For an unvarnished look into the dark, dreary soul of American conservatism circa 2015, it would hard to top this opinion piece that was given a prominent place in the Washington Post's Sunday Outlook section Jan 25. Written by one Michael R. Strain, a "resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute", the headline of the piece basically says it all:
End Obamacare, and people could die. That’s okay.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
We all make cost-benefit calculations, and sometimes it just doesn't make economic sense to save lives. So tough luck, I guess. The greatest country in the world is too broke to save lives - cutting taxes on the rich is so-o-o-o-o much more important.
Every other advanced country has pretty much accepted without question or opposition the principle that everyone is entitled to decent health care, and that it is a duty of government to make this happen. The Republican Party is the only major political party anywhere in the world that is basically running on a platform that universal health care is a bad thing, not a good thing, and that if people die as a result of being denied health care, well that's just the way it goes.
Astonishing. I'm consistently flabbergasted at what my country has become. What would Jesus say?