Conservatives Cost a Lot of Money (Jane Smiley at HuffPost)

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Jane Smiley


03.20.2007
Conservatives Cost a Lot of Money (55 comments )

Of course you have read Paul Krugman's wonderful column in yesterday's New York Times. I couldn't have said it better myself. But the editors of the Times actually dare to give Krugman a word limit, so he didn't get to go into what I consider to be the other general effect of conservative governance, I mean other than criminal malfeasance, neglect of the

citizenry, mashing of constitutional protections, trashing of the environment, bashing of real patriotism, and crashing of the ship of state into the nearest hundred-foot-high cliff (bad metaphor, but here's a contest: think of a better one!). The real attention-getter about conservatives is that they are so damned expensive.
What costs more--routine prenatal care of a poor woman during pregnancy that she would be able to get if we had universal healthcare, or the intensive care that results when she shows up at the emergency room with preeclampsia in her ninth month?

What costs more--finding Bin Laden with a few specialty forces and some back-channel bribes and contacts, or a war in Iraq?

What costs more--enforcing pollution controls when they are first put into law or allowing private industry to evade them year after year as they spew pollutants into the air and fight pollution laws through the courts while the plants deteriorate, the cost of controls goes up, and the earth, air, and water are more and more contaminated?

What costs more--conserving our use of materials and energy, or ripping off the tops of mountains in West Virginia and Kentucky, destroying landscapes, ecosystems, towns, villages, and lives? ....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/conservatives-cost-a-lot-_b_43869.html

[Demeter]

1. k and r

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2. A.M. Kick

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