In my humble opinion, the word we fear is socialism...
Since socialism had such a great run in the 20th century, reasonable people are wisely skeptical when we have enjoyed 233 years of democracy & freedom. We are rightfully dubious of countries whose track records have been less than stellar on human rights, freedom and individual liberties. It took Europe a little while after 1776, but after WWII and the Cold War the idea of freedom finally caught on.
So yeah socialism is a bit scary when we've done pretty well for so long.
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When a newspaper posed the question, "What's Wrong with the World?" G. K. Chesterton reputedly wrote a brief letter in response: "Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely Yours, G. K. Chesterton." That is the attitude of someone who has grasped the message of Jesus.
Since socialism had such a great run in the 20th century, reasonable people are wisely skeptical when we have enjoyed 233 years of democracy & freedom. We are rightfully dubious of countries whose track records have been less than stellar on human rights, freedom and individual liberties. It took Europe a little while after 1776, but after WWII and the Cold War the idea of freedom finally caught on.
So yeah socialism is a bit scary when we've done pretty well for so long.
It is fear tactics at it's worst, CC1...not fact...
Let's hope that the tide is beginning to turn against all of the misinformation and scare tactics. Sure there are legitimate concerns about the steps forward, but they need to be LEGITIMATE, and not just the right wing trying to play political games with fear mongering and arguments based on untruths.
The time for silly games is long over. It's time for those in Congress who want to work together and find solutions to do so. The ones who want to spread lies and misinformation about death panels and killing granny don't have anything of substance to add to the debate. It's their choice.
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In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. Augustine
Please explain the "demographic differences" that make universal healthcare a different economic burden in the USA than in Canada. According to the prestigious Fraser Institute, Canada's percentage of population receiving welfare benefits is higher than the US rate.
Healthcare is taxing our resources, ingenuity and resourcefulness, and will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. However the facts remains that we spend a smaller portion of our GDP on healthcare than the USA and our healthcare cost per capita is lower than that in the USA.
Healthcare in Canada is federally funded and provincially administered, and, until the made-in-america meltdown, our federal government has run budget surpluses for a decade and funded medicare. We have reduced our national debt significantly and funded healthcare for all of our citizens.
The challenges that we face are the same as those faced by every healthcare system in the developed world: aging baby boomers with too few children; increasingly expensive treatments and technology; shortages in healthcare professionals due to short sighted politicians not providing adequate funding to training programs.
Surpluses are easy to generate when you don't have the burden of being Protector of the Free World. We give far more than any other country in foreign aid, we provide the lion's share of military might fighting the enemies of freedom & we aren't afraid to take a stand for Israel while the rest of the world wants to rebuke them and give the Palestinians a sympathetic eye and ear.
All of that costs money---lots of it. And we do it so our neighbors can enjoy surpluses and security from their enemies.
I posted a credible article from a credible CANADIAN source---and not one of you all can address ONE SINGLE point he makes about the Canadian system. We just get put downs, ridicule and "I don't know anybody" stories. Well, there's a lot more to the Great White North than YOU!
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When a newspaper posed the question, "What's Wrong with the World?" G. K. Chesterton reputedly wrote a brief letter in response: "Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely Yours, G. K. Chesterton." That is the attitude of someone who has grasped the message of Jesus.
Let's hope that the tide is beginning to turn against all of the misinformation and scare tactics. Sure there are legitimate concerns about the steps forward, but they need to be LEGITIMATE, and not just the right wing trying to play political games with fear mongering and arguments based on untruths.
The time for silly games is long over. It's time for those in Congress who want to work together and find solutions to do so. The ones who want to spread lies and misinformation about death panels and killing granny don't have anything of substance to add to the debate. It's their choice.
Mike this is so hypocritical! You guys get total power in DC and all of the sudden "its time to get serious"?!?!? That is too funny!
You have a "czar" calling Republicans "a*******", you have Pelosi calling vocal town hal participants "Nazis", you have "community organizers" busing in people to the town hall meetings, union thugs intimidating people, Democrat operatives educating people on how to shout down anyone who opposes healthcare, you have daily attacks on Sarah Palin for the slightest twitch of her nose, you have David Axelrod benefitting from stimulus money through a company he founded, you have Charlie Rangel not paying his taxes, and the list goes on and you want to suggest that anyone who opposes gov't run healthcare isn't serious?!?!?
I guess anyone who makes a point worth considering is lying or fabricating or part of the right wing attack machine or conspiracy or whatever. The numbers are in-the American people don't want this! They may wany some changes to the system, but not socialized medicine. Either way, the Dems either won't get what they really want or they will and they will pay dearly in 2010.
Come to Memphis and buy me steak at Ruths Chris when I'm proven right.
If anybody's playing games its the Dems: its a game we around here call "Crapshootin".
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When a newspaper posed the question, "What's Wrong with the World?" G. K. Chesterton reputedly wrote a brief letter in response: "Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely Yours, G. K. Chesterton." That is the attitude of someone who has grasped the message of Jesus.
Mike this is so hypocritical! You guys get total power in DC and all of the sudden "its time to get serious"?!?!? That is too funny!
You have a "czar" calling Republicans "a*******", you have Pelosi calling vocal town hal participants "Nazis", you have "community organizers" busing in people to the town hall meetings, union thugs intimidating people, Democrat operatives educating people on how to shout down anyone who opposes healthcare, you have daily attacks on Sarah Palin for the slightest twitch of her nose, you have David Axelrod benefitting from stimulus money through a company he founded, you have Charlie Rangel not paying his taxes, and the list goes on and you want to suggest that anyone who opposes gov't run healthcare isn't serious?!?!?
I guess anyone who makes a point worth considering is lying or fabricating or part of the right wing attack machine or conspiracy or whatever. The numbers are in-the American people don't want this! They may wany some changes to the system, but not socialized medicine. Either way, the Dems either won't get what they really want or they will and they will pay dearly in 2010.
Come to Memphis and buy me steak at Ruths Chris when I'm proven right.
If anybody's playing games its the Dems: its a game we around here call "Crapshootin".
I'm suggesting there is an element of the right wing, that has controlled the debate for the past month with absurd untruths about things proposed in the healthcare bills. My gosh, we spent two weeks or more on death panels that that never existed from an amendment proposed by a Republican from Georgia to boot.
The right did a great job of capturing the debate and setting the tone, however untrue it is. Republican Presidents have guarded the status quo and refused to lead on healthcare reform for the past 20 years, so now, it's time for them to contribute or get out of the way, IMO.
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In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. Augustine
I'm suggesting there is an element of the right wing, that has controlled the debate for the past month with absurd untruths about things proposed in the healthcare bills. My gosh, we spent two weeks or more on death panels that that never existed from an amendment proposed by a Republican from Georgia to boot.
The right did a great job of capturing the debate and setting the tone, however untrue it is. Republican Presidents have guarded the status quo and refused to lead on healthcare reform for the past 20 years, so now, it's time for them to contribute or get out of the way, IMO.
A mischaracterization. GOP Presidents not in favor of a total takeover of HC cannot be fairly labeled as doing nothing. Bush pushed thru a drug bill 4 seniors and passed it. But fundamentally the question is if our system is broken what is the biggest reason why.
Remember how regulated the telecommunications system was back in the day? When the govt deregulated it, the roof blew off the industry and now we have all of the conveniences and low telecommunication costs of today. When the government got out of the way of private industry, the free market made the system innovative and affordable.
One of the most regulated industries in the country is healthcare/insurance/pharmaceuticals. If the govt wud get out of the way, many of the hidden costs caused by govt regulations wud lower the expenses of the whole industry. And it amazes me that people want to trust politicians with the money and power over so much when they prove time and again they are far less teustworthy than private industries. There may be a few bad eggs in business, but the vast majority of businesses in a America are small businesses with less than 100 employees. The vast majority of CEOs are hard working, job creating, honest to goodness decent folks who want a better life for themselves and their employees.
Politicians? There are a few good eggs in that basket. They are the exception, not the rule.
I'll trust the so-called "greedy CEOs" any day over Washington DC. Amtrak, USPS, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, FEMA, Welfare, the War on Poverty, Cash for Clunkers, the Bridge to Nowhere, Government Waste, the $50 million to study wild horses, the National Endowment for the Arts, save the spotted owl, save the Death Valley Gnute, and ten thousand other boondoggles are testimony to the waste, corruption, ineptitude and ineffectiveness of big government.
Capitalism has its flaws but it errs on the side of freedom and liberty versus the state. Socialism is rife with holes and it errs on the side of the greater good over individual liberty and responsibility.
I'll take my chances with what got this country started and what has made it great for 233 years!
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When a newspaper posed the question, "What's Wrong with the World?" G. K. Chesterton reputedly wrote a brief letter in response: "Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely Yours, G. K. Chesterton." That is the attitude of someone who has grasped the message of Jesus.
One of the most regulated industries in the country is healthcare/insurance/pharmaceuticals. If the govt wud get out of the way, many of the hidden costs caused by govt regulations wud lower the expenses of the whole industry. And it amazes me that people want to trust politicians with the money and power over so much when they prove time and again they are far less teustworthy than private industries. There may be a few bad eggs in business, but the vast majority of businesses in a America are small businesses with less than 100 employees. The vast majority of CEOs are hard working, job creating, honest to goodness decent folks who want a better life for themselves and their employees.
Politicians? There are a few good eggs in that basket. They are the exception, not the rule.
I'll trust the so-called "greedy CEOs" any day over Washington DC. Amtrak, USPS, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, FEMA, Welfare, the War on Poverty, Cash for Clunkers, the Bridge to Nowhere, Government Waste, the $50 million to study wild horses, the National Endowment for the Arts, save the spotted owl, save the Death Valley Gnute, and ten thousand other boondoggles are testimony to the waste, corruption, ineptitude and ineffectiveness of big government.
If you really think that gov't regulation is the main force in rising healthcosts, you're simply out of touch with reality Deacon. The main reason for rising healthcosts is the uninsured in this country. If you don't believe me, go ask a CFO of any hospital. Go talk to the staff that work there everyday.
There are millions if not billions of dollars of unpaid debt by uninsured people that will never be collected on. That in turn drives up the price of every medical procedure for those of us who have insurance that hospitals and clinics can actually collect on.
The thought that "the government just needs to get out of the way" or some other trite old right wing vernacular does nothing to solve THE problem facing our healthcare system, Deacon.
As far as the trust you're willing to place in CEO's, I'm not surprised. I realize that many on the right are fine with hundreds of million of dollar salaries and insurance companies rationing care every day. That seems to be the Republican way.
Enron and WorldCom should have been the wake-up call but it wasn't. I thought that Sept. of 2008 would have surely opened eyes of the folks on the right, but you're still willing to put undeserved trust in greedy CEO's.
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In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. Augustine
And Maple Leaf, as far as Canadian citizens clamoring for an American system all I have to say is this: it wasn't the welfare recipients who clamored for welfare reform in America. Once you are given something for "free", the politicians know they've got you. Why would you not want "free" healthcare? Its just we know here that "free" means more taxes, and frankly, those of us who are wage earners would like to keep as much of our hard earned money as we can.
And if that seems selfish, well a recent study I just read about in a magazine found that conservatives are far more generous with their own money when giving to charity and liberals are far more generous with government money, better known as "other people's money".
I wish you all the best in Canada, really I do, but Americans don't want a Canadian style system, they aren't clamoring for it, yet since the proponents here like to cite you all as evidence we should go that route, we who are opposed want to point out its flaws. And even though the majority don't want it, the Dems are going to cram it down our throat.
__________________
When a newspaper posed the question, "What's Wrong with the World?" G. K. Chesterton reputedly wrote a brief letter in response: "Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely Yours, G. K. Chesterton." That is the attitude of someone who has grasped the message of Jesus.
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