-------quipu, indulge me once more when you have time.... here are some thoughts in response to your well-stated points. and after this, not only am i done posting about this for a while… i am done commenting/responding about this for a while as well. the last word is up for grabs to anyone who wants it. i shan't utter a peep. ----------
you could call this "Epic Response" to follow up "Epic Rant"
you know, this issue has reminded me of the great debate of the cold war.... capitalism vs. communism. no, i do not think that american democrats are communists. socialists, there are some.... but not communists. it reminded me of a few class discussions i had at one point in undergraduate work. we had read the communist manifesto and were discussing the ideas of marx. i actually think karl marx was a good guy.... and his ideas make sense on paper. the only problem is that every time his ideas have been implemented in real life, they have been disaster. communist populations are the most freedomless people in the world. still, i realize the validity of marx's motivation. capitalism has brought our country great fortune and prosperity, but it has its dark side, just like any government or economic system.
however... though capitalism can be merciless at times, i do think it is fitting for our country's mindset of freedom from government and freedom of choice. (at least, that's what our mindset used to be... in my humble view, that is less common now) we are a free society, and with that should come a free market that is encouraged and supported. while in a capitalist society, some excel and some don't... in a communist society, no one excels. i truly think the better ideals won the day at the end of the cold war.... and have made us the young superpower we have been since the fall of the berlin wall. i am a believer that our country's constitution and our belief in free market economics have been instrumental in making the united states the great country it is today.
having said all that, i view president obama's stated goal of government-run health care as an assault on those ideals. if anybody thinks that "big government is bad government," i don't see how he/she can support a single-payer health care system with a straight face. i feel that most people know deep down that quality of care will suffer under a government system, and taxes for americans, which are already ridiculously high, will be raised in attempt to pay for the bill.... i say "attempt" because when was the last time the government ever successfully cut costs when it comes to health care? when was the last time medicare or medicaid turned a profit? they’ve actually achieved the exact opposite… they have put the country millions and millions of dollars in the hole, with no end in site. i feel many are eager to discuss the financial imbalance of the current free market system, but they are also eager to leave out the bleak details regarding the government health options we already have in place. this is one reason why i can’t fathom adding yet another massive government program on top of what we already have, especially in our current economic struggles.
i also view the legislation as an assault on the constitution. i do not believe the language is there that allows for the federal government to force private citizens to buy anything. even if a ridiculous ruling such as that were to be made, it should be left up to the states to require that... not the feds. to me, that is a blatantly obvious way of making it clear to everyone that he wants as many people as possible to be on this government plan. instead of just putting a new plan out there to "strengthen the market," as they falsely advertised they were aiming to do, they slanted the language of the bill to make the market conducive to people eventually using the "public option" for various reasons. this doesn't surprise me, but it is tragic to be reminded that we are under the leadership of people who truly believe that government is the medicine for all disease. for me, i believe that government IS the disease... and lastly, the way in which this legislation became law, with democrats using unconventional tactics to get it passed and paying off people so they would vote “yes”, are all a giant middle finger to the american public, who are largely opposed to this legislation.
i think that democrats realize the weaknesses of the free market system. i think they try and smooth the rough spots, so to speak, by using government as the great equalizer. for the most part, i think their intentions are good. all they want is for more people to receive health care. who can argue with that, right? however, i think it is often a false assumption that those who oppose this legislation don’t realize those weaknesses of the system and couldn’t care less whether or not people are insured. that’s simply not true. for me, i don’t believe in a “do it, and ask questions later” attitude. there have been so many to tell me… “well let’s just see if this works and tweak it later” or “well, something is better than nothing.” for me, something is definitely WORSE than nothing if that something can potentially take our economy further in the hole and surrender personal freedoms in the process. this is not a prototype technology at a private company.... this is federal law we are talking about. it needs to be "tweaked" before it becomes law. we tend to rationalize and think that little bits of government here and there won’t override our strong ideals of freedom from government. however, the drug of government entitlement is addicting, and slowly but surely we have developed a dependency that may be irreversible now. we need detox, but the doctor's on vacation. we allow a little here and a little there... thinking "just one more program won't hurt"... but then we find ourselves wondering how the government got so big.
imagine you and i own a rescue boat. we go out to rescue thousands of people who are drowning out in the ocean. we begin to pull them out of the water, one by one, and bring them on deck to safety. we work for hours and hours, until there are many hundreds of people on the boat, and it is getting over-crowded. we can’t fit any more people on the boat, but we look around and see so many people… still in the water, still drowning. out of pity and guilt, we continue to pull people aboard the vessel, knowing full well the boat can only handle so much weight. we pull so many people aboard before leaving that the boat sinks on the way back to the harbor. we successfully pulled more people than planned out of the water, but we put such a strain on our ship that it wasn’t able to handle the burden. in the end, what had we really accomplished? in the end, no one is better off than before.
this resembles somewhat my thinking toward our current trend in america. we recognize that there are people who are less fortunate than others, and because we live in such a prosperous nation, we rightfully feel sympathy for those individuals. however, for whatever reason, many have the belief that government, and government alone, can be the rescue ship for those people. a government that undertakes the mission of being the great provider, such as those in socialist countries, often bites off more than it can chew. sooner or later, our ship will sink if we don’t recognize the burden we are placing on our economy and our liberties.
Cheers…
