Civil War Never Really Ended (as we suspected)

[salex]

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/07/shutdow ... d_partner/

Didn't break the link. INteresting article points out that Ten of the Eleven Former Confederate States Are Not Participating in the Expansion of Medicaid

. . .

This underscores that what is really going on in Washington today is a replay of the Kulturkampf, a period of German history that occurred in the 1870s. At the time, that country’s modernizing forces resolved to fight back against the economically retarding influence of conservative religious forces, mainly the Catholic Church.

Germany’s mid-19th century Catholic Church, a very powerful economic force at the time, fiercely resisted any suggestions of modernizing the social structures of society – just as many Republicans do now. It sought to preserve the economic power of the well established, largely feudal-era interests, i.e., its own – much as Republicans do now.

The fight in Washington thus is not about any of the things in the headlines, be it the budget, debt or “Obamacare.†These are merely proxies in a much more fundamental battle over the future structure of American society.

Democrats want those structures to be opened up, to create more economic rights for the underprivileged, so that the national economy can grow in the future. To Republicans, any investment in these and other long-term causes is a net negative on what they see as their core mission – defending the interests of rich Americans.

Really about who has economic power

Thus, we are largely dealing with a battle over redistributing shares of economic power, covered up in the clothing of cultural values. That is why it is so bitterly fought. To either side, the entire future of the country is at stake.

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There is one more big irony to be pointed out in a historic context: It would be a great injustice to conservatives anywhere on the planet to agree with U.S. Republicans that opposing health insurance coverage for the entire population is conservative in any sense of the word.

One of the world’s greatest archconservatives, the then German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, introduced health coverage for all Germans as far back as 1883. What is it about U.S. “conservatives†that, by 2013 – 130 years after Bismarck – they cannot muster the same degree of enlightenment as Bismarck?

[ThatSnark]

Interesting article. I live in one of those states and have been a medical social worker in three of them. Based on that and my knowledge of this corner of the US, the states down here already have a significant part of their budget going out to fund Medicaid-- in some cases, more than is used to fund the public schools. Because these states tend to have lower employment and more underemployment, the tax base is lower and the states are poorer. It doesn't surprise me at all that they decided not to expand when they're barely covering the program as it stands.

I would love to see more equity and parity for the southern states and have Medicaid funded as robustly as, say, Massachusetts' health plan. It would require a lot more Federal involvement than people would be OK with down here. Anyway, interesting stuff.

[J'ean Skirt]

Interesting article. I live in one of those states and have been a medical social worker in three of them. Based on that and my knowledge of this corner of the US, the states down here already have a significant part of their budget going out to fund Medicaid-- in some cases, more than is used to fund the public schools. Because these states tend to have lower employment and more underemployment, the tax base is lower and the states are poorer. It doesn't surprise me at all that they decided not to expand when they're barely covering the program as it stands.

The expansion was paid for fully by federal monies until 2016. Then it was 90% paid for by federal monies.

IMO healthier people == better tax base in the long term.

[Verin Sedai]

The expansion was paid for fully by federal monies until 2016. Then it was 90% paid for by federal monies.

IMO healthier people == better tax base in the long term.

My totally non-scientific explanation for this is that Southern state governments just plain don't trust the fed to keep their promises, especially about funding. [the following is based on my fuzzy memories - someone please correct me if I'm wrong] Florida was supposed to put in a high-speed railway from Orlando to Tampa a couple of years ago, and I think it was supposed to be fully paid for by the federal government, but Lord VoldemortGovernor Scott turned it down because he didn't trust that the federal funding was going to really cover it all and there would be too much cost to Floridians.

Regardless, it does seem to me that for the South, D.C. is still "them", not us, whether or not they have representation there. Regionalism is still alive and well.

[ThatSnark]

My totally non-scientific explanation for this is that Southern state governments just plain don't trust the fed to keep their promises, especially about funding. [the following is based on my fuzzy memories - someone please correct me if I'm wrong] Florida was supposed to put in a high-speed railway from Orlando to Tampa a couple of years ago, and I think it was supposed to be fully paid for by the federal government, but Lord VoldemortGovernor Scott turned it down because he didn't trust that the federal funding was going to really cover it all and there would be too much cost to Floridians.

Regardless, it does seem to me that for the South, D.C. is still "them", not us, whether or not they have representation there. Regionalism is still alive and well.

Yes-- you've hit the nail on the head. The Federal government has a long history of broken promises to the South (and a Titanic-load of crooked politicians from here who helped that along) so there's always an undercurrent of mistrust for Federally-funded programs. There are a lot of states'-righters down here.

Of course healthier people create a better tax base. As someone with a health care resumé, I could not support national health care more-- I think it's essential-- but I think that there is so much diversity between states that it's going to be hard to make one system fit 50 states. I would love to see this succeed and take the financial part of the health care puzzle off the table. *sigh*