To the Editor:

Saturday night, August 15 the Glenn Beck Show: something eerie, sad and very troublesome transpired. Beck leaned into the camera for punctuation and said in a very calm, soothing and deliberate way, “America, there is so much hatred in this country right now, and it is important that we have and honest conversation here. And understand clearly what is being said on this program...”

He then lurched into a bizarre delusional world of magical thinking where he scrambled historical facts and told us that Nazis wanted to euthanize undesirable people because it cost too much to keep them in institutions. He shows the viewers an alleged Nazi poster that supposedly says that more houses can be built for the people if money isn’t wasted on providing for the mentally ill and physically handicapped.

Beck tells us this mirrors “Obama’s plan” which will cut costs by killing off those who are a drag on the bottom line.  Hitler = Obama.  Any high school History teacher however can tell you that the eradication of undesirables in Hitler’s Germany had everything to do with racial purity and Aryan traits. It had nothing to do with money.
When it comes to eugenics, NSP fascists were concerned with a pure race, Glenn Beck fascists are concerned with economics and transfer that focus to the Democratic health care plan.

So, after bemoaning the fact that there is hatred and anger in the country he stokes the fires of that hate by deliberately identifying the Democratic health plan with Nazi eugenics.

What Beck and his ilk never talk about is how American’s are not FREE. John’s wife hates her job and has a chance to get another one, but she can’t because she would loose the health care her family needs. In the rest of the industrialized world she could go any where she wanted.

Ed works for the State of Georgia and has pretty good insurance from United Health Care, but the two doctors he wants to use are not allowed by his plan. He is not Free to choose his doctor.

Ellen moved to the Lake Country and went looking for a doctor. When she asked at the desk if the doctor was taking new patients she was told in a rude hostile manner, “We’re not taking any more Medicare patients.” When Ellen told the clerk she wasn’t on Medicare she was told the first opening would be in six weeks.
Mary works for a small company that doesn’t offer insurance. She makes $18,000 a year. United Health Care will sell her an individual policy for $95 dollars a month…the deductible is $8,500!!.  She would have to pay 50% of her take home before her policy would pay a dime. Ah, but don’t forget, together the top three United Health Care execs make $30,000,000.

The real skinny: The corporate, for profit nature of our health system serves a small number well, most with less than ideal care and about 20% of our citizens have no medical care whatsoever.  The genius of the Republican corporate puppeteers is that they get the Glenn Becks of the world to throw out enough red herrings so that the average Joe and Jane turn and denounce their own best interests.

Bill Scholly
Buckhead
Via e-mail