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The chart below compares the cost of healthcare among a group of modern, industrialized nations. It should be noted that each of these other countries have all residents covered for their healthcare, while the U.S. does not.

This next chart compares government healthcare spending per capita in the United States and Canada. Clearly while the United States spends more on healthcare, Canada covers healthcare for all residents, while the U.S. doesn’t.

And just what are we getting for all this money we spend on healthcare? What we get is that the United States of America rates #40 in life expectancy, behind Taiwan, Cuba, Costa Rica, etc.

Canada rates #11 in life expectancy, while Japan is #1, Italy is #5, France is #7, Sweden is #8, Israel is #9, Germany is #20, and the UK is #23. For further information on life expectancy around the world check out this Wikipedia page.

America actually spends more on private and government-provided health care than Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Sweden or the United Kingdom. In each and every one of those countries there is government-based systems that cover everybody — while we leave millions without healthcare coverage.

And, with all this extra spending on healthcare, life expectancy is higher in these nations than in our country. Where is all this extra spending going — the extra spending that is bankrupting our country? Why, it’s going to massive inefficiencies that Obamacare is intended to address, and to Insurance Companies, of course!

For an in-depth read on the subject check out Ezra Klein’s article at his WONKBLOG.

DYSFUNCTIONAL MUCH?

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How far can they fall? This once proud party can no longer effectively govern, their approval poll number is 26%, and they’re seen by most of us as election manipulators and cheaters.

And worst of all, what they mainly seem to do is whine and complain and portray themselves as “victims” when in fact — they are the bullies. Tune into any Fox News program, radio talk-shows on the Right, or any rightwing blog, and all you hear is faux outrage: There’s a war on Chrismas; Acorn stole presidential elections from them; The President didn’t reach out to THEM in his inaugural address to the nation. And on and on and on. Never ending?

Well, maybe there’s hope afterall. Check out this Media Matters article “Are Conservatives Rethinking The Fox News Outrage Model?”

According to blogger, Eric Boehlert, “Being outraged, and especially being outraged about made-up claims, like Obama’s imaginary “name-calling” on Monday [assertions they admit they can’t substantiate], has become a signature of the far right movement over the last four years. It’s also blossomed into Fox News’ entire business model. Fox News makes a pile of profits each year overreacting to imagined Obama slights.”

“The question is, has the Fox model of the phony Outrage Machine damaged the conservative movement? Is it standing in the way of Republican progress and electoral success?”

“Writing at his site RedState this week, conservative CNN commentator Erick Erickson beseeched fellow partisans to drop the outrage shtick and to move into more substantial areas of debate. “Conservatives, frankly, have become purveyors of outrage instead of preachers for a cause,” he wrote. “Who the hell wants to listen to conservatives whining and moaning all the time about the outrage du jour?”

MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, CHANGE IS COMING FOR THE GOP TOO!

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We can’t quite get our heads around the GOP thinking that there’s any possible upside for their willingness to throw the country into default on our nation’s debt, in exchange for slashing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — all very popular social programs.

The leverage that they seem to think they have looks like a losing hand to play. Their miscalculations could be disastrous for the party, because their demands to shred the social safety net are not at ALL what the American people want. And, defaulting on our debt is not all that popular either.

So, we’re left scratching our heads?!? What in the world are they thinking?

They seem to think (indeed ASSERT) that the President is unwilling to cut spending, and that they therefore need to force him to the table. Which is kinda weird on its face, because he cut over $1.7T last year, and continues to talk about even further cuts.

It appears that the GOP is having a major temper tantrum and stamping their feet over made-up issues that don’t even make sense.

Here’s a hint: GOP, sit down with the President and talk about what he might be willing to cut. Then tell him what you’d like to cut. Then, talk about how you might be able to agree on reforming the tax code. You might get lowered corporate tax rates, in exchange for closing tax loopholes. Next you might talk about how to put Social Security and Medicare on firmer ground. That might be tweaking eligibility and maybe raising the cap on payroll taxes.

LOTS OF WAYS TO GET THE JOB DONE! You just have to stop posturing first.

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A mother bought guns, probably because she thought they would keep her safe. But, they did not — those guns were the cause of her death in the hands of her troubled son. Those guns were also the cause of the deaths of 27 others, mostly children aged 5 to 10 years old.

The horror of the massacre of 20 kindergarten children by a disturbed 20 year old is almost more than we can face. I’ve been on the edge of tears all day … not asking “why” but just enduring the pain. One foot in front of the other.

Americans need to be told the truth about guns. They need to be educated about just how dangerous it is to have guns. The facts are that those who have guns are in real jeopardy of injury and loss of life because of those guns. Americans need to be told about how much safer life is in countries where there are some restrictions on guns.

We need to understand just how much profit there is in selling guns and ammunition to folks who mistakenly believe that they are making themselves and their loved one safer by owning guns. We need to know about the political power that is in the hands of the National Rifle Association and how the NRA misleads and fools the American people for their own selfish ends.

A mother bought guns, and her unhealthy son used those guns to kill her, 20 children, 7 adult educators in an elementary school, and finally took his own life. If she had known the facts, would she have bought those guns?

NOW … CAN WE TALK ABOUT GUNS?

It’s been called an election without substance — all smoke and mirrors.

Actually, we think this election was pretty clear on the big issues. The exit polling questions/answers told us where the country stands on women’s rights, immigration reform, war, a balanced approach to deficit reduction, the basic civil right to vote, and at the same time the exit polls demonstrated huge passion among our young voters and the NEW majority demographic — non-whites!

And there has been a truly strong, and epic shift among the American people in our attitudes toward taxes. For over 30 years taxes have been demonized as baaaaaad! But, after 4 years of the GOP screaming, “deficits are bringing our country down” out of one side of their mouths, followed quickly by a shout of, “we need to cut taxes by 20%,” it appears that at least ONE of their conflicting positions has won the hearts of the voters.

It’s pretty logical, after all, and the American people seem to get it: if deficits are a danger to our long range economy, then lowering taxes — especially on the already-wealthy who don’t need them — would surely make the deficit worse. Kinda hard to argue with that!

The GOP mantra that “cutting taxes for the rich will grow the economy (jobs) in our country, and the wealth will trickle-down to the rest of us,” has been pretty much de-bunked.

The recent, non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report concludes, “The results of the analysis suggest that changes over the past 65 years in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax rate do not appear correlated with economic growth. The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie.”

And the voters seem to be convinced that the GOP “trickle-down theory” has been a hoax. The exit poll answers made clear that raising taxes on the uber wealthy is favored as a way to help lower deficits, and that attacking our social safety-net while at the same time lowering taxes for the already-rich would NOT be acceptable to voters.

TWEET: Michael Linden@MichaelSLinden

“John King says the country is a center right country – on the same night Obama is reelected and Dems win seats in both chambers.”

I saw this tweet last night, and it reminded me that common wisdom DOES have it that America is a center right country, and that IS why we started this blog two years ago during the healthcare debate. We named our blog “Center Left Nation” because we just don’t agree that America is politically right-leaning. It’s just not.

And, last nights re-election of our black, reformer Democrat president confirms the initial instinct. Click HERE to read our Inaugural Post.

Daniel McCarthy at The American Conservative magazine wrote an interesting article this week that goes a long way in ringing the alarm bell for today’s GOP.

He asks the question, “Is the GOP Still a National Party?” And, pretty much answers, “No.” His take is that the GOP has become a regional party, beholden to their right-wing base and less and less able to run a national campaign that appeals to the country as a whole.

We were really excited to stumble across this article, as we’d already begun to talk among ourselves about the rightward turn of the GOP, and how that is making their message harder to sell in a national election.

The GOP civil war has begun. When the party took in the Tea Party in order to win elections in the short term, they took in the right-wingers who will destroy the party in the long run.

The Tea Party represents about 22% of the American voters — not a big enough group of voters to win elections on their own, but it is a sizable group that has helped the GOP to win elections — most recently in the 2010 congressional elections. That win was accomplished with a basic lie: Obamacare has “Death Panels” and it was won with right-wing populism that stirred anger over the bank bailouts. And, it was won because Obama voters didn’t show up at the polls.

But, the GOP took the wrong lesson from that election. They thought that their big win meant that the country had turned to their right-wing policies. They went too far and over-reached with their agenda.

Right now so many Republicans are blaming Mitt Romney for where this presidential election currently stands. We think that in addition to Romney being an awkward, unlikable person, he is also saddled with the voter’s dislike of today’s GOP and the belief that it no longer shares values with the American people since it adopted Tea Party rhetoric.

The GOP brand of Ronald Reagan was sunny and forward looking … that’s the American people! Today’s GOP, with its Tea Party values, has become negative; hateful; mean; backward looking; blame-placers, disrespectful of women and gays; racially bigoted; and even seen as threatening when they show up at political rallies packin’ heat!

And, their bigotry appears to be a badge of honor to many in the GOP! It is stunning to watch Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown’s staff laughing and smiling — in a boastful and self-congratulatory manner — as they mock Brown’s opponent, Elizabeth Warren, for her Native American heritage. They are caught on video yelling Native American war-whoops, all the while executing tomahawk chops.

This is no longer the pary of Ronald Reagan. We believe Reagan would call these people out for their behavior. Today’s GOP leaders need to take a stand against the extremists that are now taking control of the party.

If they don’t, then the predictions of Daniel McCarthy, in his article in The American Conservative, will be proven right.

Check out Maddow Blog this morning for a great message. We reformatted parts of it here.

THIS IS A PRESIDENT WHO PASSED:
• A health-care reform breakthrough 100 years in the making

• He also imposed the most sweeping Wall Street reforms since the Great Depression

• Obama also rescued the economy from collapse

• Rescued the American auto industry

• Ended the war in Iraq

• Decimated al Qaeda and killed bin Laden

• Reformed the student loan system

• Ended “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

• Vastly improved fuel efficiency standards

• Helped topple the Gaddafi regime

• Negotiated the New START treaty

• Improved food safety protections

• Cracked down on credit card company abuses

• Expanded stem-cell research

• Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

FOR STARTERS!

I think we all know bullies when we see them … and, the only way to deal with bullies is to NOT give in to their demands!

It’s pretty clear to me that the GOP has held our country hostage for three years — hostage to their demands that they get their own way on everything. And it’s clear that they announced, with their actions, that they will not help govern unless they can be in charge, and call ALL the shots.

Nope, no way … my way or the highway.

I, for one, would never consider a vote to give in to the bullies’ demands!

If we stand together against the obstructionists … maybe, just maybe, they’ll get some manners and start behaving like grown-ups. It could be the opportunity … a beginning … for them to save their Republican Party.

STAND UP AND SAY “NO” TO THE PARTY OF NO!

You know the idea that private enterprise will do a MORE efficient job of running Social Security and Medicare?

Well, if you really-really like the idea of putting your Social Security money in the hands of the Big Banks (witness the older Americans who have lost their retirement money on Wall Street); and you really-really like the idea of having your Medicare just handed over to the Big Insurance Companies who you think are so totally trustworthy with their customers — then the GOP is YOUR party … and good luck to you if they win Washington, D.C.

By the way: The GOP tested out their free-enterprise “efficiency” theory under Bush by giving Medicare money, in the form of subsidies to Insurance Companies, (under the misleading name of “Medicare Advance”) and guess what?: Medicare Advance cost the taxpayers MORE money than regular Medicare!

Government has been demonized for decades by the GOP who has ALWAYS hated effective government, and fought with all their might to kill Social Security and Medicare. It’s past time to call them on their misleading policies. AND on their lies to deceive America about their policies.

Capitalism does many, many things very well. But not everything.