Ok I think we may have reached the edge of the crazy

[Rose Siding]

End Obamacare, and people could die. That’s okay.
We make such trade-offs all the time.

Seriously. That's the headline of an op-ed in the Washington Post

The author is a resident scholar at AEI, a preeminant GOP think tank. Forgive the misnomer.

Say conservatives have their way with Obamacare, and the Supreme Court deals it a death blow or a Republican president repeals it in 2017. Some people who got health insurance as a result of the Affordable Care Act may lose it. In which case, liberals like to say, some of Obamacare’s beneficiaries may die....

...If these are the stakes, many liberals argue, then ending Obamacare is immoral.

Except, it’s not.

In a world of scarce resources, a slightly higher mortality rate is an acceptable price to pay for certain goals

When this kind of naked economic amorality is floated, we should probably take notice.

Republican incubators of thought; You can't live with 'em. You can only live without 'em

[niyad]

1. we passed the edge of crazy a lonnnnnng time ago.

[hedda_foil]

25. Yep. We entered the edge a long time ago. Now...

Now we are pinballing around the ninth circle of crazy.

[betsuni]

2. Kind of nice that Mr. Scrooge came right out and said it.

The comments to the article are good -- I'm relieved to see everyone is disgusted.

[hifiguy]

28. Years ago war criminal and Hillary Clinton BFF Henry Kissinger said

that the world was going to have to deal with the problem of "useless eaters." They're just saying it in public now. There is a substantial surplus population over the number of slaves they will need or choose to keep alive.

[Dont call me Shirley]

37. The truly useless eaters, who even run a massive eatery deficit, are the .001%.

Shall we starve the .001% beast?

[Scuba]

3. Hey, asshole, when you raise taxes on the wealthy, no one dies, they just have one fewer Mercedes.

[madokie]

24. I really don't even think it will mean one less mercedes

we're talking rich assholes here who have enough money to take in most everyone else in this country and feed, cloth and house them, damn sure all the poor and downtrodden. fuck a bunch of rich jackasses
and the motherfu*kers want more tax breaks

[Triana]

4. "scarce resources"

my ass. We have plenty of resources - water, food, medical equipment and medicines. And -- money. Problem is, it's all being destroyed for profit and the money hoarded by a very very tiny minority of humans on the planet. The resources are NOT "scarce". However ACCESS to them is difficult because of historic inequality driven by incessant, umitigated GREED of the people who think it's A-OK that those who don't have ready access to plentiful resources - just drop dead.

[tclambert]

8. The richest country on Earth can't figure out how to pay for universal health care?

When the next 19 countries have figured it out. The resource that's scarce isn't money. Perhaps Republicans are saying Americans just aren't as smart as people in the other 19 of the G20 countries. Intelligence is the scarce resource. Except it hardly takes much intelligence to figure this out. Medicare for all. There. Done. You're welcome.

So, not money, and not intelligence. Maybe compassion? The ability to care for other human beings? Yeah, there's where your Republican wealth-hoarder has a scarcity. There are only so many things a person can care about. And your typical Ayn Rander grows fatigued after caring about personal profit. Whew! That's tiring. Where are they gonna find the energy to care about anything else?

[Triana]

11. "Intelligence is the scarce resource."

BINGO.

And compassion, too.

[3catwoman3]

26. That is for damn sure...

...on both counts.

[gregcrawford]

5. THese are the thought patterns...

... of a textbook psychopath. And this evil bag of rat excrement is not the exception in conservatism, he is the rule.

[world wide wally]

6. Sounds just like Republican icon, Ebeneezer Scrooge discussing surplus population

[spanone]

7. these are not the humans i was raised around.

[Bucky]

9. Nope, sorry. I don't think we've even scratched the surface of how deep their crazy runs.

[daredtowork]

10. Brought to you by the party of Bengazhi(tm) Death Panels! nt

[rwsanders]

12. Reminds me of watching "the Yes Men Save the World"...

In that movie, they attend a conference and claim to have a computer program that would predict the cost/per life if a companies project went wrong so they could plan for it. It was sickening how many of the conference attendees desperately wanted to by the program.

[genxlib]

13. I think you missed the point

They aren't fetuses that are dying.

[hifiguy]

29. George Carlin:

"If you're pre-born you're fine. If you're pre-school you're fucked."

Truer words, etc, etc....

[lovemydog]

14. Agree- we should most definitely take notice.

Democrats should be talking of this op-ed piece to all their friends. Candidates and those already in office should mention it at every talk.

Every other argument against the Affordable Care Act has crumbled under the facts. It is saving lives and preventing people from going bankrupt just because they got sick.

Now let's strengthen it and move toward free health care. There's enough wealth in this country to provide it for all.

[guillaumeb]

32. WHO ACTUALLY READS

Who actually reads in this country? Perhaps the 40% of Americans who are functional illiterates? Perhaps the seniors who recently voted to increase the minimum wage in numerous states and also voted for Republicans who will do their best to eliminate Social Security? The same seniors who send in petitions to save Social Security, the same seniors who think there is nothing wrong with healthcare in this country because Medicare pays their bills? All of these groups will also vote Republican even though the Republican party stands for nothing but making the top 1/10th of 1% richer no matter what the cost. And please do not accuse me of attacking seniors. I am 64.

[NBachers]

15. I suggest that Michael R. Strain should volunteer to participate in the higher mortality rate.

Lead by example, I say!

[Moonwalk]

16. Problematic rational from those that want to end abortions, keep sex ed out of schools, etc....

If they really think there should be less people in the world, then why are they against contraception and abortions? Why aren't they all over teaching sex ed and making sure condoms are given out free everywhere? Why aren't they insisting that businesses provide contraceptives to all their employees? Family planning will do a better job of cutting down the world's over population. And I don't read this as silly. I read it as silly and stupid. Which, to me, is worse.

[Curtis]

17. I wouldn't take this as a bet

I doubt Obamacare supporters would argue for a society that spends half or two-thirds of its national income on health care in an attempt to ensure that every person with a treatable disease or injury avoids death."

I don't see a problem spending that much on Healthcare for everyone. It's a much better way to spend our money than on the military.

[hedda_foil]

27. It's a classroom strawman argument.

War is what consumes the lion's share of the budget, not healthcare. I somehow doubt that he would be up for a smaller military budget.

[AZ Progressive]

18. There's your model republican right there

Evil sociopath. People who don't care about killing other people are just not human, they themselves are a scourge on humanity.

[JaneyVee]

19. "Scholar"

[Buns_of_Fire]

21. Noted and duly added to the list of Great American Oxymorons:

"Jumbo Shrimp"
"Military Intelligence"
"Compassionate Conservative"
"AEI Scholar"

[hifiguy]

31. "Justice Scalia"

and "Justice Thomas" deserve inclusion on that list.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

20. We're looking at crazy in the rear-view mirror. (n/t)

[ChosenUnWisely]

22. Funny how they still keep insurance tied to employment. Anyway the crazy has just begun!

[bemildred]

23. OK, as long as the rich go first. nt

[Frustratedlady]

30. So, since we have such scarce resources, does that mean they will stop fighting abortion and birth

control, or are they going to keep feeding the future's military forces?

Make up your minds!

[hifiguy]

34. See my post #29.

[Chemisse]

33. Well, they finally came right out and said it.

That could go 2 ways. It could shock people into action. Or it could open up such talk as acceptable.

[immoderate]

35. This is "Master Race" sounding stuff.

--imm

[handmade34]

36. yes it is...

and many in the United States provided the strong impetus in the early 20th... seems there are some who still cling to the idea...

http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1796

even Vermont played a role...

In 1925, Henry F. Perkins, professor of zoology at the University of Vermont, organized the Eugenics Survey of Vermont as an adjunct to his Heredity course. Its mission was threefold: eugenics research, public education on their findings, and support for social legislation that would reduce the apparent growing population of Vermont's "social problem group." Most notorious of these reforms was Vermont's 1931 eugenic sterilization law, "A Law for Human Betterment by Voluntary Sterilization."

[Bluenorthwest]

38. So now Republicans are in favor of Death Panels.

Nice to keep up to date on these things.

[seveneyes]

39. Wow

[NotHardly]

40. Ther scarlet thread...

"There’s the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it." (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1887).

Sometimes that scarlet thread pours through the pretty petty pronouncements of political philosophies. We've seen this guise and cloak before, it offers the appearance of analysis while hiding its barbarous nature and intent. Whole nations and peoples have been decimated or completely disappeared through such contrivances.

[winter is coming]

41. Sadly, crazy, like the universe, is expanding. n/t

[nakocal]

42. Impossible to be a conservative AND a Christian

Conservative values are the exact opposite of Christian values.

[TheKentuckian]

43. SURPRISE! Guess what these are evil fucks and this is just a sample of who they are

and the wickedness is the motivation behind every policy agenda which is why I distrust and despise all who would substantially emulate them and suffer no assimilation or meeting halfway. Call me "a purist" till you turn blue in the face because I was never talking about any single policy or vote.

[blkmusclmachine]

44. Crazy talk.