Now this is crowd that will understand your "Edsel" joke.
Politico strikes again, once again giving over op-ed pixels to the right-wing crazies to bleat about the evils of Obamacare. This time it's Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, who is
desperate to present the burn-your-fake-Obamcare-card-as-a-meaningless-political-gesture campaign as a huge success.
Oh, where to begin?
I think we struck a nerve. Judging from the left’s hysterical overreaction to FreedomWorks’ “Burn Your Obamacare Card” campaign, this oppressive transfer of wealth from young Americans to the elderly appears to be the Achilles Heel of the new, insanely authoritarian progressive movement.
Here's Kibbe's first problem, he's confusing "hysterical" with "in hysterics." As in laughing hysterically at the idea of the FreedomWorks crowd emulating dirty fucking hippies. It is a priceless image. And one that Kibbe just can't resist.
When did the American left decide that it was cool to subsidize The Man on the backs of millennials struggling with student-loan debt and a job recession that never ends?
What would Jerry Rubin, the Yippie war protester, do? He would torch his Obamacare card without a moment’s hesitation, chanting “Hell no, we won’t go.”
Hahahaha!!! Oh, lordy. But when did the American right decide that large corporations looking out for a profit were "The Man"? And didn't we just learn from a Kibbe cohort, on Politico's very op-ed pages, that affordable education was
a devious plan by President Obama to enslave us all? See, that guy was arguing that being overburdened by student loan debt was Freedom! Now it's supposed to be a bad thing? Obviously, these guys have to work on coordinating their message.
Health and Human Services (HHS) chief Kathleen Sebelius calls FreedomWorks’ ceremonial card-burning efforts “dismal.” Is she projecting? HHS officials are so worried about their ability to conscript enough young able bodies into their master plan that they rolled out a $700 million corporate PR campaign to convince twenty-somethings to buy an overpriced Edsel.
Overpriced? Well, no,
not so much, and a hell of a lot cheaper than dealing with a medical emergency without health insurance. (And really, Edsel? You're using that analogy to convince people born after 1983 that you're hip? That your campaign is cool?)
Burning your Obamacare card is a symbolic gesture that says: I know my options and I’m taking back control over my health-care needs. The decision is my own–not the government’s.
The Man says he has a plan for you. I say it’s time for young people to tune in, turn on, drop out, and yes, torch those Obamacare cards.
Okay, now it's just absurd. The same overburdened millenials struggling with debt and bad job prospects are supposed to be able to take control by "sav[ing] for their own future health-care needs with their own pre-tax dollars"? So if they can afford to save for a health emergency (fat chance) can't they afford insurance? And about that self-determination and decision-making: Does that still count for Kibbe if it's a millenial woman deciding she needs an abortion? Who's decision is it then?
These people are utterly bankrupt. Intellectually, and morally. But they are good for a laugh.