Is the War on Women Real or Manufactured?

I think the problem with the Romneys is that they are so rich that they are out of touch with the rest of us ... She probably had house employees, the best cars, home items, furniture, and the best foods ... When she had the slightest plumbing problem she just called someone to fix it ... She did not ever have to do without ... My husband and I mow the yard ... I am sure Mitt and wife don't do that ... There is such a gap between the have and have nots in America ... Women that have to work two jobs, being a mother and a person that that works a 40 hour job are just frustrated with the ultra rich ... Women that stay at home are very frustrated that if something happens to the bread-winner and you don't have enough in savings, you can find yourself losing everything ... No health insurance too ... It is sad that her health is gone but she does not have to worry about medical bills because they are so rich ... I know a girl that still has to drag herself to work everyday because she needs the health insurance because she has both the MS that Mrs Romney has and she also has Type 1 Diabetes ... This girls parents did not have insurance to cover the cost of her Diabetes when she was 16, so she made payments for the last 14 years on the cost of her treatment ... She could have let her parents file for bankruptcy ... Around 4 years ago she found out she also has MS ... There needs to be a safety-net for us average Americans ... I could go on and on why women don't like the party for the rich that Romney represents ..
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I hear what you’re saying and I agree. I was speaking up for the stay at home mom’s in general. I’m from America and moved to the UK about 11yrs ago so I know all about the healthcare costs in the States. My parents weren’t rich, nor am I. I got to stay at home for a few years with the children as my husband made just enough money for us to get by. We didn’t have a big house, flash cars, a nanny or take family vacations. Then for reasons beyond my control things changed and I became a single mom working 40+ hours a week and had to raise 3 children on my own.

I agree that America’s health care problems need to be addressed but in order to do that they need to drill right down into the cause of problem. The biggest problem seems to be that health care is too expensive. Why is health care so expensive?

Is it because the pharmaceutical companies charge Americans more for prescription medication then they do any other nation on the planet?

Or could it be that permitting pharmaceutical companies to directly market their products to the general public it sends us racing to our doctors, clogging up their waiting rooms, to get a prescription because their advertisements make us think if we take their pill everything that is wrong with our lives will miraculously right themselves.

Or perhaps the fault lies with doctors themselves. Do people actually get into medicine because they want to help sick people and/or cure diseases or do they get into it for the money? Being a doctor can prove to be a very very lucrative occupation. And receiving monetary incentives from pharmaceutical companies certainly help boost their income.

Is it because the health care system has gone from being a service to the community to a profit driven money making operation?

Are American’s themselves to blame for cost of health care, have we turned into a nation of hypochondriacs leading sedentary lives, driving up demand therefore driving up the price.

Or could it be the “Blame” culture in America. We as nation litigation enthusiasts, the slightest bit of inconvenience and we’re running to our lawyers.

I don’t profess to know how to fix the woes of the American health care system but I do know that legislation on top of legislation such as Obamacare is just papering over the cracks. It’s like putting a band-aid on a broken bone. Bureaucrats should not be at the forefront of healthcare, medical professionals should.

I think the problem with the Romneys is that they are so rich that they are out of touch with the rest of us ... She probably had house employees, the best cars, home items, furniture, and the best foods ... When she had the slightest plumbing problem she just called someone to fix it ... She did not ever have to do without ... My husband and I mow the yard ... I am sure Mitt and wife don't do that ... There is such a gap between the have and have nots in America ... Women that have to work two jobs, being a mother and a person that that works a 40 hour job are just frustrated with the ultra rich ... Women that stay at home are very frustrated that if something happens to the bread-winner and you don't have enough in savings, you can find yourself losing everything ... No health insurance too ... It is sad that her health is gone but she does not have to worry about medical bills because they are so rich ... I know a girl that still has to drag herself to work everyday because she needs the health insurance because she has both the MS that Mrs Romney has and she also has Type 1 Diabetes ... This girls parents did not have insurance to cover the cost of her Diabetes when she was 16, so she made payments for the last 14 years on the cost of her treatment ... She could have let her parents file for bankruptcy ... Around 4 years ago she found out she also has MS ... There needs to be a safety-net for us average Americans ... I could go on and on why women don't like the party for the rich that Romney represents ..
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The last time I checked, Mitt Romney received a rather large bequest from his dad, attended private schools and was a legacy to Harvard. Neither of the Obama's had any of these advantages. Yes its good to succeed, and it really helps if you have had a great education and a rich dad to get you off to a great start.
Just how is one to 'save and take care of ones family' when folks like Romney have off shored the good paying job you used to have to China and raided your pension fund at government expense to pay off his investors? Americans aren't looking to the government to give them a fish, they are looking to government to protect them from folks like Romney that net all the fish and sell them to make themselves rich while you and your family go hungry.

I'll leave you with this tid bit from a 1930's politician, the last time we had a depression:

"How many men ever went to a barbecue and would let one man take off the table what's intended for 9/10th of the people to eat? The only way to be able to feed the balance of the people is to make that man come back and bring back some of that grub that he ain't got no business with! [Laughter and applause]

Now we got a barbecue. We have been praying to the Almighty to send us to a feast. We have knelt on our knees morning and nighttime. The Lord has answered the prayer. He has called the barbecue. "Come to my feast," He said to 125 million American people. But Morgan and Rockefeller and Mellon and Baruch (and Romney) have walked up and took 85 percent of the victuals off the table!

Now, how are you going to feed the balance of the people? What's Morgan and Baruch and Rockefeller and Mellon (and Romney) going to do with all that grub? They can't eat it, they can't wear the clothes, they can't live in the houses.

Giv'em a yacht! Giv'em a Palace! Send 'em to Reno and give them a new wife when they want it, if that's what they want. [Laughter] But when they've got everything on God's loving earth that they can eat and they can wear and they can live in, and all that their children can live in and wear and eat, and all of their children's children can use, then we've got to call Mr. Morgan and Mr. Mellon an Mr. Rockefeller back and say, come back here, put that stuff back on this table here that you took away from here that you don't need. Leave something else for the American people to consume. And that's the program. [Applause]

We will call in Mr. Rockefeller, Mr. Morgan, Mr. Mellon....Dear Mr. Mellon, We're not going to destroy the capitalistic system, but we're going to put in a limit, you can have up to 4- to 5-million dollars and that's all. We're not going to destroy the Gulf Refining Company; we're not going to destroy the Standard Oil Company, but we're going to say that the limit of any one man's stock ownership in the Standard Oil company is from 3- to 5-million dollars for that individual and the balance to the people of America who own the balance of what the Standard Oil company is worth! [applause]

Then, we start from the bottom. That the 25 or more million American families shall have a homestead. Up to $5,000....a home and the comforts of a home, including an automobile and a radio, the things it takes in that house to live on...

We say to America, 125 million, none shall be too big, none shall be too poor, none shall work too much, none shall be idle. No luxurious mansions empty, none walking the streets, none impoverished, none in pestilence, none in want, but in the land blessed by the smile of the Creator with everything to be consumed, to be eaten, to be worn, that America will become a land, sharing the fruits of the land, not for the favored few, not to satisfy greed, but that all may live in the land in which the Lord has prov

First let me correct you on some of your miss statements of the facts. Corporations in the US do indeed have a higher tax rate, but none of them actually pay that rate. GE paid zero last year. In addition, I doubt a high tax rate is the real reason that most jobs go to China, the biggest reason probably has to do with wages that average 1/12 of the average manufacturing wage in the US and no unions. That and the fact that the Chinese people are treated like prisoners in their own country, not something most Americans would aspire to. As for the 20% Romney donates, how would any know what he's contributed since he won't release his tax records prior to last year? For all we know, he could have given that amount over the past two years simply to look good for the election. I suppose when your making 5 mil a year and pay under 13% effectively in taxes, you can afford to give lots of money to your church. Last year, my effective tax rate for all my taxes worked out to 28% and I'm not in the top 2%. Somehow, it seems screwed up to me that I pay an effective rate more than twice what the Romney's do and I barely afford to pay for one house much less install an elevator for my cars. No, I don't work for the government, but the next time you need a police officer or fireman, I dare you to tell them about how they are "one of the takers". Just make sure you do it after they chase down the mugger or put your house fire out.

I think you need to read the book "Why Nations Fail". The problem we are facing today is the increasing calcification of American society into a nearly immutable class structure in which is increasingly difficult to move up. Historically speaking, the US is following the trajectory of nearly all empires, at first during the Republic there is lots of social mobility people can enter and leave the different wealth based classes by dint of effort. This is good because it adds a kind of vibrancy to the culture in which everyone has a stake in supporting the institutions that helped to bring it about. But from the standpoint of someone in the top few per cent, social mobility brings with something of and uncertainty: competition. Competition means that returns on investment become less certain and one of the main goals in business is to remove uncertainty and create predictability. In the 1950's the highest tax rate was 90%. In today's case we have 600 families in the top 1% paying zero in taxes , fully half of the 1% pays under 10% and the remainder pay no more than 35% in taxes. Meanwhile, large amounts of government largess flow to the top in the form of bank bailouts, government defense contracts, and even in the form of pension insurance that pays for folks like Romney at Bain to raid employee retirement funds in order to secure a profit for their investors! Its a kind of welfare for the rich. In addition, the wealthy secure the positions of their sons and daughters by sending them to elite private schools and as legacies to the best universities. These are advantages that most will not have and can only have access to if there are government programs in place to make that a real possibility, like student loans, good public education, unemployment insurance and access to health care. If you believe that what makes America great is the ability for all persons to rise, and fall, by the dint of their own efforts or lack thereof then you should be in favor of inheritance taxes the fall the hardest on the wealthiest, not laws that merely allow wealth to pass from generation to generation like an untitled nobility. I realize this is a rambling statement, but your reply is so full of BS that it deserved and in depth response, not a bumper sticker.

I think the problem with the Romneys is that they are so rich that they are out of touch with the rest of us ... She probably had house employees, the best cars, home items, furniture, and the best foods ... When she had the slightest plumbing problem she just called someone to fix it ... She did not ever have to do without ... My husband and I mow the yard ... I am sure Mitt and wife don't do that ... There is such a gap between the have and have nots in America ... Women that have to work two jobs, being a mother and a person that that works a 40 hour job are just frustrated with the ultra rich ... Women that stay at home are very frustrated that if something happens to the bread-winner and you don't have enough in savings, you can find yourself losing everything ... No health insurance too ... It is sad that Mrs romney's health is gone but she does not have to worry about medical bills because they are so rich ... I know a girl that still has to drag herself to work everyday because she needs the health insurance because she has both the MS that Mrs Romney has and she also has Type 1 Diabetes ... This girls parents did not have insurance to cover the cost of her Diabetes when she was 16, so she made payments for the last 14 years on the cost of her treatment ... She could have let her parents file for bankruptcy ... Around 4 years ago she found out she also has MS ... There needs to be a safety-net for us average Americans ... I could go on and on why women don't like the party for the rich that Romney represents ..
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Right, right, right. There are all sorts of things all sorts of people don't want to pay for. You don't get to pick and choose. Its a collective decision made at the ballot box by majority rule. That is why I think calling the actions Republicans in the various state legislatures have enacted or attempted to enact, a war on women is perfectly justified. Also, no public federal dollars get spent on abortion, none, nada, zip. Its illegal to use any federal appropriations for abortion. Finally, birth control isn't only used to prevent conception. It's part of addressing a health issue that happens to be specific to one gender and preventing access to that service by women who would other wise not be able to afford it. Are you saying that if Planned parenthood only offered women's health services without birth control and abortion, you would write your congressman tomorrow to support continued public funding of that institution? I doubt it. Its a moot point anyway, the Republicans have already insisted that they want a 'person hood' amendment which would outlaw abortion and also certain types of birth control which shows that this whole "I don't wanna pay for it" whine is just a sham. Its about putting the government in charge of the most private, personal choices women can make under a doctors care. And because it affects only women, its discriminatory. As the joke goes, Republicans want to make government small alright they just want it to be small enough to fit in your vagina. Finally , most of the arguments about against abortion and birth control are religious based, not scientifically tenable and not all religious groups adhere to those beliefs. So in essence you will have a religious tenant being enforced by the government.

While you're at it, look up Ayn Rand and how she was an atheist and how she thought all religion was foolish.

But to directly answer your points, here are the facts about Margerate Sanger. Yes, early in her career she believed in eugenics. But not for racial reasons. She believed that birth control should be available to poor women. The following quote is from the Feminists for Choice website:

"Unlike most eugenicists, Margaret Sanger did not advocate for birth control because she felt that certain groups of women should have babies, while others should not. Sanger believed that birth control should be available to all women, particularly those who were poor, because limiting their number of children would help mothers provide a better quality of life for their families, especially when resources were limited. Sanger believed that reproductive decisions should be made by the individual woman, and not on a social or cultural basis, and she consistently argued against the racialized application of eugenics principals. Margaret Sanger eventually abandoned the eugenics movement, and her reasoning is very clear from a statement that she made in 1919:

'Eugenists imply or insist that a woman’s first duty is to the state; we contend that her duty to herself is her first duty to the state. We maintain that a woman possessing an adequate knowledge of her reproductive functions is the best judge of the time and conditions under which her child should be brought into the world. We further maintain that is is her right, to determine whether she shall bear children or not, and how many children she shall bear if she chooses to become a mother . . . Only upon a free, self-determining motherhood can rest any unshakable structure of racial betterment.' (Source: The Birth Control Review, February 1919)"

Similarly, Margerate Sanger was not a racist. That view point is taken from a quote she made about why it was important to recruit black doctors in the deep south to help set up birth control clinics for black women. She wanted to counter the perception among the black community that she advocated birth control to limit the numbers of blacks in the population, an idea stemming from eugenics. Here is the quote that has been taken out of context: "We do not want the word to get out that we want to exterminate the Negro population." She didn't want the black community to reject birth control because of a false belief that birth control was a deliberate attempt to reduce black numbers.

OK, you can stop waiting.....