Compassionate Conservatism

Mark Noonan-- among the cultiest of Bush cultists-- posts a personal appeal on his Blogs For Bush site on behalf of a friend. This friend "got hit with some extra high medical expenses," Noonan laments, and he asks his readers to send donations to his friend to help pay his bills.

My initial thought upon reading this was the irony coming from this man who believes that, on the matter of health care and other economic issues, people need to take personal responsibility for their choices and actions... and that in your moment of need, you shouldn't expect the larger society to come to your rescue.

Turns out I was not alone. Some sample, snarky comments Noonan received-

#1- "Sounds like a handout to me, Mark. Tell, me is your friend a homeowner? If so, he can afford to pay his own medical bills without any help. Where do you think you are, Havana??"

#2- "[T]he government is not picking my pocket [for health-care] any more than they are when the government takes my money to educate other children, to save others from floods, etc, etc... I wonder how you sleep at night Mark. I will donate money to your friend because it is the right thing to do. you would think though this would give you thought as you deny poor children health care."

#3- "I'm sure more than a few of us will remember this hypocrisies. Maybe you won't be so quick to judge the next time you rally against some perceived evil of shared sacrifice, be it in the form of taxes or other obligations one has a member of society."

#4- "I assume your friend didn't choose to run up big medical bills. No one does. Socialize medicine already. It's way past time. Under a universal umbrella, risk is spread out over the maximum number of covered individuals, lowering expenses to their absolute minimum, and cutting out profit as ransom for suffering means we are all cared for when 'there, DESPITE the grace of God, go I.'"

#5- "So, what is it, Mark? Do you have the best health care system in the world; where each and every citizen gets the attention he needs without the worry of financial ruin, or do you have a system that truly sucks? A system where the almighty dollar is the bottom line... How many Americans are in the same situation that [your friend] finds himself today? How many Americans have to rely on the goodness of others to help bail them out?"

Mr. Noonan responded, and not just by ranting about the heartlessness (!) of the 'leftists' leaving these comments. First up, he insisted that government-run programs are...

"government picking my pocket to provide for people"

...And then, in regard to those questioning whether to give, that-

"Search your heart and decide what to do... keeping in mind that what you do for the least of these, you do for the Lord."

How he reconciles these two statements is difficult for this atheist to see.

Ultimately, the answer to that seems to come back to his belief that he doesn't want his money to go to government-funded health services, and that we take care of ourselves. Apparently for conservatives, Christian charity begins, and ends, at home. As for all the other people with similar health-care/financial troubles... well let's hope that they have blogger friends to solicit $$$ for them.

If a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged, maybe a liberal is a conservative who's realized that there are other people in the world outside their personal inner circle.