Wise and sensible words by a Canadian

[ailsagirl]

Link to tweet

[applegrove]

1. And to help pay for it we have a vat tax: send your teen to the mall with $100

they'll pay $7 in federal tax. It really works. People love it. It saves money. It stops alot of bankruptcies.

[arthritisR_US]

2. Being a Canadian I've always been baffled by your Nations debate on

a basic human right, health care.

[3catwoman3]

4. Being a human being, so...

...have I.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

6. I'm baffled by it too and I've lived here my whole life.

It seems like half of the population have evolved into evil, greedy monsters.

[gopiscrap]

3. Totally agree

[pangaia]

5. Plus- some day, for sure, Natalie-Ann is going to need the health care

she and others have been paying for.. remember-- death and taxes....

That's another thing too many ignorant Americans don't seem to comprehend.

[NanceGreggs]

7. The reason why ...

... is simple: the Canadian healthcare system has been misrepresented by Republicans for decades.

Here's some of the things I've heard GOPers state:

In Canada, it takes up to 8 months or more to get a doctor's appointment.

All Canadian doctors are gov't employees and, as such, the gov't directs them to keep costs down by not prescribing expensive treatments, even if they think it necessary.

In Canada, the gov't assigns you to a specific doctor, and you cannot see anyone else.

A Canadian doctor cannot prescribe treatment or medication to any patient without "clearing it" with a gov't bureaucrat first.

Canadian hospitals are using decrepit, out-of-date equipment because the gov't refuses to spend the money to update them.

I have lived in Toronto for over forty years, and NONE of the above is even remotely true. Doctors are not gov't employees, and I can see any doctor I choose. I can see a doctor within an hour if I need to. The gov't doesn't even know I've seen a doctor until that doctor sends them the bill for my visit.

Canadian hospitals are state-of-the-art, and often treat Americans whose own hospitals aren't as well-equipped as ours.

I know that the above propaganda is wide-spread in the US, and accepted as fact. I know because I've had this bullshit parroted back to me by family and friends in the States.

If Americans KNEW how the Canadian system actually works, they'd be in the streets with torches and pitchforks demanding it. Instead they've swallowed the GOP propaganda whole.

[Sculpin Beauregard]

11. Am Canadian also and agree

It's funny how the idea of taxes to pay for decent healthcare for everyone is 'socialist' but the politicians sure don't mind taking your money to pay for THEIR healthcare and THEIR pensions. Why is the former not ok but the latter is?

It's criminal in the 'richest, bestest' country in the world.

[SCVDem]

16. Yet you guys also have a Looney!

Trade ya!

[calimary]

23. Welcome to DU, Sculpin Beauregard!

What irks me most is the damn propaganda that they unfortunately are very good at doing. They're pounding away almost desperately, trying to talk "Obamacare" down to its death. "It's collapsing," they claim. "What we should do is just leave it alone and let it fail - as it's gonna, for sure, gonna collapse, any minute now, death spiral, starting now..."

And Good Grief are we shitty at messaging. Neither the catchy phrase-work NOR the repetition. EVERY Dem EVERYWHERE should get a collection of talking points to pound away at. Like a nail into hard wood. A single mention isn't anywhere near enough. You need MANY strokes!

I don't know why Dems everywhere aren't jumping on something like "They Don't Want to Help You." Especially now that we've seen their murderous, mean-spirited, needlessly hurtful "budget." We keep seeing anecdotal evidence of how this new "America's Hell Care Act" is going to hurt people. Masses of people. Most of 'em poor, and trusted trump. Believed him and voted for him.

And was described earlier today on the weekday "Meet the Press" hour - the American Association of Actuaries and the Congressional Budget Office BOTH stated that the Affordable Care Act is NOT imploding. But where is the push-back from the Dems when every damn CON anywhere near a camera or microphone parrots the same damn talking points about how the ACA is collapsing, its death imminent? And more doom, defeat, and despair that they are aggressively pushing to anyone who'll listen. WHERE IS THE PUSHBACK?

Sometimes I despair. Have they seriously not learned ANYTHING from the Frank Luntz/Karl Rove perception management of the bush/cheney era? Have they learned NOTHING?

[Foo Fighter]

25. We have a different definition of socialism here.

The American definition of socialism stipulates that all costs and losses are to be paid for by the taxpayers (aka, the commoners, the plebes, etc) and all profits are the sole domain of millionaires and billionaires. That's just the way it works here. Or, er, doesn't work. Well, it works for the top 1% anyway. For the rest of us, not so much.

And welcome to DU, Sculpin Beauregard! Hmmm...you're Canadian, eh? Uh, any chance you're looking to 'adopt' an American? I'm housebroken, I don't eat much, and I keep my room clean. If adoption won't work, perhaps the 'marriage' thing would be an option. I'm open to pretty much anything that would let me swap Trump for Justin.

Forgot to mention: I hate the cold. Any way you could move Canada further south?

[Sculpin Beauregard]

27. Lol!

Thanks Foo! Hmm, I think I have an idea...why don't we make all the US states of your choice part of Canada (with DUers permission, of course, everyone can vote).

Then, we'll rename Guantanamo 'Washington' and move Trumpty Dumpty there! Forever! Problem solved! 😊

[Foo Fighter]

31. Excellent idea!

Joining Canada works for me! When can we start? Is tomorrow good for you?

Ha! I love the thought of Trump in Gitmo. I bet if they created a cell that looked like the Oval Office, he wouldn't know the difference. Of course, in the best interests of everyone involved, his entire Cabinet should accompany him there. Ya know, for national security purposes. Yeah, that's it.

[uriel1972]

32. I remember a graphic...

"The United States of Canada" being in blue and "Jesusland" being in red. I would search and post but am terminally lazy today.

[roamer65]

13. Yes, a lot of Americans who have inadequate health insurance go to Canada.

Quality health care at a fraction of the cost.

[George II]

18. NONE of what the republicans say (and you detail above) is true. Every time one of my relatives...

...in Toronto hears any of those "alternative facts" they laugh and shake their heads.

One thing you did leave out, though, is that Canadians do not cross the border en masse for American (should be "United States", Canadians are "Americans" too!) health care.

[NanceGreggs]

20. My late husband and I ...

... (both Americans living in Canada) were infuriated when, in the lead-up to Obamacare, we watched Repub after Repub on US "news shows" spouting all of the above - completely without challenge.

Not one person came forward to say, "We've fact-checked this, and it's not true."

[delisen]

8. Iam getting disgusted seeing these well-nourished politicians

giving themselves insurance for.their own health care and working hard to deny children bssic care like food and health care.

They have a warped sense of manhood.

Take Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. Over 50% of the children in East Tennessee have untreated tooth decay and they want to keep those children in poor health.

Instead of representing these children, the are competing with them----grown men, rich men trying to beat out children for goods and services because of some asinine philosophy.

Exploiting children who place their trust in you.

[ailsagirl]

9. What is WRONG with those miscreants???

Mentally unhinged

[UTUSN]

10. Some more "wise & sensible words" from another Canadian:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028789163

[DK504]

12. Humiliating ain't it?

[Old Terp]

14. I love Canada.

They are a beautiful and wonderful country. If it gets bad, can an old woman, her beagle and her cat come over? I do flowers.

[Doreen]

15. I would be fine to have a higher tax as long as it went to what

they say it is supposed to. One of the problems in this country is they tell you what our taxes are supposed to go to but it never does. The fucking politicians just get raises and new Swiss villas.

[Foo Fighter]

24. I fully agree.

I don't mind my tax dollars going to those that need it, whether it be to help them feed their family, assist them in getting an education so they can get a better job, help them get through a rough patch, whatever. And don't get me started on MoW or any of the myriad of other programs that Trump is trying to cut. Those programs are there because they are needed and, as such, I consider them to be a good use of my tax dollars.

OTOH, I definitely DO mind my tax dollars going to line the pockets of some rich billionaire. They don't need my money, they just want it. They will never have enough and won't be happy until they have it all.

Unfortunately, the way things are going in this country, they just might get it.

[llmart]

28. Let's not forget...

an every weekend trip to Mar-a-Lago or whatever that ugliness is called.

That infuriates me to no end! Also, if his "wife" can't stand to live with him in the White House, why are we paying extra for her to live in New York?

And most of all WHY do us Americans stand for this??? We should be taking to the streets every goddamned single day until this squatter is out of our White House!

[Doreen]

29. Yeah. it's like "look at what we have and you get to starve and die" while

you pay for it.

[rwsanders]

17. Abraham Lincoln said it best...

A house divided against itself can not stand. The right's war on the most vulnerable of our population only weakens us as a nation.
They have declared war on everything the U.S. was supposed to stand for.

[Rhiannon12866]

22. Exactly!

Every cabinet appointment, every policy that has or could help the American people - they're doing just the opposite. It's like a bad movie that you can't turn off or a bad dream and you can't seem to wake up...

[IronLionZion]

19. Oh yeah, American Republican politicians have told us differently

who are we going to trust? These lying Canadians? Or Repubs who claim to speak for people of a completely different country about how they really feel in private while lying publicly on polls? Yeah, America doesn't have time for facts, so we go with alternative facts instead.

[PatrickforO]

21. You bet! Common decency...it's a GOOD idea.

Single payer is the RIGHT THING TO DO.

[John1956PA]

26. Good GOPers, such as Karen pence, focus on important issues such as towel charms.

From the 07/16/2016 Huffington Post article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/karen-pence-towel-charm_us_578cce86e4b03fc3ee51594f :

That’s My Towel, the business venture of our potential future second lady, Karen Pence, garnered attention over the weekend by outlets like Jezebel and Fortune for its sheer absurdity and essential pointlessness.

The $6.25-a-pop charms promise to settle the pandemonium amongst beach-goers who are the victims of owning similar looking towels. The charms, as Jezebel’s Ellie Shechet so poignantly points out, solve “a number of problems that do not exist, or problems so insignificant that they might as well not exist.”

[Cha]

30. Too many non decent fucking human beings

across the border, Natalie.