The Wickedness of Herman Cain

The Wickedness of Herman Cain October 5, 2011

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain keeps telling the story of how he was treated successfully for colon cancer, and how he might have died had the Affordable Care Act been the law of the land. This is a wicked lie. As everyone (or everybody who does not take a nihilistic and relativistic approach to facts) knows, nothing much changes for those who have insurance already. The law simply seeks to dramatically reduce healthcare rationing based on cost, so that those currently excluded will be covered.

Grant Gallicho has the real goods on Cain’s treatment. It turns out that he used his connection to very rich and very powerful people to get into the best facilities possible. So in Cain’s twsited moral universe, it’s perfectly licit for wealth and power to determine access to life-saving health care, while millions of others are denied treatment and forced to suffer gravely, go bankrupt, or die. This happens under the current regime, frequently. Of course, the new law does nothing to stop Cain calling his rich friends and using his large stack of cash to pay for the whatever treatment he desires. But Cain wants to stop others receiving potentially life-saving cancer treatment, even if it is not at the top cutting-edge facilities.

This really sums up the morality of the latter-day Republicans. These are the people, after all, who cheer when told that somebody without health insurance will die. These are the people who applaud torture and executing people. This is wickedness, pure and simple.


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