Being as this is the last day of June and I have posted one gazillion times this month I thought I'd stick one more in. Anyone want to talk politics? Let's all be nice to each other but I'd really love to hear what other people think about the upcoming presidential election. If you have something to say and think you can say it nicely, and be nice to others, let's have a discussion. I'll start.
I am not excited about either candidate. It's always difficult to see their true stance on issues through all the politics of well, politics, but from my research neither one represents ME. (Obviously, that is what they most want, is to please Sara Jones.) I have always voted Republican but struggle with that as well. I find that Republican candidates are much more closely aligned with my moral concerns and ideas about governmental influence but find that I am favoring some Democratic stances on issues this year concerning the war, universal health care, and the environment. But I don't care for Obama. And McCain is a ridiculously liberal conservative so he doesn't do it for me either. What do you think?
7 comments:
Sorry that my comment is not going to be one to really get the conversation rolling--I could copy and paste your opinion here as mine. I feel EXACTLY the way you do, although I'm not all that into universal health care--not for moral reasons--strictly economical.
Thanks for taking the challenge Brittany!
On the subject of healthcare. Greg and I watched a fascinating program on Frontline about healthcare. A man traveled to 8 or 9 developed countries and looked at their systems, both pros and cons. This is what we took from it.
A) Countries with a high level of satisfaction with their systems had universal healthcare. In all of those countries it is impossible to go bankrupt from a health emergency or crisis and all people are covered some way.
B) Brittany is right, universal coverage is EXPENSIVE and not without many flaws. Among them is that the healthcare system is often going broke (Japan's system is millions/billions of dollars in debt.) A way countries keep cost down is by having government control of the cost of all procedures. So, no matter where you go in the country, if you need 4 stitches it'll cost $4. Period.
C) When you have a system with such tight cost control of the procedures and that much government influence two things seem to happen. One, doctors don't make very good money and the desire to spend a decade in school to make $50,000 a year is low. It also removes some healthy competition to keep people cutting edge.
D) Insurance companies and carrying insurance were dealt with in many many ways. Too complicated to get into here but they don't hold the same power in other countries that they do here.
What I took away from this, and after doing my own research, is that there is NO WAY there'll be a perfect system. Too complicated. Ethically though, I don't believe anyone should have to choose between treating a sick family member and losing their home. Even insured people in this country can run into massive financial problems when faced with a health crisis. I do believe that someway we need to be able to provide healthcare for our citizens without them risking their homes, jobs, and lives (if they can't afford treatment.)
If you want to know more, check out Switzerland. In the last decade they did a major overhaul/restructuring of their system (it used to resemble ours a great deal) and are very happy with the results. Another country that seemed to be having success with their system was Germany.
WHEW!
EWWW politics YUK! Not my favorite topic but I LOVE the idea of some stimulating ADULT conversation so I'll bite. To be totally honest I am pretty ingnorant when it comes to politics. But I do have a few issues that I hold my ground on. I simply refuse to vote for anyone who condones abortion. That is a deal breaker for me. You will never convince me that killing unborn babies is okay. I agree with you Sara that I don't love either candidate. But I am a republican and I am conservative. Honestly the media ruins politics for me, I am SO sick of the media coverage of it that it turns me off to it all together. I think their is too much government and too many taxes! Now, regarding health care and again I have to say I have not researched anything etc. but I just wonder if you gave everyone major medical coverage and left the rest of health care to be like our normal free market what would happen. Healthcare would be a service like going to a resturant. If the service sucked and the price was too high no one would go to that particular one...I wonder if it would up the quality of care and keep prices down. Good old fashion competition. Just a thought. Okay, back to my real world...dishes, babies, bathrooms to clean! :)
Sara,
I will not BEGIN to talk politics...no thanks, just wanted to thank you for inviting me to your blog world! I will enjoy keeping up with your kids growing up! Thanks,
Diane
Ok for the first time I am biting at this, we seem to be talking a lot about universal health care. Seeing what I see on a daily basis it would take people a long time to change their mindset on how to treat their health in a preventative way that would actually benefit this country financially. Also, I find it would be very hard given the large older population to keep it financially in check, the cost would be on our shoulders completely, no that much of it already is with the elderly considering what we pay for medicare/medicaide, which most will use at some stage. And we will likely pay more in the future just to keep it from going bankrupt.
I think the government already greatly regulates our healthcare, medicare for example does not pay for certain complications in the hospital they feel was a result of bad practice, they will not pay (as and example) for more than 5 days in the hospital post open heart surgery no matter what the complications are. So much of the costs medicare do not cover is passed on to us in higher bills.
And to comment on Angela's post, there is a web site established to look at satisfation and cost of procedures ect.. so if people are able to make their own choice on where to go based on which place is "best" or "least expensive" they can now do that. As well as see how each hospital is doing with preventitive care such as the incident of central line infection, ventilator aquired pneumonia and how well they are distributing vaccines such as flu and pnuemovac.
Anyway, just thought I'd share some thoughts and information!
Hi,
This is actually David, not KayLynn, and I'm only commenting because I absolutely can't pass up a political conversation. A few things to consider in the upcoming election.
1) Obama's health care plan will cost more money annually than the entire war in Iraq and Afghanistan...just to put it in perspective. So say hello to higher taxes.
Also, refer to the health care system in Canada...where do Canadians go when they need high-quality specialty care? AMERICA. Where will we go when there are no non-social medicine programs? Refer to the Veteran's Administration, the VA has guaranteed free medical benefits to qualifying veterans...if they're interested in waiting 6 months to receive sub-standard care. That's sure enticing.
2) Obama has sworn to eliminate Bush's tax cuts and to implement higher taxes on "wealthy" families. However, they've defined wealthy as earning over $120,000 annually, which is only middle class in many parts of the US (think LA, New York, etc). This will put a lot of working/middle class families in a lot of hot water because they can't afford to pay the asinine taxes levied upon the "rich."
3) Obama has sworn to increase the capital gains tax. What does this mean to the average joe? Well, consider the recession permanent because no one in their right mind will invest in a stagnant economy with a 15% capital gains tax when they can invest in emerging economies (like Brazil, India, or China) and pay zero capital gains tax.
3a) Obama has also pledged a protectionist stance for American industries (yes, the ones that can't compete in the international market because they're inefficient...think along the lines of GM...yes the same GM that makes Cadillac and loses $3 billion a quarter). This will ultimately have the same effect as #3, wherein investors flee the country, businesses receive government subsidies to replace the lack of private investment (say hello to more taxes!), and American businesses go out of business because they can't compete in the global market (because they're defunct) thus eliminating the jobs we were trying to keep in the first place (or put developing countries' businesses out of business because our businesses receive subsidies, thereby lowering our cost structure... this is bad because approximately 1 billion people are starving, diseased, and impoverished worldwide...but it's more important to Americans that we keep our obsolete jobs).
That's all for Obama. It doesn't look good, unless you enjoy socialism in the extreme...although most countries have found that it doesn't work too well (reference USSR).
McCain isn't much better.
1) McCain advocates government subsidies for nuclear energy. Noble idea, stupid use of our money. Let the nuclear power companies figure out their own funding, they're the ones who're going to reap windfall profits, not the taxpayers.
2) He's extremely wishy-washy. He's gone back and forth on a number of issues including his support for the Iraq war and how to deal with the economy.
To sum up. Obama is an idealist who thinks money grows on trees. McCain is a politician. Unfortunately calling McCain a politician is the worst insult I could think of, so Obama may be the best of the two as a human being. However, he'd make a lousy president. ...but all this is like trying to decide which is the tallest midget. If you ask me, the debate should be over who should be deported first.
I value my life, liberty, money, freedom, etc and can't stand to see blatant communists running for office. I support Ron Paul because he's the only person to run for office on the platform of fewer taxes, less government, and more freedom. Too bad he's already out of the running...
One last note about politics: as a veteran I've heard the phrase "freedom isn't free" more times than I can shake a stick at. What baffles me is why I and so many others have had to endure so much, lose so many friends, and see so much bloodshed just so we, as citizens, can give up our freedoms to incompetent politicians.
Thank you David for the info you are very knowledgeable!! I totally enjoyed reading your comment and I have to say I agree with you! I too liked Ron Paul...too bad he's out.
angela-(sara's friend)
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