Yes, it’s true that Vermont’s brand of Republicans tend to be a different breed than Republicans in the rest of the country, especially in these heady days of unbridled Glenn-Beckery.
But there are exceptions. Freshman GOP Representative Tom Burditt of West Rutland took to the floor this morning to speak out against the health care reform legislation. Sadly, I missed hearing him myself, but I am told that it was a meandering exercise in free-form teabaggery, quite possibly marking the first such rhetoric on the floor of the Vermont Statehouse.
In arguing against universal coverage, Democratic lawmakers were castigated for supporting this “communist” legislation, claiming it played to the forces of “radical islam” while our troops were dying overseas. Yeah, there was stream-of-consciousness stuff about lower taxes and letting the market handle it, blah blah blah – but bringing “radical islam” into the floor debate makes it one for the ages.
Update: A quote! Thanks to the commenter below who found the speech when it became available:
I find it very sad…. in a country where men and women have died…. fighting to preserve our freedom…. and have died…. fighting off socialism, communism and recently radical Muslim beliefs…. that some are now considering socialized medicine as a solution to improving access to health care.
So, he doesn’t quite call the bill “radical islam” (as he labels it “socialism”), he just invokes it, with the direct implication that passing this legislation is at odds with the goals of those who have “died… fighting to preserve our freedom” against “radical islam” and “communism.” That’s pretty clear.
Well–West Rutland. I’ve noticed, Odum, on the Vt. Tea Party website, that they seem to have most of their meetings and events in Rutland, which leads to the conclusion that this Burditt dude is one of them. I hope there aren’t any more. Let them run under their own banner.
Gets Vermont’s First Ever TeaBircher award for bringing this particular form of bigotry, xenophobia and all around general hatred for First-World status into the Vermont legislature.
Way to go, Tom! You are officially the first infectious cell in Vermont of America’s terminal disease: Fox ‘News’ hatred for everything that’s good about America.
How much bribe money have you taken in exchange for willfully lobotomizing your own brain and replacing our Founding Father’s reverence for Logic and Reason with Lies and Dishonesty?
Vermont has been pretty lucky at avoiding the infection that has gripped even Maine and New Hampshire, that of the TeaBircher, whose sole agenda is to kill everything that has made America a First-World nation. This ‘Tom Burditt’ needs to be nipped in the bud, lest his blind rage at having any form of civilization spread throughout our state.
Which is why they have become a laughingstock. Follows the same script which has now become familiar & almost cult-like in their similiarities. One of these types begins to speak, typical yawn-worthy talking points emerge & then boom!
A leap which goes off the radar screen, taking entire point with it & just disappears. ‘Cow jumps over the moon’ comes to mind. I’m now waiting for, ‘dish ran away w/the spoon’ encore.
Becoming a phenomenom. Someone who has not declared themself to be a Tea Partier opens their mouth & removes the doubt.
During last election cycle, w/Palin & O’Donnell the circus never stopped. Sad to see these ppl as well as supporters actually taking this nuttiness seriously. How can a display of pure folly be missed, again & again by thinking ppl?
I do try to listen & understand where folks are coming from until there is an accumulation of head-shakers & eye-rollers.
Our Good Senator decried S.88 as “1930s central planning”. The bill that said we should study how to do healthcare. Communist.
Adding Islamofascism to the mix is brilliant. Dude can fill a void in the Leg if/when Brock runs for statewide office, or finally drives his Jag into the sunset…
I feel for Burditt, because the story above is a sad one, and one that needs to end. What is unfortunate though, is that he is talking about this after a decade of Republican leadership in Montpelier, a decade where Douglas and Dubie stunted job growth and development across the state. His frustration and fear is real across the state, it just seems completely misplaced.
I’m really interested in seeing the actual text of his speech today. Rutland 1-2 is by no means friendly territory for Democrats, and so I suppose that this kind of rhetoric should not be surprising, but the reality is that it is in their own interest to avoid this kind of talk. It’s not like there are conservative pockets in Vermont that they have not been reaching, and pandering to the voters in the few areas of the state that will approve of this is a great strategy for never governing.
Mr. Speaker,
I don’t know if I should be disappointed with my party… enamored by the left…. or disgusted by the partisan politics.
You see Mr. Speaker…. several amendments have been introduced over the last two days, by my party. Every one shot down in flames! That would lead me to believe that either we on the right are ignorant…. or the left is arrogant. What I think is the that the super majority thinks the bills brought forward are perfect in every way.
I digress…..
One of the biggest myths being propagated today…. is the absurd notion…. that “people can’t see a doctor without having insurance.” The truth is…. office visits are relatively cheap…. well within the means of most people. The problem is most people don’t budget anything for their annual medical care. Then…. when a problem arises…. any expense greater than zero…. isn’t in the budget.
The other problem is that insurance really isn’t insurance anymore. It is pre-paid health care. True insurance is intended to prevent financial disaster…. in the face of an unlikely event. Most people…. have come to expect first dollar coverage for everything…. including very common and likely events…. like routine doctor visits. Covered employees don’t realize it’s their money going to pay for this wonderful…. non-bargain…. first dollar coverage. It’s not a “free” benefit provided by their employer…. as most employees believe. These costs are essentially hidden from employees. Money their employer wastes in purchasing first dollar coverage…. or inferior managed care coverage for the employee…. is money which would have been the employee’s salary in the first place…. to spend as they choose.
The reason most people obtain their health insurance from their employer is because of tax discrimination. During World War II…. our government enacted wage and price controls. Employers couldn’t attract better workers by offering higher wages…. but were allowed to offer health insurance as an untaxed benefit. Although World War II ended over 65 years ago…. this same tax discrimination policy remains in effect today. This atrocious policy… discriminates against the working poor…. part-time employees…. employees working for small businesses that don’t offer health insurance…. and the self-employed. Those who obtain their health insurance through their employer…. purchase their coverage with pre-tax dollars. On the other hand…. those who purchase their health insurance on their own…. purchase it with after-tax dollars…. a huge difference! In fact, the uninsured actually end up paying what amounts to a tax penalty for being uninsured. It is fact that “a family in the bottom fifth of the income distribution pays hundreds of dollars more in taxes than insured families at the same income level. For families in the top fifth of the income distribution…. the tax penalty is can be in the thousands. On the average…. uninsured families pay about $1,200 more in federal taxes each year because they do not have employer-provided insurance. Collectively…. the uninsured pay about $18 billion in extra taxes each year…. because they do not receive the same tax break as insured people with similar income. If state and local taxes are included…. the extra taxes paid by the uninsured…. nears $20 billion per year.”
Where…. we must ask…. has the compassion for these overtaxed…. hard-working people been? This is clearly…. a government…. created…. problem. What we don’t need is more government to fix it! What we don’t need…. is socialized health care to fix it! What we do need is to get government out of our wallets so people can have their own money…. needed to purchase and own their own health insurance. The other thing the pro-socialist “crisis mongers” fail to tell people…. is that only one-third of the uninsured are chronically uninsured. For the other two-thirds… it is only a short…. temporary condition…. “half of all uninsured spells will last less than six-months. Three-fourths of them will be insured within 12 months. Only 18 percent of all…. last for more than two years.”
Those who brandish…. “the crisis of the uninsured”…. to promote socialized medicine…. also often fail to tell people that uninsured…. doesn’t necessarily mean poor. In fact, the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) tells us that “a third of the uninsured households earn more than $35,000 a year and 10 percent earn more than $55,000.” One in five live in households making…. $75,000 plus…. per year. That’s at least 40 percent of the so-called “uninsured” that could well afford a $60 office visit or health insurance. We need to get away from the concept that “someone else”…. big government or insurance…. needs to take care of our every need.
The other adverse consequence of this tax discrimination…. is that it led to cost inflation of medical care. Everyone came to believe that we were spending “other peoples money”. And, when you’re spending “other peoples money”…. the sky is the limit. Patients have been told that they are getting “free” insurance from their employer…. and quite naturally came to expect everything they wanted or desired…. whether of marginal benefit or not…. would be “fully covered.” Likewise…. the physician who “participated” in insurance…. and was paid directly by the insurance company for everything…. with “other peoples money”…. had no dis-incentive to hold down costs. The patients came to view these “participating” physicians as good…. and compassionate…. because the physicians would accept their insurance…. and the patient would have to pay little or nothing out of pocket…. not realizing that “other peoples money”….. was actually their money all along.
Therefore…. both patient and participating physician…. contributed to this disrupted market…. where both buyer and seller were insulated from costs…. thus leading to uncontrollable cost inflation. The problem of cost inflation was further compounded by the cost of government regulation. Government mandates increase the costs of health insurance tremendously…. and the mandates are often for things that people don’t want…. or need. Yet…. they are forced to pay for the coverage. These mandated benefits included wigs for bald-headed women in Minnesota…. pastoral marital counseling here in Vermont…. and community sperm bank services in Massachusetts.
A few years ago in New York state…. most health insurance premiums doubled…. as a result of state-mandated community ratings. This has made health insurance especially hard to afford for the young and healthy…. who are in effect…. punished by the state for being young and healthy…. and for not engaging in unhealthy behavior. State mandates…. which were purportedly instituted to “help” people…. have thus had the effect of pricing many people out of the health insurance market. This is predictably what happens when we look to big government…. to help us.
Indeed…. “universal coverage,”…. “nationalized health care”…. or “socialized medicine”…. regardless of what you choose to call it…. is not the same as medical care. All of the citizens of Canada, for instance…. have “universal coverage.” What they often don’t have…. is the medical care that they need…. when they need it. That is why we see Canadians crossing the border into the United States in droves to obtain the health care that they can’t get when they need it in their own country. Their government rations access to health care…. and thus attempts to control costs…. thus making MRI scans, radiation oncology, bypass surgeries and many other health services largely unavailable to their own people. Is this the egalitarian’s view of compassion and social justice?
There are many options out there. Most people could purchase a high deductible indemnity insurance policy…. at a lower price…. than they would pay for monthly managed care premiums. That’s right…. a much higher quality of health care at a lower price! Imagine having the freedom to choose the doctor or hospital you want to go to…. being able to go to specialists without denials…. delays…. or gatekeepers. The money saved by purchasing a high-deductible catastrophic policy…. could be set aside in a special savings account to pay for deductibles. The money saved by purchasing a high-deductible policy could also be used to pay for the insurance premiums. That’s just one idea not looked at in this bill.
Those in favor of nationalized health care…. of course…. don’t want to give you control of your own money. Government elites feel that they can better spend your money…. than you can. This is the real message that they don’t want you to hear.
One important aspect of our health care industry that is largely ignored…. is charity….. No hospital ever turns any patient away because of lack of funds. Hospitals and the physicians on call at those hospitals…. are required by law…. to treat all patients…. irrespective of ability to pay. We do it all the time. It’s a total myth that you can’t come to the hospital…. because you “don’t have insurance”…. or “can’t pay.” Charity is something that should involve churches…. not big government. What big government does…. Is confiscate money from all…. including the minimum wage earner…. and redistributes it based upon some social engineering scheme isn’t charity. It’s legalized plunder. True charity comes from the heart…. not from forced contributions. Most churches and charitable agencies understand the dependency trap of big government programs. They understand that it does no good in the long run to give a man fish for his dinner. This does not help him. To help a man…. you must teach him to fish. The goal should be to help a man back to his feet so he can support himself and his family…. not to trap them in a cycle of dependency…. That is what dignity and self-esteem are all about…. That is what true compassion is all about….
I find it very sad…. in a country where men and women have died…. fighting to preserve our freedom…. and have died…. fighting off socialism, communism and recently radical Muslim beliefs…. that some are now considering socialized medicine as a solution to improving access to health care.
Lenin once said…. “medicine is the keystone in the arch of socialism”…. and I believe those who are promoting “universal coverage” via government run and government controlled medicine know this. What they hope…. is that the public won’t find out the truth. There is nothing compassionate about socialism. This is why the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons gives a high priority to educating other physicians and the public about the truth of socialized medicine.
That is why the AAPS should be joined and supported by all!
In closing….
Yes, we need health care reform, but it needs to be based upon the principles of individual freedom and individual responsibility.
I totally agree that his conclusions (and many of his facts) are off base. However, I think it is critically important to refrain from selectively editing people’s remarks.
Having read his speach, his comments regarding “radical muslim beliefs” was in the following context “in a country where men and women have died…. fighting to preserve our freedom…. and have died…. fighting off socialism, communism and recently radical Muslim beliefs”. While this is both not accurate and a deplorable injustice to our soldiers who have died for a variety of causes…including; capitalist greed, oil, occasionally for humanitarian reasons or because of a “threat to our security”, it is not equating universal healthcare with either Sharia Law or the beliefs of any religeon.
While I know that the original post was created in the context of hearsay, I think we need to be careful as we attack Glen Beck (rightfully) for missinformation or quoting out of context that we on the left do not do the same for our own ends.