The Latest Election

And in the latest election, the Kentucky Republican for Governor has been elected on a promise to shut down the state's insurance exchange and cancel the Medicaid expansion, i.e., to strip 400,000 Kentuckians of their health insurance.  And general news sections I see at Aol and Comcast, as well as Facebook feeds, seem a lot more interested in the endless saga of Kim Davis, the Kentucky County Clerk who refuses to issue same sex wedding licenses, the rejection of marijuana legalization in Ohio and Houston's shocking rejection of an anti-discrimination ordinance that would (among other things) guarantee the trans-gendered access to the restrooms of their choice.  Poor people being kicked off health insurance -- no biggie.  People who wear dresses but have penises being barred from the women's restroom -- intolerable.

In fairness to our media, Matt Bevin, the Republican candidate may have placed more emphasis on championing Kim Davis than on ending the Medicaid expansion.  To be fair to the media, they may very well think Bevin is so much hot air and will not actually act on it.  And apparently his latest position is okay, he won't actually take insurance away from Kentuckians already on Medicaid, but he will block anyone else from signing up.  After all, the governor of Arkansas promises to repeal his state's Medicaid expansion but the latest news apparently says that he is trying instead to get a waiver to make it more punitive.  Bevin may well go the same route.  And since, by all accounts, the Kynect exchange is popular, destroying it would presumably run into opposition.

But honestly folks!  Same sex marriage affects the 2% of the population that is gay.  The alternative is drawing up wills, healthcare powers of attorney, joint title on property, etc. and getting most (not all) of the benefits of marriage, with some inconvenience.  Restrooms and dressing rooms affect the 0.2% of the population that is trans-gender -- and the 50% of the population that is female and may be uncomfortable with a biological male in such an intimate space even if s/he psychologically identifies as female.  Lack of health insurance affects over 10% of the population and can mean lack of access to a wide range of non-emergency medical care -- including the sort of care that prevents emergencies from happening.  This whole business says some disturbing things about a lot of liberal's priorities.