"What's that?"I hear you say...
"Death Panels - What the hell are they?". Well, according to Sarah Palin, among other conservatives against the current Obama administration, a Death Panel is (a metahpor) a council that would assess one's standing within society, i.e. their contributions to Taxes etc. as a means of identifying whether or not a particular individual is eligible for government health care. Ex-Gov. Palin, herself stated that such a "Death Panel" would kill her baby with Down Syndrome. Rep. Michelle Bachmann has voiced a similar opinion on the matter. In reality, their assertions are typical conservative, anti-left, anti-democratic party hyperbolic criticisms which clearly omit their acknowledgement of ever reading the Obama Health Care Reform proposals. It's almost as if, this death panel rumour they decrie was foretold to them in a fortune cookie.
But we can't blame Gov. Palin...too much...she is afterall going to most likely be running against Obama in 2012, or more sensibly in 2016. Rep. Bachmann on the otherhand...well, this is not the first time she has made sensationalist and downright false accusations against the US president. She is just a loose canon that should be regularly ignored unless one wishes to see political satire being taken seriously by bigotted zealots.
While mean tested healthcare may play a small role in the United States Health Care system, this is not by any means a "death panel". Those who need health care WILL recieve it. This is not, should not, and cannot be some political notion that is being dangled in front of a naive minority of the public. Why? Because it is the same panic and hysteria that led to numerous acts of hatred in the past. I need not mention which acts have occured in the name of scare mongering. Just look at the history books...it's pretty obvious.
