Politics: United States Democratic Primary

[butterfly]

So, the total number number of delegates needed to win the nomination is 2,025, yes? That's the lowest number for a majority. Obama is currently leading Clinton by 143 delegates, with his total number at 1,631 and hers at 1,488. That's... not insurmountable by any means. Certainly not a good reason for her to curl up and go home.

Pennsylvia's primary is on the twenty-second of this month. Then Indiana and North Carolina on the 6th. West Virginia on the 13th and, finally, the 20th of May, Oregon gets to vote (along with Kentucky). The fact that my primary is so far away is a source of frustration to me.

I like Clinton's health care plan. When she and Obama talk specifics about issues and votes, I tend to find myself agreeing with her more often than with him when they differ (many times, they don't). Of course, in any race between Obama and McCain, Obama would get my vote in a heartbeat, but between him and Clinton... yes, I plan to vote for her.

The world that we live in is not post-racism or post-sexism (or, for that matter, post-classism and it certainly isn't post-homophobia). Either Clinton or Obama as our President will be a major step forward for this country. I'll be proud to call either of them my President.

Comments

[spiletta42.livejournal.com]

There need to be laws. I don't have health insurance either, because I was paying a fortune for it, and it didn't cover any of my actual needs. I was giving up my ability to see a chiropractor, buy groceries, etc., so that I could give money to a health insurance company, who then made me go see a doctor who demanded a two thousand dollar test, told me I had a problem I already knew I had, and then did absolutely nothing to treat it. In the meantime, the health insurance company refused to pay for the test. So trust me, I know the problems with the system as it stands.

The very notion of health insurance is absurd, actually. For any insurance system to work, the incoming premiums must outweigh the outgoing claims. That works with car insurance. It doesn't with health insurance, because almost everyone who has it is going to use it, pretty much regularly. Which means it's not really "insurance" at all, is it?

Insurance should be there for the big stuff -- the really big expensive stuff that nobody who works for a living could afford -- and we should pay out of pocket for the rest. It would actually be cheaper. (Think about what "insurance" costs per month, and then imagine having 75% of that money to spend on doctors yourself, while paying a much smaller premium for catastrophic insurance.) Then the portion of the population that needs additional help could be eligible for a government program that works like food stamps. That's the type of plan I would view positively, but the last I looked at Hillary's plan, it was nothing like that.

Granted, I haven't paid attention lately, as primaries are over where I am, and I avoid unnecessary stress, usually.