Marco Rubio: Medicare, Social Security ‘Weakened Us As People’, Made Us Lazy

[ProSense]

Marco Rubio: Medicare, Social Security ‘Weakened Us As People’, Made Us Lazy

By Igor Volsky

Potential vice president running mate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) dismissed the importance of programs like Medicare and Social Security during a speech at the Reagan Presidential Library this afternoon, arguing that the initiatives “weakened us as people”:

These programs actually weakened us as a people. You see, almost forever, it was institutions in society that assumed the role of taking care of one another. If someone was sick in your family, you took care of them. If a neighbor met misfortune, you took care of them. You saved for your retirement and your future because you had to. We took these things upon ourselves in our communities, our families, and our homes, and our churches and our synagogues. But all that changed when the government began to assume those responsibilities. All of a sudden, for an increasing number of people in our nation, it was no longer necessary to worry about saving for security because that was the government’s job.

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[Lasher]

1. I'm sure Somalians are grateful they haven't been weakened by domestic social programs.

[JNelson6563]

34. lolz I know, right?

[phantom power]

2. blah, blah, moral hazard, bootstraps, social darwinism, blah, blah

Hey Marco, the Gilded Age was only gilded for the rich.

:boring:

[Cary Vonfused]

4. Remember who we're talking about here

This is Marco Rubio, member of that sick cult in Miami who are still waiting for Batista to rise up from hell and "liberate" Cuba from one man with a beard (because they were too stupid to do it themselves)

[lumpy]

12. Damn it, I hate to be called lazy when I worked well into my

50s.doing service jobs paying into Social Security and I fully expected to get returns from that program. Now these damned GOP capitalistic greedy fools want to dismantle one of the most successful social programs the US has ever came forth with to continue on the road to greed.

[CakeGrrl]

3. Yeah, not a dime's worth of difference between POTUS and the GOP

:rofl:

Let the GOP in the WH and find out.

[lumpy]

13. Hear hear.

v

[Cosmocat]

22. BUT OBAMA IS NOT A TRUE PROGRESSIVE!

Sweet Mother Mary and Joseph ...

[Tarheel_Dem]

26. I just learned today on NPR that a lot of progressive sites are under attack from Ron Paul....

enthusiasts. I love it when these guys are on the phone, claiming to be Dems turned Republican, and are now Ron Paul supporters? :shrug: I'm not saying it isn't true, but their agenda is clear. They think if they can dampen enthusiasm for Pres. Obama, and if Jupiter aligns with Mars on election day, somehow Ron Paul will ascend to the presidency.
:rofl:

[Blue_Tires]

40. That's not new...They were ALL over the place in '08

The Paul folks were even infesting forums that had nothing to do with political talk...

[Tarheel_Dem]

45. You have to hand it to 'em. They're loyal, but not very bright. These

boards are literally crawling with them. :hi:

[JNelson6563]

35. Amen!

I can't believe the absurdities plants from the other side spout and they get gobbled up here like gospel. Can you say "suckers"? Sure, I knew ya could.

:toast:

Julie

[OHdem10]

5. This shows total ignorance of what this country was like before

we had these programs.

Believe you me, Mr. Rubio, if people could have cared
for their families, instead of old people dying, they
would have. They did the best they could but poverty
was everywhere. You did not call it Poverty because
the majority were in the same boat.

These people who have all these romanticized pictures
of life in America---get a grip. Yes, the rich
could take care of their own. But there were not that
many rich. The Masses were working poor and poor,.

He does realize there was no middle class until FDR
laid the groundwork and put laws and programs into
place. 1947-70s greatest period of peacetime and
prosperity. The Birth of the Middle Class.

[PearliePoo2]

7. Nice accurate post

:thumbsup:

[lumpy]

8. Great post. I will testify to the facts you post. I lived it.

v

[Cosmocat]

23. Why the media lets this kind of horsecrap go unchallenged

is mind boggling ...

The same sell out douchebags who the right wing screams at for being LIBERAL, just sits and nods obediently when this kind of nonsense gets thrown out.

This kind of statement just shows a stunning disconnect from reality, it is not even CLOSE to the way of the world.

[Life Long Dem]

28. It's reality to the GOP.

As you probably know, every one of them want less government. The last one (Bush) tried to privatize Social Security if you remember. Ron Paul is no different. When you hear them calling for less government, this is exactly what they mean. Rick Perry runs on saying he's “going to work on making the federal government as innocuous as possible.”. Another words he will cut out programs such as Social Security.

[Cosmocat]

36. Yep ...

That people fall for this crape in general is just beyond belief ...

[livetohike]

25. Excellent post

Rubio is an idiot.

[flpoljunkie]

6. What? Rubio left out the 'doctors were paid with chickens' meme!

Republicans take the American people for fools. Shame on Rubio and his Republican ilk who peddle this crap. People cannot save for their retirements because they do not make enough to pay their bills and 'put food on their family'--as George W. Bush once put it. Yet the rich, get richer!

Let him and his Republicans colleagues forego the substantial help they get toward their health insurance premiums and their Congressional retirement pay-- both paid for by the American taxpayers, of course! See how well that goes over!

[lumpy]

11. I actually had a doctor who said he was paid in eggs and

chickens,LOL. He was and elderly man from the midwest. Rubio is the son of Cuban exiles who fled from Castros takeover. No doubt they were of the Cuban economic aristocracy. What the hell would this kid,Rubio, know about life in the US during the pre-FDR presidency anyway? He treats our social programs as though they are welfare programs. We contributed a good part of our paychecks into SS and Medicare as an investment. I guess the kid doesn't know how that works or he is lying through his teeth.

[jwirr]

29. This attitude is why Castro threw their asses out of Cuba.

[yardwork]

47. A good point.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. What's His Model?

Is there a nation in the world without a safety net that isn't a complete Hell hole?

[Armstead]

17. The iceburg policy -- Send the eldrly out to sea on an iceburg to die.

[lumpy]

18. I am ready for the iceberg......

v

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. A Large Medical Bill Could Wreck "Almost" Anybody

~

[bvar22]

31. That will STILL be true even after ALL the HCR Provisions "kick in".

Medical bankruptcy will STILL be Big Business in the USA after 2014.
Possibly even BIGGER.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. What drugs is he talking?

All those thing may be true in latino american countries, but in the U.S., nobody sticks their neck out for anyone unless there's something in it for them.

[lumpy]

15. This may be true since much of US society's aspiration is to

get rich fast. The public is enticed to buy a lot of crap through a pumped up media and advertizing. We are inundated with the media showing the lives of the rich and famous and naturally humans are covetous of the such lives.
I must say I know many many people are supportive of their love ones and do all that is possible to help those that need help. But still living the 'high' life will be a popular aspiration with the present generations. That is proven with the popularity of fashion, boob jobs, gormet eating, sleek cars, latest tech toys and private castles. This is terribly sad because 'common folks' are not part of the US aristocracy. The only way that can happen is by prostituting oneself to that cause.

[animato]

14. It's pollo time again, a chicken for medical care Rubio? n/t

[Armstead]

16. What an asshole. A lot of us could tell him a thing or 2 about caring for family, WITH those things

MY aunt, for example, worked hard also her life, saved up a retirement nestegg -- then had a stroke. We've had to make sacrifices to help her out already, even with her pension and SS and Medicare. And she still has to spend her savings down to nothing to eventually qualify for Medicaid....

Without those programs, the rest of us in her immediate family would have also had to go broke just to get basic treatment for her. But I guess that's what dickheads like Rubio want. Either that ofr throw the elderly onto an ideburg.

I HATE THESE INSENSITIVE AND UNREALISTIC ASSHOLE RIGHT WINGERS.

[jenmito]

20. Funny-the only thing I heard about his speech is how he saved Ronald Reagan's wife's life.

:eyes:

[saras]

21. Has "weakened us as a people" EVER been said by anything OTHER than a psychopathic monster?

[jwirr]

24. During the strongest era of this nation FDR to raygun we were a people

who helped each other. The individualism and greed that sways us now is weakening this nation rapidly.

[lunatica]

27. I'm surprised he didn't drop kick Nancy Reagan and scream at her for being weak

[PatSeg]

30. That makes absolutely no sense at all

Damn all those "lazy" old people, especially the ones who have the nerve to get sick.

Hard to believe he represents Florida, where all those LAZY old people live.

[LiberalFighter]

32. Is Marco the son of corrupt Cuban exiles?

[lumpy]

42. Yes he is..They fled Castro's takeover and now they have

taken over what the US has to offer and exploiting the US political system with their capitalistic ideologies.

[applegrove]

33. Meanwhile, in the South, where this shit is born, people pine for a time when other people

did all the work and they just watched the maids or slaves. Now those whites were lazy.

[Vinca]

37. If there's one thing I hate it's those damn, lazy, old people

shuffling up and down the road with their walkers doing nothing. Riding their damn scooters where? To a job? I don't think so. Slackers. (It pains me to hate, but I despise Republicans and their "me me me" way of seeing the world.)

[Honeycombe8]

38. He doesn't know the history of the elderly in this country, apparently. Isn't he...

Isn't he a first generation Cuban? Seriously, maybe he doesn't know the history of the suffering of the elderly in our country, to know WHY DD and Medicare was started.

Maybe he equates those programs with the Cuban programs. But that country is very different from ours. And our programs are very different.

Ain't nothin' free for us. We PAY into or for Social Security and Medicare.

But he had to come up with some reason as an excuse to work for the wealthy not having their wealth taxed for programs they won't need.

[quaker bill]

39. Libertarian fantasyland

The point is that we didn't actually do any of that crap. People worked as long as they possibly could and often enough died destitute and occasionally quite quickly from lack of healthcare. If the fantasyland he speaks of actually existed, no one would have bothered to invent the programs.

[Mimosa]

41. Outsourcing of jobs has made us weaker as a people. Wake up, Rubio, you idiot. n/t

[Faygo Kid]

43. "The government?" You mean I just imagined paying into the system the past 40 years?

The government runs the system, but I have paid into it for 40 years. What an a-hole.

[brightertomorrow]

44. I saw him on Cspan spouting this

and couldn't believe my ears, especially since he's from FL. I wish all the seniors here who voted for him could have heard it.

[Avalux]

46. OMG - SS and Medicare ARE saving for our retirement!!!!

We pay into those ENTITLEMENTS. They're entitlements, because the people of this country have a right to is theirs.

:mad:

[demgrrrll]

48. Someone needs to tell Rubio about the history of care for

The poor in this country. Taxes were collected for Outdoor Relief and people went to poorhouses. The paupers were in a sense auctioned off to the lowest bidder with the expectation that they would, if possible work for their room and board, a kind of indentured servitude. There was a government overseer of the poor and people could be sent to Poorhouses involuntarily if they were caught begging for money. This pastoral view of people taking care of people without any kind of financial return may have been true for a few but there was a government system in place to care for the poor. The paupers were at the mercy of the person who had bid on providing their care which as you might imagine was problematic. This chapter in our history ended with the creation of social security and other programs which provided a rudimentary safety net. Someone needs to let the people know that government was involved in caring for the poor before FDR instituted Social Security. The problem was that the paupers, if able to work became indentured servants who often lived in deplorable conditions.

[RedSpartan]

49. Ladies and gentlemen, the 2012 GOP Vice Presidential nominee! Book it.