Michael Tomasky:
This past weekend, several hours before Stephen Paddock exercised his constitutional right to slaughter his fellow Americans (and no, it’s not “too soon” to talk about it), video emerged of Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin talking to a high school assembly. Do you, a girl asked him, consider health care to a right or a privilege? [snip]
So he answered the young woman: “I think it’s probably more of a privilege. Do you consider food a right? Do you consider clothing a right? Do you consider shelter a right? What we have as rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We have the right to freedom. Past that point, everything else is a limited resource that we have to use our opportunities given to us so that we can afford those things.”
There’s your Republican philosophy in a nutshell: Americans have no right to health care, but they do have the right to own as many assault rifles as they can get their hands on and go shoot up a concert venue. (our emphasis)Tomasky goes on to deconstruct this sociopathic Republican viewpoint. Please take a moment to read it.
