Wow wow wow wow wow

I’m an avid reader of DailyKos. Once in a while I post an article of my own there, but those invariably sink like a stone in DailyKos’s highly competitive article-rating system, and almost no one sees them. On very rare occasions I post a comment about someone else’s post, but those get even fewer readers so I seldom bother.

Just now, however, I was moved to post the comment “Wow wow wow wow wow” after reading the post John Edwards and The Best Christmas Gift Ever by someone called “leisure.” I hope you’ll read it too. Your heart will grow three sizes.

2 thoughts on “Wow wow wow wow wow”

  1. Hi Bob,

    I’m not American. I’m not even living there but I’m still concerned about the importance of the universal health care in any country that calls himself “modern”. I hope some day I’ll able to get a job at the States (I want to live there for some time, just for trying), but there are some things that scare me about moving there. One is the current health care system.

    Being from Spain got me used to a health care system that is simply marvelous. No one is ever denied treatment in hospitals, even if they are homeless and need a open heart surgery or any expensive treatment you can imagine.

    People from other countries often come here just because they know they’ll get a free treatment (even if they are not spanish!). But I think that this universal health care system in wich everyone will be attended is the best one, even if it represents a good amount in the goverments bill.

    At John Edwards Website, it states that:
    “Under the Edwards Plan: Families without insurance will get coverage at an affordable price.”

    So people will still have to pay. And it seems like poor people will not be able to afford the complete insurance.. So, in my opinion, this is only a patch and not the real solution. But maybe this is just the first step! I hope so!

    P.D.: I don’t use to comment here, but I enjoy all your posts. Indeed, yours is the only non-spanish blog that I follow. I love the way you tell stories 🙂

  2. Hi Twentydur,

    First, thanks so much for the nice compliment! It really put a sonrisa on my cara.

    As for John Edwards’ health plan: it’s true that it’s not the fully socialized system that some countries enjoy. But two things about that: first, his plan, and more importantly his credentials for enacting that plan, are the best by far among the serious presidential candidates; and second, most Americans, even most of the very-left-wing ones, I think, still believe in the virtues of the free market despite its obvious problems (we’ll solve those with careful regulation), and would have trouble embracing a fully state-run and state-funded system. No one should ever be denied essential medical care, I believe the prevailing (unconscious) reasoning goes, but more productive Americans with a better ability to pay should not be denied better care if they’re willing to pay for it.

    This is something very deep in the American psyche. John Dickinson, speaking for the conservatives in the Continental Congress, puts it like this in the play 1776: “most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor.” Historically, the possibility of becoming rich in America has been better than in most other places; perhaps this is why there is usually so little support beyond the granola-and-Birkenstocks crowd for truly compassionate, egalitarian policies. They’re just not Darwinian enough.

    Finally, Spain! It is at the top of my list of foreign countries to visit. When that time comes I hope you will allow me to ask your advice for what to see and do. ¡Olé!

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