1894 and the ALCPTs strike again
funny thought i had while smoking (outside because the liberals use government to get rid of something that pissed them off)
we have all seen those "i love my country but fear my government" stickers, usually on the cars with "impeach bush" and other such lovely liberal stickers ( Read more... )
we have all seen those "i love my country but fear my government" stickers, usually on the cars with "impeach bush" and other such lovely liberal stickers ( Read more... )
Your example is kind of an exageration, seeing as (unless you go to an ER) they make you wait - yes but if you need a specialist or someone who treats ulcers - you get an appointment to get an xray, then you goto see the doctor via appointment if you have one in which case then they transfer you to a doctor to treat your ulcer. Unless ofcourse you have a family doctor in which case its different. You have to make an appointment regardless to see a family doctor. ERs are all the same everywhere. Wait, depending on the priority of your illness to be seen by a doctor and if someone worse than you comes in the mean time then you wait longer. The only way the system stumbles is if there aren't enough doctors working or yes.. a whole lot of idiots all take off from work in order to get checked out for a cold.
But, like you said if its free why not.. well.. because of the wait times and what exactly could a doctor do for a cold anyways?
On the other hand, if it was controlled by the gov't you'd have what people like I appreciate more than anything. The fact that if you break your leg, it will cost you between 800-1000 dollars in the US but nothing in Canada. And if you need a heart transplant, it costs in the range of 250'000 and half a million. Here it's free. Now, if you need dialysis it's free..
I look at it this way, i've never really had a long wait and the times i've had has been directly connected with how serious my illness. I could never afford all the insurance costs and fees I would have had to pay over the period of my life. I can appreciate your position, but unless you're fabulously rich or never ever going to get ill then I can't see how most people can afford to live under your current system as the medical care system rapes people in the US.
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then lets not forget 99% of full time jobs offer some sort of coverage.
so really that leave only a very small percentage who really cant afford it.
this is what gets me...and dont take this the wrong way. you said Here it's free. Now, if you need dialysis it's free.. but what you need to understand is its NOT free, its not like its being magically treated in a burst of fairy dust (though that would be cool) someone is paying for it. people who have worked hard their whole lives, devoted themselves to making a great living for themselves and their families, so they can send their kids to ivy league school, and afford the best of everything. and its their by right. they worked hard and Made success.
those people are paying for it. they are paying for it sometimes at the cost of being able to give their families everything they worked so hard to be able to give them. they are paying for it at the cost of their lives, because they devoted their lives to getting where they are, and now they are being punished for doing well.
its not free, and nothing is, and i think its important that we remember that, so we can look and see exactly where it is coming from.
of course i dont want to see people suffer, of course its scary to thing that i could fall and break my leg and be fucked (well not really you just go to the hospital they fix it up then you pay the bill in installments) but you get the idea.
but more scary is the idea that i could work so hard for something my whole life, work to build something with every part of myself, only to wake up one day and realize that everything ive built is being siphoned off and given to people who had nothing to do with my hard work, nothing to do with my success. wake up to realize that they think i owe them what i built with my life.
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worry about the provider denying me services because of my age, current health or trying to fuck me over if I ever got cancer and start becoming seriously ill to the point of being unable to work. There are so many horror stories of people whose providers suddenly start touting the "We don't cover that..." portion of the small print.
And yes, I agree-its the one flaw with the Welfare system here in Canada I whole heartedly disagree with. While I believe in helping people when they're down on their luck (my mom always taught me we don't turn our backs on others in need) but I get disgusted at assholes who'd rather milk off the system than do anything with their lives. I couldn't imagine living in poverty for the duration of my life and being a drunk and wallowing in my own self-pitying filth. No, I couldn't look at my kids knowing full well I could hold down a job and not doing it. IF jobs were at a premium i'd feel bad for these people, but there is so much work here right now it's sick. Or head out west to Calgary to work in the new Oil boom, where there's so much money to be made and so many jobs that its impossible not to be hired. The housing is the issue-its sick expensive where there are so many full time working people who are homeless living in warehouse conditions. Which brings me to my one appreciation of the government.. rent controls.
We have em here (I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba) and in Alberta they don't like those ideas. So, if you say rent an apartment in Winnipeg and you pay say.. 560 bux for a 2 bedroom like myself. And in one year the agencies can apply for an increase of 2% while the tenant can argue it if there's no validation in the cost (ie. Nothing has been done to the place to validate the increase). But.. in Alberta say you lease the place for a year at 560.. then in the next year the place is in high demand and you want to renew your lease then-someone else can come along and say I will pay 900 for the same place. The agency can come back and say, meet or beat their price or you're out. And.. hence the rent rates are sick and the housing costs are through the roof. A new house goes for 750'000, while a new home (same size, lot size, etc.) here goes for 180-210'000. I'm all for competition but when people can't even make enough money to pay for a place to live then something is wrong. Seriously.
And i'm not talking minimum wage, here it's 8.00/hr which is almost enough to live okay on in a 1 bedroom apartment with no kids. I make 11.50 an hour and I get by, with my daughter and paying child support for my son. But the average wage in Calgary is in the range of 17.00-20.00 hr and that's not enough to live in a bachelor apartment most of the time. Sometimes it helps if the gov't steps in an says take a step back, you're raping these people financially.
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as i was brushing my hair i was thinking over most of the conversations ive had via LJ recently. and i realized that you have been amazingly open minded. im not saying that i think i can saw you, but you seem to actually respond to what i say rather than with just another 'slogan' like most people do.
i wanted to say thank you, even if you will never agree with me thank you for talking to me, not at me.
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not saw :P
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Well, swaying may not happen but I can totally appreciate your position. In some ways I even agree with you-it's just at the same time I know what would happen to society if we stopped helping each other. It'd be that dark future that was a common theme on tv shows in the 1980's. We need to find some way to bring the lower class closer to the middle class and bring the upper class a few steps back down so perhaps they can get their heads out of their asses.
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Ive found that this is where the slip among decent people usually happens (non decent people being the ones who just want a free ride) both sides care, both sides want to help, but i firmly believe that people will always willingly give, more so if their hand is not forced. and usually the other side thinks that if not forced people would be happy to look away at the hungry, hurt and sick, and forget them as soon as they are out of sight.
as jaded as i am my faith in people's desire to help turns my vision of the future with no forced government charity in to one of beauty. where every person giving is doing so willingly, where the people receiving dont see it as something owed to them but a bill of faith, the 'givers' faith in them, and in turn their faith in themselves, and in the worlds willingness provide help if you truly need it.
on the other side of that i have faith that if allowed to run free capitalism puts the power in the people's hands, we dont need to find a way to do anything with the middle low or upper class, but rather let lower rise up. im a truly free world the only thing holding anyone back is their own courage and intelligence. therefore the people on top. they have earned it, they deserve to be there, and if anyone from the low or middle works hard enough, makes the right decisions and has the vision the only thing that can limit them is themselves.
faith in man is the basis of everything i believe. and god help me if im wrong but i cant envision any person who wont do something to help themselves deserving to get a free handout anyway. and sadly thats the cold hard side of how i see things.
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The rich like being rich, and they don't want poor people rising up because that would mean in fact that they couldn't have cheap labor any longer. Hence the reason the minimum wage in the US does not rise to the level it deserves to be at, and it stagnates at the level it is. The fact is, that people will donate money to groups to help poor people and donate things to charities so long as they don't have to acknowledge them in the flesh. They don't like seeing them or talking to them or having to interact with them, and by giving money its their penance for ignoring the fact that this really isn't helping these people it's just a band aid for the situation. They're dirty, they stink and they're scared of them.
I'd love to believe that Capitalism is a great system. But, it's a great concept. Just like Democracy, Anarchy and Communism. Theories are awesome ideas but in practice.. well.. they suck. Capitalism is full of corruption, bribery and back pocket ownership. If it was properly safe guarded to allow for a fair playing field (and I don't mean helping certain people succeed when their business is quite clearly a joke and in no way going to succeed on its own. Like we call it here.. Corporate Welfare.) by making sure that assholes can't lobby the hell out of Politicians to favor their practices regardless how legal it is or how unfair to workers it is.
I would love it if, we could just cut these people off and hope that most decent people would pull up their belt straps and do something to help these people. But again, like with all other good theories-its great a thought.
You're a smart person, and you have the right ideas-just insert that human factor in.. in all its corrupt goodness and it lets ya down far too often.
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of course they want to stay rich, but that does NOT always have to be at someone else's expense, and even if it is, its not the rich person's fault that they failed, its their own.
i think very very few people would never donate a dime to charity. almost everyone i know has, i have for Christ's sake :P but my whole life ive seen people give, and thats while being taxed, imagine if they could just give as they wanted to. i cant help but think the world would be a much better place. and the cold hard truth is even if they didnt give, its not like the person ever did anything to deserve to get a free ride.
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the issue with democracy, anarchy, and communism are inherent to the systems, and as far as communism goes has nothing to do with the idea being messed up by the people...the idea already is messed up. its scary man :P
the flaws in capitalism are human, and more importantly than that they are criminal. but if allowed to run its course they system cleans its self.
i think maybe i have presented myself as an anarcho-capitalism person...im not, i think they are morons, i am for pure capitalism, which does include the rule of law.
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