Kudos for Tonky! A friend and I recently had the same operation at nearly the same time. He received good care, physical therapy, and had a smooth recovery. I found myself in what seemed to be an outtake from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, received little to no physical therapy, and took twice as long to get back on my feet, despite being twenty years his junior. The difference? He lives in England and I live in the States. Bring on the healthcare reform.

Rosenatti - But according to Faux News and their teabag followers, we're all going to die the minute the ink is dry on that bill.

Health care is not a right. Fundamental Rights are those rights which all people can simultaneously claim without forcing someone to serve their needs (the only exception being children's claim upon their parents).

It would do our country good to read and follow the Constitution. The proposed medical care reform is unconstitutional and the antithesis of agency, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Classy with your sexual innuendo, spinsLPs.

What sexual innuendo? Did I miss something? Also, emkup, it is very easy to argue that in order to be ALIVE to enjoy the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we all equally need health care when we are sick. Not everyone feels patriotic and free by standing aside and letting our fellow Americans die or suffer needlessly from treatable illness. Also, I believe America more truely reflects our strength and values when we require companies to act ethically.

I'd like to read AT without hearing political vitriol if that's not too much bother. It would be even better if there weren't political statements in the first place. Can we get back to design, please?

emkup, if you were to get swine flu, it would affect my life, too. Also, my health is essential so that I can go to school, get a job and work, and contribute to society. If you think that's unconstitutional and the antithesis of agency, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, then tell me how you can have these things without health. The dead can't do so much.

60% of personal bankruptcies in the US are due to medical bills. We spend more than every other industrialized nation, and end up with the lowest life expectancy and highest infant mortality. Seriously. To me, it's the awful state of our healthcare system feels embarrassing and un-American, not healthcare reform.

But back to the issue of design-- Yay for this! It would be interesting to see more designers and artists addressing policy issues. Recently watched some videos clearly explaining the UK system when it first came out (
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/NHS60/Pages/VideointroducingthenewNHS.aspx), and hilarious shorts by their government on health issues right now (http://www.nhs.uk/video/Pages/medialibrary.aspx?Tag=Embarrassing conditions) and I couldn't imagine our government pulling off the same thing. Why not?

Thanks Rosenatti!

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Emkup - I am an entrepreneur (and a tax & spend liberal) who buys insurance and never gets sick.

Universal health care would support entrepreneurs and provide a safety net for their families as they pursue the American Dream and that other God given right: The Pursuit of Property.

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Inkstained - Design is not just decoration. Design is the pursuit of a good life, a meaning-filled life and for me that includes taking a stand for principles I hold to be self evident.

ergo: Health Care: Basic Human Right

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Come on Everyone, buy a poster for charity!

love, Tonky

Tonky's poster is awesome!

emkup, I am sorry but I disagree with your interpretation of the Constitution. By your definition, liberty is a right we can all claim without someone "serving our needs." Then what is the role of our armed forces? Is it not to serve our country and protect our liberty? Also, I refuse to support the "pursuit of happiness" by insurance company executives and others who profit at the hands of the rest of us. A decent, honorable, and ethical society cares for all its citizens, not just those lucky enough to have been born (or worked their way) into more fortunate circumstances.

There's a high level of design thinking in the Constitution. 200 years later and it's still the ultimate in adaptive design. Its language was kept deliberately vague to allow it adapt to wishes and desires unforeseen in 1787. Taking it as a holy text handed down from on high is contrary to its design; antithetical, even. Surely it was not the Founders intent that we slavishly follow the document at the expense of the well-being of millions of citizens.

"The Founders recognized that the people cannot delegate to their government the power to do anything except that which they have the lawful right to do themselves. For example, every person is entitled to protection of his life and property. Therefore it is perfectly legitimate to delegate to the government the task of setting up a police force to protect the lives and property of all the people." W. Cleon Skousen, Constitutional expert.

The only rights actually guaranteed to Americans by the Constitution are those that protect freedom of action. They are “negative rights,” which do exactly the opposite of their positive counterparts. Just as the Constitutional protection of free speech and of the press doesn't mean I have to buy you a newspaper, "life" doesn't mean you can force me to spend 10 years training to be a doctor so I can provide you with free care or have the government pay for it with taxes.

http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/josheboch/health-care-is-not-a-right

Hollers- teabagger, teabagging. Google it, as it's too obscene to write the definition here.

Dear Emkup,

The fire-and-brimstone website you link to rants about FDR and the New Deal as the epitome of slavery all inspired by Karl Marx. It presents a confusing and disjointed thesis, one Glenn Beck would be proud of.

Please remember Karl Marx lived and wrote during the time of Abraham Lincoln, a LONG time before Stalin and Communist oppression. Also a LONG time before FDR single handedly created the middle class with the New Deal.

Marx and Engles were basically just nerds who were fascinated with how insanely abstract money is.

How weird that "all that is physicall melts into thin air."

Evidently "just nerds" = father of communism.

Oh, apparently "agency, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" = every single person in this country (with the possible exception of Bill Gates) is one bad car accident or illness away from bankruptcy.

Who knew?

Happy, healthy, slightly smug Canadian says: you really need to get on board with good public health care, it's all good. Seriously. And no one feels like a communist for not paying an arm and a leg for their arms and legs. :)

I find the comments here both interesting and thought-provoking. I politely disagree with inkstainedwriter that this discourse is out of place on AT. Tonky's terrific poster isn't one I'd buy, because I disagree, but it brings up the point that articles of home decor can be far from superficial decorations.

Wow AT has come along from the days when any political utterance inspired mass shrieks of protest from bubble dwellers.

Rock on, Tonky!

hey all!

I'm listening to the house debate on health care right this minute. Everyone is making interesting points. Smug Canadian makes me laugh, the commie! :) I forgot to say I love the design of the poster. It's bold and bright - hopefully like our future!

Emkup, heh, heh, I remember now about the teabagging. I think I'll NOT google it. However, the teabaggers gave their own selves that name so anyone else is just repeating the name they gave themselves. You get props for holding up the other side of the issue. I'd love for you to come around to caring about your fellow citizens health and ethical business practices, though!

Since we're talking about graphics, here's my idea for a poster:

http://picasaweb.google.com/elliottbanfield/ElliottBanfieldPortfolio#5401500572275677922

H L I, moi aussi!

Honestly, empkup... all that high-brow abstract philosophical discourse has caused you to miss the point entirely. It's a whole lot easier to live a happy, free, fulfilling life when you know you'll never have to choose between your health and tuition for your kids/the roof over your head/etc.

And why shouldn't health care be a basic human right? You keep citing the Constitution, but you don't actually articulate a good reason why. I absolutely can't imagine anything more inhumane than allowing people to suffer or die from treatable or curable conditions in a country as modern and affluent as the United States. Every other industrialized nation takes care of its citizens and they seem to be carrying on just fine.

What are Americans so afraid of?