Quite Possibly the Strongest Case Ever Made Against Single-Payer Health Care, By Advocates of Same, in a Song.

Remember the old line about how the left won the '60s culture war because "they had better songs"?

Well, if the music matters in public policy debates, then this song is the ultimate weapon for opponents of single-payer health care. And folk music. And quite possibly, humanity itself.

Comments

[TallDave]

My eyes!

The goggles! They do nothing!

[Xeones]

Yeah, i'm not gonna watch that.

[SugarFree]

I truly didn't think I could hate hippies more. I thought I had reached the endpoint, the "F" on my hippie hate-o-meter, but I was wrong.

They sound like Shari Lewis giving ass-birth to a 30 pound baby made out of broken glass.

[tired dog]

Ear plugs, quick, where are my ear plugs????

[Anonymous]

Somebody needs to disconnect the camera at the asylum.

Yes, Miss, the government needs to take control of corporations; now hand me that guitar.

That banjo is not for eating!

[Johnny Longtorso]

My hatred of them goes up to 11. I made it through maybe 2 or 3 seconds of that.

If they're so concerned w/ the health of others, we should strip them for organs.

[ed]

Somebody call the Death Panel.

[You Be Illin\']

This just made my day, my week, even.

But I am a sick, sick, person, and I need single payer health care. Any single payer that is not me.

[ds]

Bob Dylan just watched this and thought to himself, "fucking hippies."

[Ed]

I was going to make a comment but concede higher commenting skills to those who got here first. I'm still laughing out loud.

[Untermensch]

It's all strategy. They'll play this on TV and get this response:

Make it stop! I'll do anything to make it stop! I'll even vote for single payer! Just make it stop!

[John]

For once being firewalled out of Youtube is a good thing. Who was this BTW?

[Monkeeheadinsouth]

hahahah

absolutely classic stuff

You know, I had a guy in Jackson county. He had a little drum circle in his backyard. It turned into a drum circle four miles in diameter. You get a few hippies playing drums and next thing you know, you got yourself a colony

Three new drum circles have sprouted up here, here, and here. They're all growing in diameter, at a rate of two hippies per hour. What this means... is that the hippies are conglomerating. They'er thriving, if you will. I think that they're setting up for a... [close-up]. hippie music festival.

Ti's, it's simple science. Look: When hippies start to nest in a new area, it draws other hippies in. With the right weather conditions and topography, it can lead to a music festival. One that last for days, even weeks. Reggae on the River, Woodstock, Burning Man, they will all pale in comparison to what we're looking at now. In my professional opinion... I think we're looking at a full-blown hippie jam festival the size of which we've never seen.

[SugarFree]

Arlo Guthrie must be spinning in his grave.

[brotherben]

I watched the whole damn thing. What do I win?

[scape]

"How many times will the budget go broke, before we'll use our brains?" Alright, everbody sing along now - and with no sense of irony this time...

[SugarFree]

I watched the whole damn thing. What do I win?

All banjos in the world, crushed to a fine powder.

[You Be Illin\']

You didn't think it was possible, but here's another that's even better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBUTiUgWwIs

[Nipplemancer]

http://www.vimeo.com/1380837

it's funny cause it's true.

[Anonymous]

"Healthcare is a human right", You Be Illin's link warbles, overlayed on posters decrying wars and tax cuts.

I'd rather fight _against_ slavery, thanks.

[de stijl]

I'll offer a quasi on-topic palate cleanser:

Metal Health (Quiet Riot)

Actually that song kind of sucks and their only truly decent song was a Slade cover...

Bonus health care debate feature. The singer will never have to go in front of a Death Panel!

[de stijl]

For once being firewalled out of Youtube is a good thing. Who was this BTW?

Wu-Tang Clan minus ODB (obviously.)

[Tricky Prickears]

Gillespie, you're a dick for making me watch that. Now, I'm going to have to go post it on all of those Progressive sites.

Hippies? I don't think so. Looks like that family tree is missing a few branches. Even the freest of free love hippies don't advocate that, to my knowledge.

[PM770]

That is awesome Nick. Some of the best snark you've written in a while and you typically write very good snark.

[Bob Dylan]

I made it to 1:23 before I had to jab pencils into my eardrums. Anybody do better?

[Citizen Nothing]

I prefer punk: The KKK Took My Health Care Away.

[brotherben]

It's like karaoke at the special olympics.

[Big B]

I swear to god the girl in the middle smirks at one point as if to say ... "how much smarter are we than you..."

[Nipplemancer]

i've watched this video (with the sound muted of course) several times trying to figure out which sex the guitar playing one is.
is the fat one even singing, where the fuck is her tamborine if she's not gonna sing!!!

[PR]

who knew that clauses pre-existing was a problem?

[Joel]

Oh, my god. ohmygodohmygodohmygod...

I got as far as the end of the first line, but only because my hands were shaking too hard to use a mouse. I had to end it with the hatchet I keep next to my computer for emergencies.

Damn you, Gillespie. What did I ever do to you?

[JB]

Oh, I don't know, that song really does shout out for a certain medical procedure.

[JM]

Well, I kind of like it. The singing may not be the best. But the banjo's not too bad.

Also, they're right.

[Pro Libertate]

I just watched a fourth-season House episode where House gave some smart-mouthed kid a dose of hallucinogenic mushrooms. While the kid was under the effect of the drug, viewers got to hear "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." I think that should be the anthem of healthcare reform.

[Chuck]

I now know pure joy.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Arlo Guthrie must be spinning in his grave.

I don't think so, since he isn't dead yet. Did you perhaps mean Woody?

[Johnny Longtorso]

I can't ever hear "Blowin in the Wind" w/o hearing the version in the Reagan pod people SNL skit:

The answer my friends, is Ronald Reagan
The answer is Ronald Reagan.

[T]

Yay for blocked YouTube at work. I don't think I missed anything good.

[Joel]

"Arlo Guthrie must be spinning in his grave."

"I don't think so, since he isn't dead yet. Did you perhaps mean Woody?"

Maybe he meant that this'll kill him.

[Bill]

(I watched the whole damn thing. What do I win?)

Moved to the top of the cornea transplant list.

[dant]

JB sed:
Oh, I don't know, that song really does shout out for a certain medical procedure.

Post-partum abortions are illegal (unless the government does it).

[D.A. Ridgely]

Obama's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man at the town hall,
Sign out, i paid off,
Says the White House with a scoff.
I wish they would all f*ck off...

[Mike Laursen]

Also, they're right.

They are not right. In any sense of that word.

[A. Freeman]

If you are that incompetent a musician as this "folk group" then I guess employer sponsored healthcare is out of the question. The end was truly painful to hear, the lyrics horribly sung to match the tune and the premise false.

Now if they could only raise enough coin to join a not-for profit mutual or reciprocal....

Oh, yea. You would need an income first. They may do better picking organic foods for sale at Whole Earth Supermarkets if thier personal philosophy would allow that. Maybe they would rather starve.

[SugarFree]

Enjoy Every Sandwich,

Joel finished my joke for me. Napping and time-sensitive humor don't mix.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

SugarFree,

Okay. I just thought you might have meant Woody Guthrie, as I think that would apply at least equally well to this situation (with no loss of humor, except perhaps that the young'uns would go "Who?").

[wingnutx]

Man, that would have been so much cooler if HR 676 had been introduced ten bills earlier.

[DudeShopper]

I think the lady in playing front banjo is Retro from Texas. She does seem to be wearing much larger earrings than usual.

I TOO... watched the whole thing. I can only claim to be proud to have been a child while people were hippy'ing around like this. Funny, it seems they went from protesting the 60's to protesting at health care town halls.

[wingnutx]

They associate protesting with youth, and cling to it like a life-preserver.

[James Foy]

Wow, that was tough to finish. Please, no hating the banjo--it really is an amazing instrument when played well. Please don't hate the hippies, either, they are just people really bad at math, and fearful of having to take care of themselves. The fact that they are not particularly smart or easy to look at them drives them to hippyhood in the first place. Teach your children math and logic. Eventually it becomes apparent that theft from the productive is a disincentive to the productive.

[Sam Grove]

I was a bit surprised at how quickly I clicked the stop button. Gotta go now so I can release it from my memory.

[R C Dean]

Gotta go now so I can release it from my memory.

Be sure to flush.

[The Gobbler]

Maybe THIS was the Friday Funnies?

[#]

MORE COWBELL!

[Gene Berkman]

I don't really have anything to say, but clicking on "comments" was the only way to make the "music" stop!

[dating myself]

Painful. Now I wanna be sedated.

[Someone Who Doesn\'t Want to L]

I didn't get through a single line of that damn song.

[Gary]

KILL IT WITH FIRE !!!