conversation i had at the door awhile ago...
i had just given my rap about fighting for affordable healthcare, we're not talking universal healthcare b/c people in new hampshire for the most part are just not that progressive, they only want to take care of themselves and no one else.
middle-aged man: i already have great healthcare, my company provides it for me.
me: ok, well, that's great for you. you should consider yourself lucky because there are upwards of 40 million americans working full time jobs who cannot afford to have health insurance because the costs are so high.
middle-aged man: well, that is their fault...
me: allright, well what about the children? out of all the uninsured, 10 million of those are children.
middle-aged man: well, that is the parents' responsibility.
me: that is true, i agree. but the parents cannot afford to provide their kids with healthcare because the costs are so high (i always hate repeating myself, it seems that people at the door never really listen to you, they just use you to step on their soapbox and try to tell you how the world is)
middle-aged man: they should have thought of that before they had kids.
-> i was already about 5 weeks into this jobs of knocking on doors. but this was the first time i was really stumped. the man was very very kind about the whole thing. so when he said it, i didn't feel insulted, or hurt, or rejected, though i feel like i probably should have now b/c he obviously took a jab at me and the work i was doing.
but to actually say parents should think about things like whether or not they will be able to provide healthcare, clothing, a home b/f they have children is reasonable but not entirely logical. i think parents thinking about whether or not they can provide healthcare to their children is really just ridiculous though. people have sex, it's as much a part of human nature as sleeping and eating.
and while i think it's really cold to deny children, innocent children, healthcare. they have done nothing wrong, we need to take care of all of them, i did see some sort of reason to the man's words. while we should take care of all the children, they are first and foremost the parents' responsibility and not the state's. i think the stance is that girls' would be irresponsible teen mothers and dump their children on the state (a bit more than they do now) and everyone's tax dollars would go towards those welfare programs. while this happens now, really only a tiny fraction of taxes goes to here, a much bigger chunk goes into the schools (a socialized entity), and the military.
so while i see some truth to his words and possibly this conservative, republican approach that so many new hampshirians so proudly display as they stand behind their motto of "live free or die", it amazes me still that there is such a mindset so much about independence and working for yourself and looking out for yourself and no one else. human beings are social creature, we live in fairly complex, elaborate societies, and so how we have gotten to this place of everyone for themselves and we don't look out for others, that is their fault - some don't recognize the inherent faults and oppressions that are built into our society, it just astounds me how we've evolved, our societies have evolved so much with the current capitalism and consumerism that many of us have adopted the mentality that we must look out for ourselves, and in no way care for others unless they are blood or have some benefit to us. it's basic Darwin, i guess.
middle-aged man: i already have great healthcare, my company provides it for me.
me: ok, well, that's great for you. you should consider yourself lucky because there are upwards of 40 million americans working full time jobs who cannot afford to have health insurance because the costs are so high.
middle-aged man: well, that is their fault...
me: allright, well what about the children? out of all the uninsured, 10 million of those are children.
middle-aged man: well, that is the parents' responsibility.
me: that is true, i agree. but the parents cannot afford to provide their kids with healthcare because the costs are so high (i always hate repeating myself, it seems that people at the door never really listen to you, they just use you to step on their soapbox and try to tell you how the world is)
middle-aged man: they should have thought of that before they had kids.
-> i was already about 5 weeks into this jobs of knocking on doors. but this was the first time i was really stumped. the man was very very kind about the whole thing. so when he said it, i didn't feel insulted, or hurt, or rejected, though i feel like i probably should have now b/c he obviously took a jab at me and the work i was doing.
but to actually say parents should think about things like whether or not they will be able to provide healthcare, clothing, a home b/f they have children is reasonable but not entirely logical. i think parents thinking about whether or not they can provide healthcare to their children is really just ridiculous though. people have sex, it's as much a part of human nature as sleeping and eating.
and while i think it's really cold to deny children, innocent children, healthcare. they have done nothing wrong, we need to take care of all of them, i did see some sort of reason to the man's words. while we should take care of all the children, they are first and foremost the parents' responsibility and not the state's. i think the stance is that girls' would be irresponsible teen mothers and dump their children on the state (a bit more than they do now) and everyone's tax dollars would go towards those welfare programs. while this happens now, really only a tiny fraction of taxes goes to here, a much bigger chunk goes into the schools (a socialized entity), and the military.
so while i see some truth to his words and possibly this conservative, republican approach that so many new hampshirians so proudly display as they stand behind their motto of "live free or die", it amazes me still that there is such a mindset so much about independence and working for yourself and looking out for yourself and no one else. human beings are social creature, we live in fairly complex, elaborate societies, and so how we have gotten to this place of everyone for themselves and we don't look out for others, that is their fault - some don't recognize the inherent faults and oppressions that are built into our society, it just astounds me how we've evolved, our societies have evolved so much with the current capitalism and consumerism that many of us have adopted the mentality that we must look out for ourselves, and in no way care for others unless they are blood or have some benefit to us. it's basic Darwin, i guess.