Sound's like you're running for re-election. :D

There is no such thing as "freedoms for care". There is freedom to choose how much care you belief you need that you can afford. That is not the same thing. The "freedoms for care" has baked in the notion that healthcare is a positive right.

Of course one has less choices when one has less money. This is true whether it is healthcare or a car or shoes that one is seeking. Some choices are beyond one's financial means. But just as in the case of shoes a free market produces healthcare options at all price levels possible and without the overhead of armies of bureaucrats and enforcers of income collection.

That is nice.

I joined MDVIP, which gives exclusive service from family doctors in their network to members only. Its great. Get to see the doctor same day or next day, and for 30 min appointments. This means that you get to see the doc when you need it. I wish they had that service for ERs

I believe they have something similar to that with LifeFlight memberships. It's not completely contract-based, but does cover the costs of such an emergency.

I do think, however, that doctors should be compensated for the care they give. To expect them to provide services and not to get paid is nothing more than slavery, and I can not support any who believe they have a right to get something for nothing.

I would like there to be a series of emergency rooms by subscription only for the people who contract with them. Get the government OUT of it. If the government wants to tax people to provide low rent free medical emergency care for the people who cant afford it, let them. But let me arrange for good emergency care for which I will pay what it really costs just for MY care, not hundreds of the unwashed penniless people who show up and expect free care.

I have a couple of friends who are respiratory therapists and doctors in the ER. They agree with you for one reason: many of the people who go to the ER do not need to be there, but go because they can't be denied service there even for minor issues like cold/flu - for which doctors can do little anyways. So the ER staffs end up wasting a lot of time and money on people who would be better off in bed resting.

The ER should be for that: emergencies.

What I am all in favor of is a plethora of minor emergency centers where the doctors there can call for an ambulance if they find something worthy of an emergency need.

That is interesting, and not something I have heard of elsewhere. I have always regarded it as a fallacy that people need the 'stick of hell and the carrot of heaven' in order to do right. It certainly is not true of me or of many people I know, but I live out in >3SD from Norm-land and (from conversations I have had) I suspect that other people work differently.

Jan

Just me venting.

I use a laptop with a touchpad. This list is set to default to 'select and delete' when I accidentally contact the touchpad when typing. This would be OK if the Edit Undo worked, but it does not. Sigh. I try to discipline myself to pre-typing in a Word doc and then Pasting to this site...but sometimes the Muse takes me unaware and then it is chancy. (I occasionally respond to that by putting a post-it note over the touchpad.) It is frustrating when it happens.

Jan

Please accost random strangers and teach them this. It has got to get around! (And just think of the expressions on their faces!)

Jan

Interesting that you bring up the Eastern Block countries and religion. My parents have spent several years in both the Czech Republic and Bulgaria since the fall of the Iron Curtain. They have some interesting stories. Communism, or Marxism, is anti-religious. Therefore, the Communists punished those who professed religion. However, after a while they realized that without the belief in a "greater power" there was little motivation for the general populace to do what is "right" unless they were constantly watched. So, what they finally came up with was a philosophy that stated "there is no God", but there is a higher, undefined greater power that says we should do what's "right".

I don't see that we have a big conceptual conflict.
When a person has adversity they can either decide to be a victim, or a success. You obviously had an innate desire to succeed, or a good role model, or both and decided to succeed. I think that is great and you can, in turn, inspire others. There are, however, many who do not have your desire, or role model, and they elect to turn the smallest adversity into a life of victimhood.
I was just saying that whole Horatio Alger plot line would be a good thing to instill in many of these kids who don't have your vision and drive.
I could also go through my list of challenges and failures that would indicate that I never should have been able to get educated, or become financially independent, but suffice it to say, I had some good role models and opted top be a success rather than a victim.

we have allowed socialism to escape accountability. The government takes over but doesn't deliver and it gets away withvit

Chuck; No. I have read your follow up as well as the other comments here and the replies. I think you're missing my points entirely. While I appreciate your experience with those in the 'barrio' for two years and the 'evolution of your thinking', I think you left there with either some mis-perceptions or irrational analysis. Using terms such as "very humble and economically challenged folks', "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs", "lower class", "under privileged", even "barrio", and particularly "public education should be to point out potential to the "under privileged" and show them how" expresses beliefs that fly in the face of reality and Objectivism.

Poverty is not exclusive to 'moochers', immigrants, or 'life's lottery' nor is it a permanent condition of life, like size or freckles. Going through your 6th birthday with 3 younger brothers and an expecting widowed mother soon to deliver your 4th brother, living in a 2 room cabin without insulation and with a shed added as the kitchen, water from a hand drawn well, an outhouse, and going on with life in the Ozark Mountains--no support from anyone except a milk cow and once a year calf and piglet to raise and butcher from an uncle and a 1/2 acre garden spot from a neighbor, income only what was earned from seamstress work by your mother, what you could earn from gathering wild foods and trapping, odd jobs from farmers, and a paper route--then eventually a MSEE degree and a year into a Phd Degree while moving into industry with work throughout the Western US up to Project Mgr of a $67 million (1980 $'s) project, then establishing and operating an Engineering & Construction Co. in gold, moly, and coal mining, paper & pulp, oil & gas, co-generation, printer manufacturing, and other related and similar industry.

All of that with 'volunteers', Churches, and do-gooders trying to split up the family, try to convince that being 'under privileged', 'lower class', 'economically challenged folks' like us had to accept our situation and let our 'betters' 'show us how' to be their mechanics, or carpenters, or even preachers and fit into society and better ourselves.

I don't say or reveal any of that for recognition, critique, or empathy nor is my story unique--only to attempt to illustrate to you and others that poverty, barrios, privilege, and lower class has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with giving up rights or accepting or searching for life as a 'moocher'. There are many poor people that have principles and refuse 'mooching' and at the same time, many wealthy, privileged people that 'mooch'. It's stupidity, immaturity, inability to understand cause and effect, laziness, and mental defect. The one thing I agree with you on is "either work or starve".

the fun thing is trying to be right regardless, using
whatever sense you have. . horsepower without
traction is just noise! -- j
.

did the system wipe out a reply for you? . happened
to me last friday, and it was a good one! -- j
.

in a truly objectivist society, thriving on capitalism,
they would be far better off -- they just can't see it,
with their recent experience and heavy negative
propaganda from the media. -- j
.

a paucity?

my first father-in-law, a school-of-hard-knocks machinist,
taught me that "good enough is perfect." . he was the guy
who could remove a car tire from its wheel and install a
new one with a rubber-faced steel hammer. . we patched
things together and kept them going regardless of difficulty
around the "ranch" -- a hundred acres of pastures with
horses, cattle, goats, sheep, guineas, cats, dogs. . there is
something to the pioneer spirit, ingenuity and persistence! -- j
.

Here Here! I have studied cloward/pivens nice couple from one of the homes of socialism that is of course if your a socialist.. simply over whelm the system.

But the politicians dont deliver very much. We ought to show just how little they do compared with the promises. The slaves would do better by fending for themselves !!

You're sweet.

The Gulch is one of the few places that someone else would notice and appreciate such tidbits of grammar.

I find a terrible scarcity of people who both can and are willing to just 'make it work'.

Jan

I give you plus-ones every time I see you, Jan;;;
I love your insight and care with words, like the
pluperfects and subjunctives! -- j

p.s. I was trained in airplane maintenance, which
harmonizes quite well with real engineering --
the greasy, make-it-work kinda stuff!
.

Yes! . same here. . I love collecting tools, 'cuz I can
purt-near take care of things around here, at least
those which I want to take care of. . and a friend's son
helps too -- he's a self-sufficient mechanic and a
wonderful guy, so he fits right in around here! -- j
.

The non-religious, if you will, was my intended meaning who equally fall prey to the allure of statist indoctrifnation.

they might have meant mundane. -- j
.