizens. We’re putting general welfare above party and political ideology. This is NOT about Democrats versus Republicans. I think I’ll probably have to say this a few times in every sentence for the next few paragraphs before it may start to sink in. I doubt it, though I’ll try again. This is not about politics! The reason i keep saying this is that when you say “so what? U lose.” you’re not talking about a political defeat. I could give a shit about that. You’re talking about denying tens of millions of people access to affordable health care. You’re talking about an unemployment rate of 10% who cannot go to the doctor unless they stab their eye out and sneak into an emergency room or shell out $500 a month for COBRA. You’re talking about adamately refusing to even consider a system that EVERY OTHER CIVILIZED NATION IN THE WORLD implements in one form or another. Yeah, we lose. As someone with a good, steady job and access to a doctor, I say fuck you on behalf of those who don’t have what shouldn’t be considered a luxury item. I’ll say it again because apparently the point about it not being political probably isn’t sinking in: fuck you. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/64 "2009-05-20T14:12:35Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > I don’t hate Americans, or anyone else, for that matter. You’re a tool for saying so. I’d rather be a compassionate tool than a hateful fool. I’d rather be thought of a tool by you than be you. And btw, you’re the ones who’ve lost. Health care IS coming, gay marriage IS coming. Lots of things are coming that will help average Americans have a better life, that will also make you tear your hair out, and there’s not a damn thing you (or Rush, or Hannity, or Steele, or any Republican obstructionist fucks) can do about it. You may win the occasional victory, enjoy, because from now on they’ll be fewer and fewer of them, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. [GOP Losses Span Nearly All Demographic Groups](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/18/gop-losses-span-nearly-al_n_204919.html) > [@](#): > > The decline and fall of the Republican Party in recent years has been so widespread that the party has lost support among nearly every major demographic subgroup of likely voters across the country, according to a new Gallup poll. > > The party lost support among a broad swath of Americans, from conservative to liberal, low-income to high-income, married to unmarried, and elderly to young. > > The only subgroup in which the party saw a slight increase in support from 2001 to 2009 was frequent churchgoers. > > The biggest declines, of roughly 10 percent, occurred among the college-educated, 18 to 29-year-olds, and Midwestern voters. > … Never gonna get 'em back either. Suck on it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/65 "2009-05-20T14:47:09Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > …Never gonna get 'em back either. Suck on it. That last might get some of the youth vote back, those who haven’t access to government funded head. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/66 "2009-05-20T15:06:54Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > You’ve already lost, at least in the short term. Sucks to be you, I guess. Your whining about healthcare is just that, whining. Hey troll, remember that when President For Life Barack HUSSEIN Obama comes to take your guns. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/67 "2009-05-20T17:19:01Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > **This is NOT about Democrats versus Republicans.** > > I think I’ll probably have to say this a few times in every sentence for the next few paragraphs before it may start to sink in. I doubt it, though I’ll try again. **This is not about politics!** While the first bolded sentence might be true to some extent, the second is so wrong as to be almost comical. This is ALL about politics. Just because those of us who want health care reform are criticizing both Republicans AND Democrats does NOT mean that the issue is somehow apolitical, or unpolitical. Something does not become “politics” by simple virtue of being an issue where Republicans and Democrats oppose one another; anything that involves decisions of policy, and that affects people, is politics. Despite the bickering between the two major parties, a considerable number of congresscritters on both sides of the aisle share far more in common with one another than they do with the American people, and in many policy decisions (like this one), the biggest battle is not between Democrats and Republicans, it’s between the American people and their elected representatives. And that is as political as hell. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/68 "2009-05-20T18:03:59Z")
Yeah, you’re right. Everything’s about politics and I wasn’t really meaning to imply differently. What I meant was that I hate when people become blinded and bound to a political ideology and support a position because it’s “us against them” regardless of the merits for or against the particular proposal. This works on both sides of the aisle and I blame both parties and their supporters when it happens. Look, if you genuinely believe the status quo on health care is A-OK, then fine. If you genuinely believe that the system set up where health care is a privilege, not a right, and paying for it out of your own pocket simply makes sense, then fine. If you even think that we simply have no funds in the budget for a massive overhaul of the health care system, then fine. I’ll disagree with you, but we can have an honest debate. But “U lose”? We lose? What the fuck man? This isn’t another notch on the great scoreboard of Republicans vs Democrats. Haha, you really stuck it to the goddamned hippies this time. Go back to your Kibbutzes, you Socialists! Republicans rule! I could give a shit about the Republicans. Frankly, they’ve been voted into non-entity status and we should be treating them that way. My beef right now isn’t with the Republicans and you haven’t “won” anything in this debate. I’m wholly aware of the political reality of the situation. I get that everything involves gamesmanship. I just wish for once we could remove that from the equation and just do what’s right. And I also wish for a unicorn. I’ll bet they make tasty ribs after a good dry rub and 5 hours in the smoker. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/69 "2009-05-20T18:26:49Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > I’m aware that it wasn’t a good example, that’s why I commented on it. Looking forward to your comments on GIGO’s list! ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/70 "2009-05-20T21:28:35Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > You asked a question about when people considered the government to be the best solution. I answered. Are you saying that if your house was on fire, that you _wouldn’t_ call the fire department? Of course I would call the fire department, as I am paying for it, dearly, in fact, as the likelihood I’ll ever need it is slim to almost none. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/71 "2009-05-20T21:39:19Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Health care IS coming, gay marriage IS coming. Get back to me when UHC is a reality. And how is that gay marriage thing working out in California, for example? ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/72 "2009-05-20T21:47:08Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > But “U lose”? How is that any different from this: “Suck on it.” Courtesy of equipoise. Other than it’s from a lefty, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/73 "2009-05-20T21:51:30Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > I’ll say it again because apparently the point about it not being political probably isn’t sinking in: fuck you. Reminder: [QUOTE=Restricted language in the Pit] The following expressions should not be directed at other posters. * * * fuck you and variants, e.g., go fuck yourself, fuck off and die [/QUOTE] [Restricted language in the Pit - The BBQ Pit - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508858) No warning issued. **Gfactor** Pit Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/74 "2009-05-20T22:00:09Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > How is that any different from this: “Suck on it.” Courtesy of equipoise. **Equipoise** said that as the ending piece of an actual argument (which you seem incapable of making), and you’re just being a jackass. > [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > Get back to me when UHC is a reality. And how is that gay marriage thing working out in California, for example? It’s in some trouble. It’s just fine in Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Iowa, though. ---
**Author:** ![bobthebuilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobthebuilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobthebuilder)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/75 "2009-05-20T22:00:09Z")
maybe instead of getting more involved the government will get less involved in health car. That would be something to celebrate, till then its just threats of violence for an unjustifiable cause. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/76 "2009-05-20T22:01:30Z")
> [@bobthebuilder](#): > > maybe instead of getting more involved the government will get less involved in health care. 😕 How is the government at all involved in health care? Members of Congress get single-payer plans, but that’s it. > [@bobthebuilder](#): > > That would be something to celebrate, till then its just threats of violence for an unjustifiable cause. Threats of violence? Unjustifiable cause? What on earth are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/77 "2009-05-20T23:27:26Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > **Equipoise** said that as the ending piece of an actual argument (which you seem incapable of making), and you’re just being a jackass. On what planet is “suck on it” an actual argument? ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/78 "2009-05-21T01:36:01Z")
> [@Gfactor](#): > > Reminder: > > [Restricted language in the Pit - The BBQ Pit - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=508858) > > No warning issued. > > **Gfactor** > Pit Moderator Sorry for the rules violation ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/79 "2009-05-21T01:47:14Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > On what planet is “suck on it” an actual argument? On what planet is “So what? U lose” an actual argument? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015/80 "2009-05-21T02:00:22Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > On what planet is “suck on it” an actual argument? As the _ending part_. He had an actual argument to accompany that, which sadly continues to escape you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congress-will-kick-the-can-down-the-road-on-health-care/497015.md?page=5)