My family and I did not talk much before the election, because we've had some strife lately. But the day of, I went home and was talking to my parents about who we voted for. My mom voted McCain, but that was primarily because she works in health insurance and is petrified of losing her job if they socialize it (never mind that it won't work that way...). They are both employed, in their 50's, and reasonably well off, so on most economic issues they agreed a little more with McCain than Obama. That's fine, I don't agree with it, but it's fine, people have a right to vote in their own best interest, and our state went to Obama anyway so it didn't matter in the end.
What bothered me more than that was talking to my father. I expressed my concerns about McCain and Palin taking away my rights, particularly Palin. My dad replied, "Well, Obama will take away your rights too, just different ones." "Like what?" I asked. "Gun control? I don't agree with him on gun control, except maybe in urban areas, but it's just one issue. Besides, I have to vote in the way that affects me most, and I don't own a gun, can't use one anyway, and I'm honestly more concerned about getting healthcare."
"Well, Obama will socialize medicine, so you could get healthcare, but it would be really poor quality" (Note: Before you jump on this, his one experience with socialized medicine was when a drunken doctor made him fill out pages of admittance forms in a German clinic while he held his torn-off nose in his other hand, covered in blood, so I'll forgive him that misconception).
"That's not what he said. He's going to do a system like Massachussetts, where you have to have some form of health insurance, and if you can't pay, you can get on government insurance. I can still get a good plan through work, but if I'm not working or I'm working part-time without benefits, I can get another form of insurance, and they won't turn me down because of my many expensive preexisting conditions. What's more, my fiance would have the same system availiable, and he is even less likely to qualify for private insurance."
"If you require healthcare for everyone, it's basically paying a tax."
"Except you pay it to the INSURANCE COMPANY of your CHOICE and not the GOVERNMENT, except for a few individuals who pay into the GOVERNMENT INSURANCE PLAN, which we would subsidize but it would still be cheaper than the current system of paying for people who can't pay."
"Look, I just want to know why your "rights" to get health insurance, which you can get on your own-- I know, I'm paying for it now-- trump my rights."
"Your rights... to own a gun?"
"Yes. Among others."
"Like what? Besides, you don't own a gun. And you can't shoot one anyway."
"But I still have a right to have one."
Riiiiiiiight... What I wanted to say to that:
"Okay, so let me get this straight. Your right, which you have never exercised, to own a weapon, which I doubt even Obama would restrict you on the grounds that you have no criminal record or gang affiliations and are a middle-aged man living in New Hampshire suburbia, is more important than my right to get psychaitric treatment and other medical care without bankrupting myself, more important than my fiance's right to it, more important than my right to abort" (and he is not anti-abortion, he beleives it should be legal right up until you first see the baby to dump them in a rainbarrel, even though he would hate the idea himself) "if I thought my health was in danger, if my fetus was dead inside me, or if I knew I could not care for a child for nine months; more important than the right of my friends to be free of discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation or medical history, more important than my fiance's right, and your daughter's (my sister's) to be free of discrimination on the basis of their medical conditions, the right of me, my fiance, your son, and your wife to be free of discrimination based on their religion or lack thereof, the right of your potential grandchildren to be educated according to science and fact and reason rather than based on literal Biblical teachings, despite that they won't be Christian; all of our rights to be protected from illegal wiretapping and illegal search and seizure, and my right to get birth control and any other medication I have been prescribed from any pharmacist? Why, exactly, does your one right-- a right you will likely never lose and have never exercised-- trump EVERY SINGLE ONE of my rights, my fiance's rights, your son and other daughter's rights, your wife's rights, the rights of women and homosexuals and non-Christians and the poor and the mentally ill everywhere, and even your own right to privacy? Rights that, unlike your right to own a gun, we are exercising, or being prevented from exercising, every day?"
What I said: "Uhm, yeah. Let's not argue. Oh, look, they're getting results in from the first states."
I can't wait until I am no longer dependent on them for my financial needs. The idiocy and self-absorption burns.
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Amen! My father is extremely anti gun-control as well, and is willing to vote for someone who will deny others their basic rights, so that he can keep his right to own a gun.
Also, I have to thank Jessica Valenti for giving me the perfect response to my EX-fiance when he told me that Obama is a baby killer.
"Well, feminists eat babies, so I guess he's the one I'm voting for, huh?"
He didn't know what to say to that.
Considering that socialist countries have some of the best health care systems in the world - think USSR and Cuba - I always find this fear of 'socialised' medicine rather strange...
As a British citizen (with a lot of health problems) I ADORE our NHS, sure it's not perfect but the quality of care is good and I can get the treatment I need for free (well mostly, have to pay for eye tests and dental treatment, but you can claim for help towards the costs)
Maybe it's becuase I've grown up with it (and socialist parents) but I believe access to free basic healthcare should be a right for everyone, not a luxury for those who can afford it.
I'd rather have very good free healthcare than excellent healthcare I can't afford.
My dad's really just had the one horrific, really awful experience with socialized medicine, completely traumatic, and he can't get past it. I mean, he came in with his nose torn off, in his hand, and the doctor was drunk, and had him get his passport and his healthcare card and fill out forms before he would treat him. No matter how much you explain it to him, he hears "socialized medicine" and thinks of a drunken doctor sewing his nose back on without anesthesia. While he just got a sucky doctor, the two are permanently linked in his memory. I forgive him that much, because I know it's his own personal issues.
I thank you for bringing up this issue, Brianna G, because I did not want to, particularly before the election.
You see, this is the problem with being a single issue voter. For some, Obama's views on gun control may be the ONLY reason they will not/did not vote for him. Please see the ad campaigns of the NRA, or the letters and editorials of practically any shooting publication against Obama. Other people may vote based on gender, race, class, or party, instead of what the candidate actually stands for.
I am an Obama supporter (at least since Sen. Clinton gave him the nomination). However, his stance on gun control (which varies according to whom he is speaking) is the only issue with which I do not agree. I will not allow that single difference to come between me and support for him on other issues which are more important.
There's the thing, though. He wants to know why health insurance trumps gun rights? Because you're an independent minded person who can choose your own priorities when it comes to deciding who gets your vote. He gets to choose his priorities, too. And if they don't match, that's okay!