So My Local Newspaper Did a Poll on Health Care...

[NYMountaineer]

Now mind you, I'm in an upstate NY county that went for Bush Jr. in both elections, and just went for Obama in this election. Our local politicians are mostly Reps. It's part of the 20th District where Scott Murphy just squeaked out a victory.

The question came right out and asked if the wealthy should pay higher taxes to support a public health care bill, and the responses broke about 60/40 in favor of such practice.

Granted, this seems like a little Podunk victory in the scheme of things, but I was frankly surprised when I read it. Why? Because it means that maybe the cries of "SOCIALISM!" aren't as powerful of a weapon of the Right that they once were. Maybe people are coming around to the fact that the Republican ideal of "capitalism" is actually an ideal of oligarchy. Maybe it's getting through to the rest of the nation, as it had already gotten through to me, that when the Republicans are using words like "incentive, earning, entitlement, self-reliance, personal responsibility" and such, they're actually saying "get down on your kneepads for those who you're beholden to!"

I'm as Joe Six-Pack as anyone. I like beer, red meat, football, cars, the outdoors, hard work, and rock and roll, and I know that the Republican Party has no respect for me nor for my fellow working Americans. The rest of the Joe Six-Packs of this country are waking up to Republican treason, and if health care reform fails to come about, they'll know who it was who sold them out.

[Skittles]

1. great post, NYMountaineer

welcome to DU :hi:

[leftstreet]

2. Why would Republicans take the blame for failed healthcare?

Did news reach you there in upstate NY that Obama won the election and Dems have the majority in Congress?

[NYMountaineer]

3. I never said that THEY would willingly take the blame

But it would be clear who orchestrated the failure, ie, the Repubs with their lies and their influence over the DINO's.

To be technical, I'd be angry with the DINO's if it was defeated, but it would be the Repubs whose house-of-cards ideals would come crashing down, as average Americans are already suffering from effects of their policies for years.

[FatDave]

4. "maybe the cries of "SOCIALISM!" aren't as powerful"

The people crying "SOCIALISM!" have no idea what the word means. If you described a clearly socialistic system to them, but called it The Christian Compassion System, they'd probably all be on board.