Wealthy, Entitled, And Oblivious.

I was a Republican for a good part of my adult life. See, when I was growing up, Republicans believed in good government, not no government. Eisenhower and Republicans like him stood behind Social Security, conservation and protection of the environment, the idea that the rich should pay their fair share of taxes (90% top bracket in those days, though deductions and loopholes brought that down considerably), and the idea that government could and should do many things that private industry was just not suited to do, like scientific R&D and building the interstate highway system and other infrastructure projects that helped make postwar America an economic powerhouse.

Most Republicans don't seem to believe in any of those things any more. Much of the party's leadership seems to be wealthy, entitled, and oblivious to the struggles of those less fortunate than themselves.

Take Herman Cain, for example. He is now the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Cain loves attacking "Obamacare" by saying that he would have died from his bout with cancer if he had been treated under the program. Not only is that a lie, but the true story of Cain's cancer treatment is a sad window into the thinking of too many Republicans these days.

Stephanie Mencimer has written a takedown of Cain's story that should be read by anyone who wants to understand the Republican worldview. It's worth it to read the whole thing, but here's a summary with emphasis added:

Cain makes clear in his new book, This is Herman Cain! My Journey to the White House, he is probably alive today because he's rich. And that's not something Obamacare would have affected one way or another.

Cain devotes a whole chapter of his new book to his battle with cancer. He never once mentions insurance companies not paying for treatment, skimping on reimbursement, or disqualifying his claims. He never mentions having to fend off threats that his coverage will be revoked. He never has trouble paying the bills or getting to the hospital or into the best treatment programs. 

The sort of treatment Cain received would have put many people into bankruptcy, even if they had health insurance, thanks to caps and co-payments and other tricks insurance companies use to shift costs onto patients. 

...when Cain was first diagnosed with cancer of the colon and liver and a 30 percent chance of survival, he was told that he should go to a specialized cancer center rather than a hospital, namely the M.D. Anderson cancer center in Houston. Not everyone who wants to go to such a top-flight facility gets to go there, however. Plenty of people with private insurance have died waiting for an insurance company functionary to approve such treatment. It can take weeks to get into Anderson, and it requires traveling at short notice, which can only add to the costs. So Cain called his friend T. Boone Pickens, the oil magnate, who used to be on the board of the center and was a big donor to the cancer center. Pickens made a call, and Cain was in.

Poor people without health insurance have a hard time getting doctors and hospitals to treat them at reduced costs, much less for free. But when Cain, a multimillionaire, needed a second opinion about his cancer surgery, he went to see a doctor in Savannah, Georgia. After giving him a full workup, Cain writes, the doctor "didn't charge me a dime—and he supported me in my Senate campaign."

After Cain had his surgery...(h)e was able to go home a week early because, although he was still weak, one of the companies on whose board he sits dispatched its private plane to fly him back to Atlanta so "we did not have to endure the stress of commercial travel." 

[Cain] believes his cancer survival was divinely inspired. He writes that he was spared the unbeatable odds of his diagnosis because God said, "Not yet!" He speculates, "Did it have something to do with the Lord wanting me to survive so that I might help set this great nation of ours on its own path of recovery?…My journey now is God's plan."

That's the thinking of someone who is wealthy, entitled, and oblivious. And that's why I can't be a Republican anymore.

P.