That argument has been made countless times, in this newspaper and most others, and in most journals with even the slightest pretense of rationality, and it goes like this: everyone, sooner or later (but usually later) gets sick and needs insurance to cover bills that most savings accounts won't cover. Healthy people often won't pay for insurance because they think they don't need it; but when they hit old age, by golly, they want coverage. However, because healthy young people are avoiding paying, the premiums for a pool consisting entirely of old people are unaffordable. That's why people need to pay their entire lives.

And it's true, with tax policy, corporate welfare, and health care, Republicans obviously "don't care about ordinary Americans."