politicartoons | (no subject)

It's funny because congress should not have a personal responsibility to help others so the speech is clearly wrong.

LOL

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The health of the general population isn't essentially an issue of personal responsibility because it directly affects the general welfare; this isn't to say that individuals shouldn't to take responsibility for their own health, but that society as a whole has an obligation to maximize the individual's ability to do just that.

It's funny because it ignores the fact that a) people cannot afford to take responsibility for their own health in this rigged health-care system (simply talking to a doctor will cost $200-300 on its own... god forbid you need blood work or surgery or hospital stay, etc etc), or b) the insurance companies show a near-criminal lack of personal responsibility for their customers when they jack up their rates and delay payments or just deny them care all together (here's a heartbreaking story (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/17/insurance-company-must-pa_n_289841.html) from just this past week), or c) the lack of personal responsibility on the part of congressional Republicans who have admitted they are killing reform efforts (which the vast majority of voters support) for partisan reasons, while they themselves are in no danger of losing their government health-care options.

So there's that.

Citizens have a personal responsibility to not be poor. Those that fail in this should die young.

DERP TELEPROMPTUR