Like all good foreigners to the USA, in the past I’ve fallen in to that trap of lazily stereotyping the good ol’ Land of the Free.

Y’know, we assume all Americans are fat, drive big cars, think “Central America” means Kansas and carry guns.

Having hung around with some genuine Americans over the past few years, and now living here myself, I had realised the error of my ways. I tutted at my narrow-minded attitudes and tried my hardest to embrace this country of diversity and opportunity.

Until now.

With the recent healthcare reform debate I have been gobsmacked by the vicious and spiteful mean spirited attitudes of some sections of the population. Sure, we all expect politicians to be self-seeking selfish assholes. However, Republicans have really taken the biscuit with their outright refusal to support healthcare reform. They’re bad enough, but some of the protests by out and out whacko nutjobs has been disturbing to say the least.

On the tv are images of people screaming at sick people, spitting on politicians and waving banners proclaiming Barack Obama is Hitler or Stalin, or both. Are you people for real?

Even if President Obama were socialist – and let me reassure you he is in no way a socialist – it’s not a dirty word. There are socialist governments in Europe and socialist institutions like the NHS in the UK. They are not evil.

Besides, there are already socialised services in the USA like the public education system, fire and police departments. For a society to function it is beneficial for us as people to get together to provide collective support for things that would be too expensive to provide on an individual basis. We can’t all afford to have a police car sitting outside our houses 24/7, can we?

We need a reality check in this modern world. We can’t all live in a cabin up a mountain, chopping our own firewood and hunting rabbits. No, these days we are all dependent on each other to a greater or lesser extent. We need co-operation and collective government to make modern life happen. Healthcare is one part of this. He who disagrees must carve his own pencils.

Back to the nutjobs though. Sure, we have narrow-minded, ignorant arseholes in the UK, but they are nothing compared to the weirdos here. It seems that certain sections of the population take great delight in exercising their right of freedom of expression to try and suppress and take away other people’s very same rights. This is all done without a hint of irony.

This is embarrassing to watch for an outsider, and makes me seriously doubt whether moving here was a good idea.