I took a look at the excellent post by whosmindingdemint this morning, featuring a video of FDR’s response in 1936 to the same type of Republican fuzzy math and outright deceit the Romney-Ryan campaign is engaging in this year. Among the YouTube videos on the side were these, showing JFK speaking in favor of the Medicare proposal at Madison Square Garden and I found them well worth a look (sorry, couldn’t figure out how to embed properly). The second clip is particularly good.
John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden – Part 1
John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden – Part 2
President Kennedy demolishes, with logic and wit, many of the perpetual critiques of liberalism that are still being launched today. He even, at repeated points, asserts a version of “you didn’t build that” and a strong defense not only of the New Deal but of the importance of building upon it. He even calls out astro-turf campaigns coordinated by lobbyists. It’s a great presentation and a strong contrast with the lethargic, tepid performance we saw from the President last night.
These days, as we seem to be playing defense on a national level over these already-fought-and-won fights, we need to remember why these programs were adopted in the first place. Before Medicare, seniors had no care in many cases, in large part because they had precious little money to pay for it. Every independent analysis of the Ryan voucher plan has concluded that it won’t cover the cost of private insurance for seniors, not by a long shot.
People who have worked hard their whole lives will be virtually bankrupted by paying not only for the cost of insurance, beyond what the vouchers will cover, but also for all the things their “coverage” won’t cover. They will be trying to pay for this from their diminished savings, eviscerated private pensions, and Social Security that the Republicans are longing to cut with the help of their enablers in the punditry, and yes, the Democratic Party. Younger relatives will be asked, as they did before Medicare, to chip in to make up the difference, with ripple effects throughout the economy.
The Republican hypocrisy is breathtaking. After years of demanding cost controls in Medicare, the Republicans have spent more than two years demonizing the President’s efforts to do just that. They won the 2010 elections that way, so perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that Romney mentioned the so-called Medicare “cuts” no fewer than 10 times last night. I’m hopeful that, this time, it will not work. I’m hopeful that Mitt Romney will, over the next weeks, be called out for his many falsehoods last night. And I’m hopeful that, when I hit 65 nearly 30 years from now, Medicare and Social Security – or something better – will be there for me. The alternative is simply unacceptable.
