Universal Health care: What does it mean for us a citizens?
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I heard some weenie on the radio yesterday morning. Essentially, he was saying that "individualism is the way of the past, the future is the community". Wow, I could just hear the "I'm so pathetic I can't even look at myself in the mirror" dripping from his voice.
What is happening to people? What happened to the "Yes, I can do that!" spirit that made this country the best industrialized nation? What happened to the country that was the first to reach the moon? What happened to the country that was the first to harness atomic power? Jefferson was right, the biggest threat to this nation isn't someone trying to conquer it, it's from inside.
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out there;304407 wrote:
I heard some weenie on the radio yesterday morning. Essentially, he was saying that "individualism is the way of the past, the future is the community". Wow, I could just hear the "I'm so pathetic I can't even look at myself in the mirror" dripping from his voice.What is happening to people? What happened to the "Yes, I can do that!" spirit that made this country the best industrialized nation? What happened to the country that was the first to reach the moon? What happened to the country that was the first to harness atomic power? Jefferson was right, the biggest threat to this nation isn't someone trying to conquer it, it's from inside.
Ayn Rand is someone that really gets to the meat of the issues you're asking about, but she's very wordy and philosophical. Not a lot of people can read her books. I'm not clever enough to distill what she says into something short, and most people go "tl;dr" on my posts already
The reason many Americans feel like shit is because that makes them easier to control. It's not an accident.
A man with no idealism has no aspirations. A man with no aspirations has no motivations of his own. Once a man has no motivation and cannot move under his own power, he needs someone else to tell him what to do and how to think.
The key then, is destroy his ideas. To destroy his heroes. To destroy everything and everywhere he sees virtue.
There are forces at work in our culture and our society that actively work to destroy everything worth loving so that man loses his capacity to care.
But this can be hard to do; it is sometimes much easier to glorify mediocrity than to tear down excellence.
As you think about the people you see in the news, the things you read in magazines, the policies enacted by our government, the court decisions made in our courts... ask yourself:
"Does that make an example of the best humanity has to offer? Or does that celebrate and reward vileness... mediocrity...failure... injustice"
Ask yourself.. "is this a good man who they are trying to destroy? Why?"
Who are your hereos today? Are there any? Who did you look up to 5 or 10 years ago? How has the popular culture treated them since then? Are they still your heroes?
I trot out a lot of books on here that I've read and found interesting and helpful. My policy is that I will lend a copy of any book I've mentioned to anyone on FS that asks for it.
I suffer from the same malaise as some of you: I think our country is dying, that I am powerless to stop it, that many of our neighbors are complicit in its destruction, and that there is no hope of a positive outcome.
I beleive that there will be a confrontation between people who want to be free again and people who want to enslave their neighbors. I don't know what kind of confrontation it will be... will it be a few people getting murdered on TV, like Waco or Ruby Ridge, or will it be a lot of people against a lot of people, like a 2nd American Revolutionary war or a 2nd Civil War.
Or maybe, somehow, beyond all hope, "they" will just let "us" go, and people who oppose the continued democratization and socialization of their lives will be permitted to live as relatively free men, as was the design of this Nation's founders.
The reading I have done has made me very skeptical that "they" will ever let "us" go. We build their buildings, design their bridges, fight their wars, grow their food. They need us; we don't need anyone.
As much posting as I do here and as long as all of my posts are, I imagine that I do a horrible job of explaining and defending the principles of freedom to people who may not have studied them much. So I encourage anyone who is interested to please consult the source material -- don't assume I'm giving it a fair shake, if you read my posts and think "what a loon" or "what an idiot", don't take my word for it -- read it from the experts' mouths.
A damn shame is that most of the books i talk about aren't available at the Fargo public library. Why is that? Why can't you find books on free-market economics or the philosophy of political freedom at a state-supported library? There are thousands of volumes of japanese comic books translated into english. But nothing on the nature of man's freedom? In a "Free" country no less?
Here's a quick and dirty crack at the "thrash freedom-lovers reading list" (check at the library online, or ask me via PM to borrow a copy):
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" - Robert A. Heinlien, science fiction
"Molon Labe" - Kenneth Royce, fiction
"Atlas Shrugged" - Ayn Rand, fiction
"Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal" - Ayn Rand, non-fiction
"Free to Choose" - Milton Friedman, non-fiction
"Capitalism and Freedom" - Milton Friedman, non-fiction -
integra_gsr98;304404 wrote:
Strong Military > Poor People with Healthcare
I tend to lean to the authoritarian side though.
I agree 100%, but I don't have any problem re-evaluating where the troops are and bringing some home if it makes sense.
DaveH
'94 Supra- 7.77 @ 176mph -
So none of the legislators even read the "healthcare bill" close enough to see that it didn't actually remove the "pre-existing condition" clause for kids until 2014?
What a joke, I bet 90% of the people who voted "yes" on the bill have no idea whats actually in it.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jYnajhWrPEXihcCrpRNfUKN7rN-AD9EKTKIG0
DaveH
'94 Supra- 7.77 @ 176mph -
DaveH;304418 wrote:
I agree 100%, but I don't have any problem re-evaluating where the troops are and bringing some home if it makes sense.Don't get me wrong I'm all for getting them out of places as soon as it's possible. What I'm not a fan of though is the inevitable 'demilitarization' that will be caused by liberals in charge if we're not fighting a war.
Reagan did it right by building up the military after the Carter administration. A strong military is necessary even in times of peace.
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thrash;304414 wrote:
Ayn Rand is someone that really gets to the meat of the issues you're asking about, but she's very wordy and philosophical. Not a lot of people can read her books. I'm not clever enough to distill what she says into something short, and most people go "tl;dr" on my posts alreadyThe reason many Americans feel like shit is because that makes them easier to control. It's not an accident.
A man with no idealism has no aspirations. A man with no aspirations has no motivations of his own. Once a man has no motivation and cannot move under his own power, he needs someone else to tell him what to do and how to think.
The key then, is destroy his ideas. To destroy his heroes. To destroy everything and everywhere he sees virtue.
There are forces at work in our culture and our society that actively work to destroy everything worth loving so that man loses his capacity to care.
But this can be hard to do; it is sometimes much easier to glorify mediocrity than to tear down excellence.
As you think about the people you see in the news, the things you read in magazines, the policies enacted by our government, the court decisions made in our courts... ask yourself:
"Does that make an example of the best humanity has to offer? Or does that celebrate and reward vileness... mediocrity...failure... injustice"
Ask yourself.. "is this a good man who they are trying to destroy? Why?"
Who are your hereos today? Are there any? Who did you look up to 5 or 10 years ago? How has the popular culture treated them since then? Are they still your heroes?
I trot out a lot of books on here that I've read and found interesting and helpful. My policy is that I will lend a copy of any book I've mentioned to anyone on FS that asks for it.
I suffer from the same malaise as some of you: I think our country is dying, that I am powerless to stop it, that many of our neighbors are complicit in its destruction, and that there is no hope of a positive outcome.
I beleive that there will be a confrontation between people who want to be free again and people who want to enslave their neighbors. I don't know what kind of confrontation it will be... will it be a few people getting murdered on TV, like Waco or Ruby Ridge, or will it be a lot of people against a lot of people, like a 2nd American Revolutionary war or a 2nd Civil War.
Or maybe, somehow, beyond all hope, "they" will just let "us" go, and people who oppose the continued democratization and socialization of their lives will be permitted to live as relatively free men, as was the design of this Nation's founders.
The reading I have done has made me very skeptical that "they" will ever let "us" go. We build their buildings, design their bridges, fight their wars, grow their food. They need us; we don't need anyone.
As much posting as I do here and as long as all of my posts are, I imagine that I do a horrible job of explaining and defending the principles of freedom to people who may not have studied them much. So I encourage anyone who is interested to please consult the source material -- don't assume I'm giving it a fair shake, if you read my posts and think "what a loon" or "what an idiot", don't take my word for it -- read it from the experts' mouths.
A damn shame is that most of the books i talk about aren't available at the Fargo public library. Why is that? Why can't you find books on free-market economics or the philosophy of political freedom at a state-supported library? There are thousands of volumes of japanese comic books translated into english. But nothing on the nature of man's freedom? In a "Free" country no less?
Here's a quick and dirty crack at the "thrash freedom-lovers reading list" (check at the library online, or ask me via PM to borrow a copy):
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" - Robert A. Heinlien, science fiction
"Molon Labe" - Kenneth Royce, fiction
"Atlas Shrugged" - Ayn Rand, fiction
"Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal" - Ayn Rand, non-fiction
"Free to Choose" - Milton Friedman, non-fiction
"Capitalism and Freedom" - Milton Friedman, non-fiction
/salute
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integra_gsr98;304421 wrote:
Don't get me wrong I'm all for getting them out of places as soon as it's possible. What I'm not a fan of though is the inevitable 'demilitarization' that will be caused by liberals in charge if we're not fighting a war.Reagan did it right by building up the military after the Carter administration. A strong military is necessary even in times of peace.
stationed around the world is a poor choice. would we let france have a base in montana? no.
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I just got done having this chat with someone else.
The only way out of this, even for a "say no to everything" fiscal conservative [of which there aren't any, except Ron Paul], is to cut military spending.
We can't lower taxes first. We have to cut spending first. But what spending? What will people actually say "yes" to, and what is big enough to make a difference?
The war budget.
Ron Paul has said from day one that while he wants to shrink the government, cut welfare, cut education, cut the CIA, cut every thing that isn't strictly authorized by the federal government...
what is he going to do first ? What can you cut that won't cripple and shock Americans? What can you cut that lots of americans are actually in favor of cutting?
The war budget.
So on day one, he'd start bringing troops home from everywhere -- not just our two foreign theaters of operation, but from the bases we have all over the world.
The best way for those people to be able to protect Americans from invasion is for them to be back here, and for the government to have enough money to BUY THEM SUPPLIES.
No other republican will actually be straight with you on what spending they'd cut. That's because there is nothing else people can cut right now. The ONLY thing that people will let get cut is defense spending.
The thing Clinton did wrong is that he reduced our projection and intelligence capacities, but not our "commitment" to helicopter into every podunk shithole all over the world. Ron Paul has no such illusions.
So Ron Paul is the only person that actually has a specific and plausible plan for what spending he'd cut and how he'd do it. And what is his reward from republicans?
"Wanting to bring the troops home makes him a pussy" [he enlisted and SERVED you fat lying fucks, and he had a larger share of the vote from DEPLOYED TROOPS than anyone else, including the "War Vet" McCain. So STFU]
"He's a loon" [and how many monetary policy books have YOU published?]
"I like him, except for his foreign policy" [if you had voted for any of his DOMESTIC policies we wouldn't be in this mess, assholes]Nobody -- and i mean nobody -- has an answer to the basic question of "how are we going to give American any chance of being a viable country in 20 years", except Ron Paul. And his plan is this "we've got to cut spending and services fast, hard, and brutally, and here's where we have to start, because that will have the biggest savings with the lowest domestic impact".
Nobody else has a plausible plan.
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Thrash, I have waded through Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and a couple collections of essays, so I'm familiar with Rand's flare with words. I haven't read Milton Friedman, but I will start to explore some of his works. I also haven't read enough of Heinlein, so he's still on my "to read" list. I support your making available the books that people need to read, but there exists a problem with people just reading: they don't understand.
When I loan books to people, when I recommend that someone read something, I ask them questions about it. I try to foster discussion of the premises to ensure that their brains grasp the roots of what they read. Reading doesn't do anything, it's understanding that is needed. The only place where everyone stands a chance at victory is the field of education. Nobody wins without discourse and debate.
I think the ideas that Ron Paul discusses are excellent, well-organized, and what we need... but he gets labeled "lunatic" because he speaks about the practical application of our resources, not the touchy-feely, superstitious babbling that the country expects. Stalin was a genius because he tried to kill religion, he was stupid because he also tried to kill the aspirations of his people. What none of the leaders through history have understood is that people only use religion as a crutch when they feel that they aren't capable on their own. The only true way to kill religion is to prove to men that the only "god" image they need in their minds is that of a human being with "rationality, self-esteem, and purpose".
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Actually....it doesn't exempt them. Common myth.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/28thamendment.asp
and for further proof: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h3962eh.txt.pdf look at line 22 of page 114. Doesn't mention anything about excluding coverage to anyone.
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