March 23rd, 2010
Holy crapoli ... universal health care comes to the United States!
Regardless of one's politics, and independent of one's liking or disliking of universal health care (UHC), this fundamental shift likely does signal an end to the America we all know. And probably spells the beginning of a downturn in the entire Ascendant White Empire (AWE).
A couple of years ago I was talking about what it looked like from the inside to see an empire whimper away into oblivion. I was up to Point #5 when I lost interest. Well, this would be #6 here. Like it or not, American UHC really is a fundamental change in America—just as 911 was 8-1/2 years ago. This is a game-changer.
I would argue that in Canada there is a (fading) sense of interpersonal responsibility borne of our outpost mentality. In the past, as we settled our harsh environment, we died alone against the elements, surviving only if we pooled resources and lived together in the frontiers. Under that paradigm, it seemed natural that we would create, support, and later thrive in our own UHC.
But, increasingly, the wheels are coming off the system. One only has to sit in a hospital emergency room to see the waves of People Who Don't Get It sitting waiting for a doctor to look at their ear infections or hangnails to realise our outpost mentality and "live togetherness" are doomed by plain interpersonal greed. In McLuhan’s global village, there is no room for us to fret about fighting the elements as we drift down the highway in our Cadillac Escalades, Bluetooth headset in ear and satellite radio set to the all-reggae station.
But in America, there never was an outpost mentality. Quite frankly, what is (or was) right for Canada is wrong for America ... it's a country not designed to handle UHC; Americans prefer to cheer for the underdog as he fights his way to the top, instead of just passing along a handout so he doesn't have to. The AWE is already a thing of the past, and this shift in social policy is, quite literally, un-American. No wonder Americans are so divided about this: It spells the end of one America and signals (triggers?) the beginning of the American welfare state. Learned helplessness coming soon to a life near you.
911 was a turning point in how American character was tested—it was a statement about what some growing geographicless nations of the world thought about it (and a question: "So whatcha gonna do about it?") The response showed anything but character and focus, and now this is an exclamation mark to it.
Like all hysteria, there may be a few more exclamation marks before the sentence is finished.
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