One of my colleagues in progressive rabble rousing, known to readers simply as Hunter, has an interesting essay out at Daily Kos that brings the pain to presidential hopeful Dr. Ron Paul. It turns out Dr. Paul’s own campaign manager, Kent Snyder, who had raised millions for the enigmatic Texas congressman, died from pneumonia. The 49 year-old Snyder was uninsured — reportedly because a preexisting condition rendered private health insurance unavailable — despite raising millions of dollars for Paul as a full-time staffer.
It was in that context that Paul was asked by moderator Wolf Blitzer if the uninsured should ‘just die’ at the Republican national debate last week. This was when Paul muttered something inane about freedom and was explaining how churches and communities could raise the dough, and audience members screamed out “Yes,” let them die.
Paul indeed tried to raise money to pay Snyder’s mounting $400,000 medical bills, but fell far short at $35,000. Here’s a taste of where Hunter’s post goes from there:
For a long time, a solitary glass jar sat on the counter of our local convenience store, seeking donations towards the medical expenses of a much-loved longtime resident whose own unexpected tragedy had left an impossible financial burden. Barbecues, church socials, yard sales, bake sales or whatever else can be cobbled together; a town of any size will have something like that every weekend, if you follow the flyers or the signs, all dedicated towards raising just a few hundred dollars here and there to put a dent in the hundreds of thousands needed. Cancer, heart disease, or an accident; a husband, a mother, a child, a best friend.
You cannot live in America without seeing it. So does it work? Do churches contribute a hundred thousand, here and there? When was the last bake sale you attended that raised $50,000? The last yard sale? Just how much change can fit in a glass jar on a countertop, once you count it all up?
Libertarianism, as practiced by Paul, has as its motto “I’ve got mine, f*ck you!” Paul, as a member of Congress, has extremely good health insurance. Those people lucky enough to work for him on his Congressional staff are likewise covered. Someone like Snyder, who worked on Paul’s reelection staff, is out of luck. So are millions of other Americans. But Paul doesn’t care. He’s got his, too bad for everyone else.
Huh!!! What???
But what about the power of prayer?
He must not have prayed hard enough or the Invisible Sky Monster predestined him to die young.
Hmmm, yeah that’s it. It was all part of god’s plan. No point in worrying about a potentially fatal condition.
The Someone will,should,could step in really seems to have spread its wings lately.
Are they teaching that in business school ?
Awwww. :(
For a minute, there, I was hoping this was about JOHN Huntsman, the only Rethuglican candidate who hasn’t completely toed the wingnut ‘rape-the-environment-trample-religious-minorities-and-kill-all-the-poor-people’ party line. Though, really, he’s only a ‘moderate’ in comparison to all the other crazy out there.
I wish some old-school fiscal conservatives WOULD stand up and try to take the Republican Party back from the nutballs, but apparently that isn’t going to happen.
Totally unsurprised about Ron Paul, though. He’s been amazingly consistent in his portrayal of himself as a selfish, rich, entitled sonofabitch who wants everyone else to die in miserable peonage. Quite medeival of him.