Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Protect Your Care Targets Republicans With 'Let Him Die?' Campaign

Protect Your Care, an outside political group that advocates for health care reform, launched a new campaign targeting Republicans over an eyebrow-raising incident that occurred at Monday night's GOP presidential debate.

HuffPost's Sam Stein relays background on the situation that unfolded at the forum:
A bit of a startling moment happened near the end of Monday night's CNN debate when a hypothetical question was posed to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). "What do you tell a guy who is sick, goes into a coma and doesn't have health insurance? Who pays for his coverage? Are you saying society should just let him die?" Wolf Blitzer asked.
"Yeah!" several members of the crowd yelled out.
Paul interjected to offer an explanation for how this was, more-or-less, the root choice of a free society. He added that communities and non-government institutions can fill the void that the public sector is currently playing.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Protect Your Care Communications Director Eddie Vale said the moment offered "a disturbing view into the Tea Party’s extreme right-wing position on health care when members of the audience clapped and cheered the idea of letting someone without health insurance die." He added, "Even worse, none of the Republican candidates on stage expressed a word of disapproval as the Tea Party audience literally clapped for blood. This was a spectacle one would have expected back in the gladiatorial combat of ancient Rome, not at a presidential debate."

In the aftermath of Monday night's debate, NBC News reported that Texas Governor Rick Perry said he was "taken aback" by the way in which the debate audience reacted to the exchange. "We're the party of life. We ought to be coming up with ways to save lives," he explained.

Texas, the home state of both Perry and Paul, has the highest percentage of uninsured residents of any state in the country, according to a recent Gallup report.

Protect Your Care launched a new "Let him die?" website in attempt to call attention to the group's message.

Origin
Source: Huffington 

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