Do you support healthcare bill?

Figured since there was so much flying around here about the majority of American's not wanting this bill.

That may be true, but you are going to get a very skewed result as the majority of Sowallers are decidedly left leaning.

Alan Boyd will need to find a new job!

That may be true, but you are going to get a very skewed result as the majority of Sowallers are decidedly left leaning.

Really? Sowal? The land of multi-millioners? Must be the only bastion of rich liberals outside of Hollywood....

Hell no !

Alan Boyd will need to find a new job!

That's funny and in your dreams....The majority of his turf is around Tally and carrying 62% last time.....

I didn't think it was a majority of Americans, but too close to determine the exact or general number of those for the bill vs. those opposed. Pretty danged close and within 5% one way or the other was what I read.

It's a relief nonetheless that it's over and we now know what we have (sort of and, I hope we move into revealing real numbers of unemployment, GDP and get started on jobs now.

Really? Sowal? The land of multi-millioners? Must be the only bastion of rich liberals outside of Hollywood....

Sorry...I should have been more clear. By "Sowallers" I mean those who are regulars, here, on the board and not the general population of Sowal. The board has a decidedly left slant. You can't deny that...

However...I'm admittedly surprised by the results so far.

Sorry...I should have been more clear. By "Sowallers" I mean those who are regulars, here, on the board and not the general population of Sowal. The board has a decidedly left slant. You can't deny that...

However...I'm admittedly surprised by the results so far.

You are not really serious, are you?

I think you will find that the opinions will be split based on the individual realities for each Sowaller, not necessarily along party lines.

My informal findings are that military, government employees, and people employed by larger companies are against the bill on the basis of fiscal responsibility ............ and because they have/can get good care they do not see it as a large problem.

People who are younger, self-employed, small business owners/employees, and those who work with those who have issues tend to be much more vocal because they have first or second hand knowledge of the need ................ and while fiscal is a consideration, we know we'll be paying for all of this debt and programs anyway and it would be nice if we could get medical care in the process.

And I think females tend to be more for it than males - mainly because we tend to talk/know about each others health problems and think health insurance is more of a priority.

Figured since there was so much flying around here about the majority of American's not wanting this bill.

The better question might be "How many Americans actually know what the bill provides for?". I am not embarrassed to admit I don't. The best piece I have seen on it so far was a link today off of Yahoo that was basically a 'who wins, who loses' synopsis. I was pissed to see that pharmaceutical companies are going to be considered winners in this thing (did you see what their stocks did today?). I think the price pressure placed by redundant, expensive medications is a bad thing. I guess we will see commercials for ultra-expensive meds that your tax dollars will be underwriting. I am also curious to see what hospitals will do with their pricing as they too are considered 'winners' since all their patrons will be insured. I hope they do the right thing and we see the end of the $25 tylenol era. We'll see. I do think it is a good thing that otherwise hard working Americans who are dealt a bad hand by fate will not have to worry about being ruined financially by a dread diagnosis or accident. Personally, I am worried about the scads of new forms and confusing regulations that tend to go along with these sorts of programs.

I do find it rich to see, on a near daily basis, medicare patients who pay nary a dime out of pocket to be seen, *****ing about the impending 'socialized medicine' scheme:roll:.

You are not really serious, are you?

Dead...

I'm not implying that it's a bad thing. You can't be serious to imply that the political forum is not left leaning. Think of it as a whole rather than based on just this one poll...

Me thinks you should look at some post related to local government, local politics and local taxes and the support that Republicans have in local offices. To say this forum is left leaning I think is wrong. I think it is full of independent minded folks with a conservative lean and in spite of this the the poll is darn near 50/50. There are plenty of folks from the right who participate here and that is what make this place great.

Separate local from Federal and reevaluate. Maybe it's just skewed in my head because any time somebody says anything anti-Obama the retaliation on the board is usually pretty extreme.

You are right. The local govt discussions are very two sided, level headed, and thoughtful, but far too often the federal discussions are based on nothing more than emotional replies. I guess those responses leave a more lasting impression because I'm not particularly interested in the local politics.

I don't think we're left-leaning at all. It's all relative. This region is so far to the right it just seems that way. The SoWal board is normal with respect to the civilized human race.

Separate local from Federal and reevaluate. Maybe it's just skewed in my head because any time somebody says anything anti-Obama the retaliation on the board is usually pretty extreme.

You are right. The local govt discussions are very two sided, level headed, and thoughtful, but far too often the federal discussions are based on nothing more than emotional replies. I guess those responses leave a more lasting impression because I'm not particularly interested in the local politics.

I wish more second homeowners were interested in local politics- they affect you.

I don't think we're left-leaning at all. It's all relative. This region is so far to the right it just seems that way. The SoWal board is normal with respect to the civilized human race.

You're making the above posters point kind of... my guess from what I've seen is that the more active posters are indeed more left leaning -

It is hard to paint with a broad brush however. Issues are complex, and not easily categorized as left/right. The expansion of electric vehicle usage on 30a comes to mind. The left leaning crowd slammed the idea -- for them convenience/speed trumped any environmental progressive reasonning that have Liberals around the entire United States, from teh Sierra Club to Al Gore lining up to support - but not your SoWalling lefties -

so basically its hard to typecast the SoWal crowd, and this poll proves that.

You're making the above posters point kind of... my guess from what I've seen is that the more active posters are indeed more left leaning -

It is hard to paint with a broad brush however. Issues are complex, and not easily categorized as left/right. The expansion of electric vehicle usage on 30a comes to mind. The left leaning crowd slammed the idea -- for them convenience/speed trumped any environmental progressive reasonning that have Liberals around the entire United States, from teh Sierra Club to Al Gore lining up to support - but not your SoWalling lefties -

so basically its hard to typecast the SoWal crowd, and this poll proves that.

RD, you almost had me there. I was agreeing with you on your first statement, but then you went back to your same old line about LSV's. I apologize if I have presented myself as a lefty. It actually hurts me a little. Just to clarify, I am conservative on most if not all of my views.
Anyway, back to the subject. I think that a good portion of the "sowal legends" are left leaning, and that might be why the forum feels that way. I could be completely wrong about that, but that is my perception.

You're making the above posters point kind of... my guess from what I've seen is that the more active posters are indeed more left leaning -

It is hard to paint with a broad brush however. Issues are complex, and not easily categorized as left/right. The expansion of electric vehicle usage on 30a comes to mind. The left leaning crowd slammed the idea -- for them convenience/speed trumped any environmental progressive reasonning that have Liberals around the entire United States, from teh Sierra Club to Al Gore lining up to support - but not your SoWalling lefties -

so basically its hard to typecast the SoWal crowd, and this poll proves that.

I don't think I'm making his point at all. Yes we're liberal compared to most of the redneck Riviera, but that's not saying much. This LSV thing, I don't know where that fits in and I must admit it's not very important to me. It sounds to me like the anti-LSVers would be more conservative though. I dunno (or care) It would seem like the real lefties would heartily endorse slow moving unimpressive electric vehicles. Not in SoWal though.

Well it's unfortunate that no one got the real spirit of the poll. The point was to show that people weren't willing to pick up the phone, write an email, or even jot a note down to show their opinion to their representative. I've got news for you, someone can only represent based on what is communicated to them.

Well it's unfortunate that no one got the real spirit of the poll. The point was to show that people weren't willing to pick up the phone, write an email, or even jot a note down to show their opinion to their representative. I've got news for you, someone can only represent based on what is communicated to them.

Well, both of my Senators and my Representative very responsibly voted against it, so I didn't bother to contact them. I didn't contact politicians from other areas because (as we've seen even in SoWal) elected officials aren't much interested in the opinions of people who can't vote for them.

Well it's unfortunate that no one got the real spirit of the poll. The point was to show that people weren't willing to pick up the phone, write an email, or even jot a note down to show their opinion to their representative. I've got news for you, someone can only represent based on what is communicated to them.

I appreciate the poll. I agree, there is a big difference in just saying something and actually being involved. It was interesting to see the results.

I find that Congress doesn't listen much to their constituency anyway, so while I am a strong believer in voicing my opinion to those who can have the power to make a decision, I wonder how much good it does. If I am lucky, when I send them a written letter or email, I get an automated reply saying thanks for my comment and sometimes I get a little more.

Congressman Allen Boyd said in an interview with WMBB's Amy Hoyt, that he didn't use public opinion to make his yes vote (supposedly 80% of his voting base was against the Health Care bill). He said that he only cared about four points being in the bill. In short, he basically said people's opinions didn't matter when it came time to vote for this bill.

Well, both of my Senators and my Representative very responsibly voted against it, so I didn't bother to contact them. I didn't contact politicians from other areas because (as we've seen even in SoWal) elected officials aren't much interested in the opinions of people who can't vote for them.

I fully agree! I oppose the health care plan and; thankfully, my reps in Georgia voted against it. It seems insane to me to expand government bureaucracy a time when we're already swimming in debt as a nation. If we don't cut entitlements, we'll be broke before long.

That said, I recall a quote from No Country for Old Men that seems appropriate these days...

"It's the tide... It's the dismal tide... It's not the one thing... ."

Little Fish

Those who did make contact with representatives seem to be neck and neck. Interesting!

Someone with a 16,000 post count can still only cast one ballot. Unless of course you're an ACORN worker.