Sunday, March 14, 2010

Adammay Eakerspay aysay atwhay?

Every time I see our country's Speaker of the House on television or type or utter her name I wanna throw up in my mouth. So I won't - utter her name. On my drive "Up North" Friday, I heard Madam Speaker quoted Thursday on Rachel Maddow's show:

"Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance."
What does that mean? Is she encouraging people to pursue their dreams and passions and become artists? Or is she referring to established artists - that they may continue in their pursuit of the arts because the Obama health care plan will cover them whether they're working a "day" job or not? Or is she simply saying that any artist will have access to health care coverage whether or not they have a "day" job? (Did I repeat myself? See - I'm confused.)

Here's one conservative's take on Madam Speaker's take on artistry and the health care bill.

I'm an artist, Ms. Speaker, and the economy you described would be wonderful - in Alice's Wonderland. If artists don't need to have a "day" job in order to have health coverage, what would be their incentive to ever find a full-time job, as long as they can cover the monthly premiums? If every Tom, Dick and Jane pursued his or her passions to the extent that they didn't need a day job but had access to health insurance, my brother would be out in the Northwoods tapping maple trees all day, I wouldn't have to pay COBRA and substitute teach, my buddy Nick could pursue his alternative band while his wife stays home from analyzing her psychiatric patients while teaching her 4-month-old to watercolor and the rest of the world could purse reality television careers.

If everyone took to heart what Madam Speaker (it's difficult for me to even refer to her as "madam") said, who would end up bearing the brunt of the financial responsibility for health care coverage? Would anyone have to work full-time? Someone please tell me what Madam Speaker was driving at because I'm confused.

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