Fenris Wulf wrote on Sat, 22 January 2011 09:20 |
The American people decisively rejected socialized medicine in the recent election. Perhaps you've been living in a cave and didn't hear about it.
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there is not the SLIGHTEST evidence of that
what they rejected was inaction on jobs, or their perception of it.
Socialist police seems to work rather well. Fire depts too.
the "free market" has never existed anywhere and never should.
It's a construct that only works in Ayn Rand's evil head.
and in truth, the business community ITSELF comes running to government for protection of one sort or another inevitably.
capitalism ONLY works with healthy government intervention and oversight.
the 'left', such as it is, looks for where that line might sensibly be drawn.
the right on the other hand insists on repeating the lie that government is unnecessary.
right now in America, if you have a reasonable middle-class income, and are stricken with a massive heart attack, or stroke, or serious cancer, or other major medical catastrophy, and ESPECIALLY one for which there are actual expensive treatments with good chances of success, the cost of this is astronomically out of your reach.
So the choices?:
Die.
Be bankrupted.
Have insurance... and if you have insurance (which isn't cheap either), the PURPOSE of that company is to maximize its profits by limiting your care as much as possible. as much as the LAW, the GOVERNMENT, allows them to.
none of these are acceptable options in my view.
screw your purist agenda about economics.
Roger, and people just like him who worked all their lives and made a decent income, could DIE for the simple reason that he can't afford care.
that's unacceptable.
you would not deny police protection to someone who didn't make enough money.
or would you?
I say we SHARE the expense of protecting everyone as best we can.
just like we share their police and fire and military protection.
Just like we pay for their clean air and water.
just like when that story broke about the guy whose house they let burn down because he hadn't paid his $75 to the town, everyone who is NOT an asshole was horrified.
you get to decide what kind of world you want to live in.
caring about your neighbours (and EVERYONE is your neighbour) doesn't just mean throwing a donation around once in a while out of your largesse.
It means committing to share ALL of the expenses of ALL of society, all of the time.