So much attention has been drawn by the proposed substitution of "vouchercare" for Medicare that many voters have overlooked a companion disaster bearing down on them.
As middle class voters on the wrong side of the farcical 55 year old safe harbor (below which age your future at the tender mercies of the Ryan budget is bleak indeed) weigh the pros and cons of changing a defined benefit Medicare program for a defined contribution vouchercare program ( cf. exchanging a pension for a 401k) they probably cluck their tongues but fret little over the planned trillion dollar cut in Medicaid. They think it will not impact them–after all, they are financially troubled but not yet so poor as to qualify for Medicaid.
This is a very short sighted analysis. Many of those on either side of the 55 year old line will end their days in a nursing home. When they do, whether they have "spent down" so as to shift the backbreaking 5-8k/month cost to Medicaid or not, the aides who change their diapers will be shared with the multitudes who are on Medicaid.
In 2005, for instance, Medicaid paid 52% of all revenue flowing to support nursing homes. Slash Medicaid and you slash the ratio of aides to patients.
Those who are forced to shop for a nursing home are frequently advised to take a good sniff of the air just inside the front door. The resulting olefactory encounter will provide a good index to the level of staffing and quality of care. Not to put too fine a point on it, the interval between diaper changes will become immediately discernible.
Thus, we can say without hesitation that voting for Ryan/Romney is a vote to have your loved one sit longer in a soiled diaper, pushing (if she has that much mobility and presence of mind) a call button and praying for some relief.
We know, then, what a Repugnant victory smells like-It smells like shit, and your mother is sitting in it.



16 Comments

Agreed, Rex. A vote for Obama is too.
Stein, Anderson, Alexander – these are the candidates who deserve our support.
the safety net is on the table
that said, (and as a sure third party voter) the.fate of Medicaid under Ryan is, without peradventure, worse than under Obama
Et tu, Rex?
Mitt was prolly paid handsomely to choose the big ol’ ‘Ooga-booga’ Ryan, so O could walk away with the election.
Why do you give Ryan so much juice?
Ruling out voting for Romney, I’d do most anything to see OBomba defeated.
Well, of course, it is a mistake to.confuse choreography for improvisation. I am certainly not looking forward to seeing that smug bastard rewarded with re-election. But my vote for Stein (or, who knows, why not go full tilt crazy, for Paul, just to confuse them) will count as “declines to state” in either of my potential voting venues, NY or Cali. Less than an apologia for Obama, I was urging the marginally better off to have a care for Medicaid in general.
If Romney gets elected, there’s no one to blame other than Bama.
No Rex, your vote – provided it is for Jill and not a write-in for the racist, sexist, fascist Paul – will be counted as FOR JILL, because she is ON THE BALLOT in both states.
This is the year to vote for alternatives who are ON THE BALLOT, be they Jill, Stewart Alexander, or Rocky Anderson, because doing so will COUNT toward registering your disgust with both CORPORATE BOUGHT AND SOLD major parties.
http://www.NewProgs.org
certainly one cannot go wrong with.Jill. I must confess to a (arguably morbid) fascination with the meta analysis wherein by”endorsing ” the only anti-imperialist, drug libertarian supporter of Bradley Manning from among the. “major parties” perhaps more cover for such views would obtain going forward. (the racist/sexist thing is, withal, a hefty swallow.)
@lakota: To be sure. Oddly, Romney is such a shameless shapeshifting lying sack of shit he makes Obama look.like a paragon of sincerity, which is not easy!
It would be nice if both Obama and Romney were denied the 270 electoral votes needed because so many people voted for a third party candidate. Of course, that’s not going to happen, but it would be great if so many people voted for neither O or R that the winner couldn’t claim a mandate (not that he wouldn’t, anyway). At the very, very least, I’ll know there are some third party voters out there who aren’t afraid of their own shadow.
Precisely, and the only thing that could totally destroy “us”, is Obama’s re-election. If Romney was elected “we” would become more unified. Without unity, we are nobody and nothing. “THEY” know that, and I believe “THEY” prefer Bama over Romney.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. If that’s what you believe, you’ll have to work for it; maybe in 4 years it will be possible.
Everyone conveniently forgets even recent history. In 1992 Ross Perot garnered 20% of the vote. Yes, 20%. No, he didn’t get a single electoral vote because of the winner take all system we have, but think of it, 20%!
The reason I mention this is that Jill Stein is a much more sane candidate than Ross Perot was back then – and he was much more sane then than the entire GOP is now (whew what a statement!) If people would just stop moaning about “wasted votes” and worrying about drawing votes from this one or that one, and just vote for her – well think what would happen. Every single person who claims they will never vote for Obama (but who will actually got into the voting booth and do just that because they are so afraid of what would happen if Mitt wins) should actually vote for Jill. Every person who claims the Dems are just like the Rethugs should vote Green – cuz they are not like the other two choices.
Everyone who says third parties don’t have a chance should realize that the reason they don’t is because all the people who say that are the reason why. If people would just vote for them – they would.
And I have voted for Ross Perot, John Hagelin, and lots of down-ballot third party candidates. Just sayin’.
The more effective evil, as Glenn Ford so ably sets it forth. I shudder, though, at a strategy that depends upon a reactive unity springing up from the left. Not that it is unthinkable. But the interim costs are so high!
Bear in mind that an electoral college fail makes (shudder) the 50 state delegations to the House the” selectors”. We need instant runoff voting on as many local levels as possible so that serious party building can occur, failing a full scale revision of the existing national (profoundly anti-democratic) constitution.
My plate is much too full to research any new candidate, but if by election day, I’m convinced that a majority here are voting for Jill Stein, then I’ll vote for Jill Stein.
My actions will be the result of what I see as making the greatest impact. That can only be done if enough people take the “same” action, whether it’s voting for Jill Stein, or not voting.