- Hot
- New
- Categories...
- Producer's Lounge
- Producer's Vault
- The Gulch: Live! (New)
- Ask the Gulch!
- Going Galt
- Books
- Business
- Classifieds
- Culture
- Economics
- Education
- Entertainment
- Government
- History
- Humor
- Legislation
- Movies
- News
- Philosophy
- Pics
- Politics
- Science
- Technology
- Video
- The Gulch: Best of
- The Gulch: Bugs
- The Gulch: Feature Requests
- The Gulch: Featured Producers
- The Gulch: General
- The Gulch: Introductions
- The Gulch: Local
- The Gulch: Promotions
- Marketplace
- Members
- Store
- More...
I then asked her if she was in favor of "Medicare for all," and she said yes. I said, "So you're in favor of the government stealing more from me, raking of some of it for themselves, and paying for your operation, instead of me simply paying for it?" She said that takes away the personal element that makes her uncomfortable.
That's what is missing from society. The personal element that makes us recognize the sacrifices people are willing to make, and the fact that government theft is an unwilling action. Taking largesse from a bureaucracy removes any sense of guilt or obligation, making it an impersonal transaction.
Freedom to the "Age of Aquarius" generation means freedom from responsibility for yourself or anyone else, because the bureaucracy will give everyone whatever they need. They made a deliberate effort to teach younger people that message. It's no surprise of the growth of the "baby daddy," with no sense of responsibility to family, or the multiple generations of welfare families who can't remember when anyone in the family worked. The utter disregard for any form of personal morality is also characteristic of a sad, growing part of American society. It is the dark side of selfishness and greed, with the word "inequality" used to promote wealth jealousy.
My daughter is a good person, which is why it hurts to see she's bought into this farce.
That is so unfortunate. If it were me, I would be emotional and unable to have a philosophical discussion. If I could be stoic, though, I would want to ask her what's bad about the personal element? Does she think you're just doing it because you feel sorry for her, because good people put others' needs ahead of their own, or because someone is pressing you to do it? I suspect she would never want that and maybe that's what she actually means by the personal element. You could assure you totally want to do it and wouldn't think of doing it out of pity, self-righteous sacrifice, or any of that.
The key is to let her come to the realization on her own that her real problem was not that it's personal, but that's it's hitting you up for money you don't really want to give. From there it's a very short road to not wanting to hit taxpayers up for money.
Another idea: I would tell her I respect her concern that it's alms. To avoid any notion of that, I would expect it to be paid back in the form of her helping someone else in the future when she can. That's probably not very Objectivist of me, but I'm more a Rand fan than a hardcore Objectivist. Anyway, in addition to this getting her the operation, it plants the seed of an alternative to socialism.
"that Medicare for all will not happen in her lifetime"
If she's really basing her planning of major decisions on yahoos in Washington, it's the most absurd part of this whole story. What people do in life makes way more difference than all this. Take whatever extremes you want from recent history. Suppose marginal income tax rates double, as in the 50s and 60s. Or say they go to 10% or some sort of income tax.. That's a huge deal. But what you do in life is a far bigger deal. It goes for making money but also for all the little and big decisions we make: where to live, what vices to indulge or abstain from and to what extent, how much risk to take in business, what to spend time on out of the millions of things out there. I completely agree with lobbying for less socialism in healthcare. I don't claim to know if "Medicare for all", whatever that exactly means, will happen. I'll give it 50/50. I'll be shocked in President Trump runs in 2020, but either way as horrible as he is about expanding gov't, massively expanding borrowing, and laughing off Constitutional limits, even minor decisions I make will have more effect. The same is true if the gov't moved toward libertarian policies, policies that could increase compound growth and cause a staggering amount of wealth to be created. Great, but it's foolish to wait for that rising tide. What you do on things you personally control matters a thousand times more.
The DPC doctors don't turn away people with preexisting conditions, nor charge them more. They do recommend people get catastrophic care insurance to cover emergencies and long term care.
There are also surgery centers that post their charges online, catering to individuals and self-insured small businesses. Their charges are almost always much lower than the fees other hospitals charge insurance companies.
There is still an opportunity to inject market forces into medical care, and cut the government out of the picture.
I hadn't heard of DPC.
I am certain if the gov't got out of the way, the herds of suppliers and consumers would come up with things we can't even think of.
I'm fortunate no one in my family has needed it. If we do, though, we will consider places like this. I like the concept of insurance to protect against perils, but with health insurance they try to manage your healthcare decisions-- a service I do not want.
In my hopeful scenario, she's on the cusp of realizing she doesn't want other people to put her desires ahead of their own. It would be like if someone in Hank Rearden's family had said it didn't quite sit right for Hank to be doing all the work and giving him money for nothing. That would have been a good sign.
Gee whiz! No wonder we're having so many damn stupid wars. The World Trade Center even came crashing down! It was enough to turn me into an Islamophobe!
And I've even watched the Jackass Party transform into a brainless mob of screeching apes!
Oh, the humanity! Has half this country completely lost that?
As of now the population is about 30% foreigner, most of them colored migrants from Muslim countries.
They are well under way of increasing their numbers through marriage and their own high rate of multiplying. A generation from today Sweden will be unrecognizable and more like a country in Africa.
Did some Bill Davis, (Jazz)...other than Seals and Croft...nobody big.