Finally - Some raw truth.
Recently, Our President gave his State of The Union Address. I have a confession to make, I did not watch it. I am less about what someone says they will do and more about what they actually do, so speeches don't impress me.
What has impressed me is that a certain conservative show host has come out with some real truth for a change. While filing in on another show as guest host, he said: "If I were giving the State of ther Union address, here is what I would have said; I will cut medicare, I will cut medicid, I will cut Unemployment benefits, I will cut welfare, I will cut money to schools." Finally the true concervative position has come out. All to often, conservatives are ready to preach smaller government and less taxes, but when questioned for details, they wont say things like medicare and medicaid are on the chopping block. They like to say they are reforming these programs. (Side Bar: Medical savings plans have been around for 20+ years, and are still the first thing you hear about from conservative touting reform.)
So, I know what your thinking. If your conservative your saying, "Whats wrong with that?" and if your Liberal your saying, "Unbelievable." Well, quite frankly, nothing is wrong with that if your being honest about it. If your being honest, and all of these things are being cut, do you really believe our taxes will go down because we have smaller government? Well lets take a look at some facts. Lets cut medicaid and medicare. What is the net result. Do all of these people who lost access to medical assistance just go away. Well, in a way yes,most of them are older, so they die quicker than if they had insurance. But before that, they flood the hospital emergency rooms when its to late and after they could have been helped with less expense. They are treated for free until they die. The hospital is left with unpaid medical bills, which they promptly pass on to you and I in medical costs. If we have insurance the rates go through the roof, rapidly become unaffordable, we lose our insurance and well, you already read what happens to those without insurance. Then the average life expectancy goes down. Do you know what the life expectancy was before available healthcare? Then because we all do not have health insurance, we are all sick more often, miss work, and guess what? We lose our job. But don't worry, there is unemployment and welfare to help until you get back on your feet. O wait, no there is'nt. Your house or apartment is gone, you and your kids are out on the street in a cardboard box. "But wait a minute Dan, your being rediculous, that would never happen. We dont mean, that none of these programs would exist, we just don't want the Federal Governmant doing them." Ok fair enough. If the Federal government is not doing them, but they still exist, where does the money come from? The state? If so what has changed. Your federal government is smaller, and lets assume for a moment that federal taxes go down. Then the state picks up the tab to help its residents, because this is constitutionally the way things should be, right? But have your taxes gone down? NO! there just going to the state instead of the federal Government. Now, because the state has a smaller reach, less people are available to help pay for these programs and in reallity, we all pay more for taxes, as long as we don't believe we should just let everyone who needs a helping hand die in the street.
But, wait Dan, I think what should really be cut is assistance to states for roads and infastructure. Let the states handle there own infastructure according to what the people want, and get the federal government out of things like that." Ok, lets just put aside, for a minute that the interstate system was put together for national security. A way to move our military around the US. So, the federal government is out and the state is in. Federal taxes go down. Great, mission accomplished, right? Wait a minite, we all still drive cars, and we no longer work close to home, we have become a commuting society, so we need to drive, therefore we need roads. The state has to come up with this money somewhere, so where? You guessed it, You and me. Either we are taxed directly for roads, we are taxed indirectly in things like gas taxes, which raise fuel to prices to 5.00+ dollars per gallon, the economy crashes again, because, remember, we learned that $4.50 per gallon gas prices was the tipping point. The economy colapses, no one can afford to drive. Jobs disappear and, wait a minute.... I see it now. Gas costs to pay for roads goes up, the economy crashes, we all lose our jobs, and walla... we dont need roads because we dont have a job to go to, or money to buy anything.so we dont have a car to drive. We dont have a home and will Die pretty soon anyway...Perfect! And to think, I didnt think the conservatives had a plan.
Now, let me be clear, I am neither for completely free healthcare for everyone, unless everyone is being taxed appropriately to make the system work properly, not the way most government programs work. And I am also not for everyone for themselves, let the best man win (Loser die in the street)healthcare system. My first action if it were up to me would be to require each action a healthcare facility, doctor, hospital, or physician charges to be clearly posted, much like a resterant menu. Then the true meaning of concervative can take hold and honest competition can begin to form. People can then choose their doctor or hospital based on cost. In order for this to work, we would also need an ingredient list of sorts for our healthcare, aftwerall we all know what goes into a Big Mac,,,mostly. A description of exactly what is covered under a certain procedure, where does one procedure end and another come in, and a plain english bill for services, so we can easily determine cost. Then, a reasonable government healthcare program based off of these ingredients, and available to those who are most needy and open to anyone else at a prorated rate based on income. Insurance companies would need to operate the same way and all programs, including the government offers would need to be self sufficient.
Now doesnt that sould just a little more reasonable that cut, cut cut, cut. Yes, there is some government regulation, which concervatives hate, but with moderation only.
This is the greatest nation in the world, lets start acting like it.
Showing posts with label Liberal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberal. Show all posts
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, July 31, 2010
IPAD or Kindle
Here is the question of the day. Ipad or Kinndle. As you may know, these are a couple of the most popular electronic book readers on the market today, but before you answer, remember, this is a political forum. Read on before you choose.
Lets talk about political labels. There are alot of political labels out there and it can get confusing, but it is really not all that complicated. Most of us are familiar with the traditional Democrat and Republican labels. While these are the most common they are actually part of a larger group label. Then there are the Conservatives and Liberals. Some would say these are the larger political groups that Democrat and Republican fall under, but they are not. Other labels are Blue or Red, the symbols Donkey and Elephant, and also libritarian and Independant. A new comer to the field is the Tea Party and also the Green party from a few years ago.
In reality, these labels are labels which fall under the larger group of Right or Left politics. Known in short as, you guessed it, the Right and the Left. With the possible exception if Independent, all of the titles above fall under the Right or the Left. Independents say the are independent of these Right and Left groups, but they do tend to have tendencies to one side or the other.
If I am asked where I fall I answer with "I am a part of the American group and I votes the "issues" not the "Party". This is code for Independant.
The Right wing party consists of the Republicans, the Conservatives, The Tea party, the Red color and the Elephant as a mascot. Libritarians also fall under this group.
The Left wing party consists of the Democrats, the Liberals, the Blue color, and the mascot Donkey. The Green party is also a part of the Left.
SIDE BAR: Who picked the Donkey and Elephant as the mascots. This has to be a bad joke centuries ago, that went from bad to worse. This person also had to really dislike politics. Cant we do something to change these mascots. Lets get some new mascot suggestions together and vote in a future blog.
Now that we have the two main groups, Right and Left, we should discuss where each of the labels falls within the right and left.
If you are called a part of the Conservative Right wing, or Liberal Left wing, you are as far from the center (Independent) as you can be. You may also be called fringe or radical, but it really means you are completely for the two basic concepts of each party. The Right believes in less Federal government and primarily States decide for themselves. Of course, this belief also tricles down to States leaving it to the counties, the counties leaving it to the cities, and the cities collecting all taxes to run all operations including schools and all programs for helping those less fortunate. Concervative right wingers at the city level and also other higher levels, Including the Tea Party believe government should not be running schools. They believe in privatization of all community needs. This means, the churches and private donations help the needy and schools are 100% privately owned. Think about your current tax bill. $2000 to $4000 if you are an average middle class person. Private schools in my area are $10000 or more each year, and thats just school. You have to pay for it somewhere and thats just schools. What about roads. Do you want to pay a toll to use the roads from the moment you leave your drivewayto the moment you return home. Some things have to be paid for no matter what. Does the local level really look like the right place to pay for these.
If you are called part of the Liberal Left wing, you believe the Federal Government should collect taxes from all individual tax payers, and the country as a whole should fund public schools and social programs such as Medicare, Medicade, the newly passed medical insurance for all individuals, unemployment benefits, and also pay monies to the states for things like Highways or other programs they decide the country as a whole should be doing for the greater good of the country. There is another name for this I have not yet discussed. It is socialisum. Socializum also means the government supplies what the country needs and funds it through taxes. Where socialisum fails is that especially in the United States people have a right to vote there leaders in and out. many people would like all the benefits of socialisum, but balk at the cost through taxes. (and toll booths incidentally) As a result many well intended social programs fall short of there expectations, because political oponants cannot win on a platform of collecting enough taxes to do it right, which fuels the fire for the conservatives.
Conservatives claim the government cannot do things right but not because they are the government. They want you to believe that a socialist government equals Communisum (Old Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, or Nazi Germany). This is complete nonsense. Anyone who uses labels like communisum or Nazi, or calls political people who believe in socialisum as "Hitler" are playing an emotional label card to try to shock you into believing in what they believe. They have run out of honest ways to convince you there way is better, or there way cannot convince you on its merits, and it usually comes from the Consevative Right or Tea Party members. They want to shock you into thinking this great country of ours will be come a Dictator run country just because of socialisum, which is an insult to the great american way of doing things. One Conservative political person in Wisconsin called The USA a 234 year experiment, and this description explains why The US could NEVER fall into the type of dictorial government some other countries have fallen prey to, because as AMERICANS we are a special breed of FREE Spirits who believe that each persons vote counts and each person contributes to this countries destination. I believe in the American Spirit and I believe that the american voters will always exercise there vote to keep this country the free independent country it is even if we are functioning in a socialist manner. You see, Communisum and dictatorship and socialisum are NOT mutually inclusive. The Right knows this, but they cant tell you this. Because they need to shock you and scare you into believing a Lie, instead of convincing you on the merits of their way of thinking. Shock Jockeying is the easier lazier way of converting people.
Quite frankly, I do not see anything wrong with either view as a whole. It is good for government not to become so big that it cannot function and it is good for the government to develop programs for the good of the country as a whole. Most people fall in this group and they differ in other areas like gun rights and abortion, and it is these arterial beliefs that decide a persons vote. Some are so strong on abortion that they could never vote Democrate because the "party" view is that abortion is a womans choice. I agree that a woman has the right to choose, I just think the choice is more appropriatly placed before a life is concieved and any choice to terminate a pregnancy is murder. As far as gun rights, I also believe that people should have the right to bear arms, and our constitution does currently give us that right. However I do not believe we all need to own M16's or other automatic firearms. I believe anyone who has not been convicted of a violent felony should be able to purchase register and keep fire arms. In addition, I thing those arms should be registered and people should undergo periodic training in order to have a gun. For all of the NRA members out there that just cried fowl to my views, if you really think about it most gun owners already belong to local gun clubs where they go to practice shooting already. Your local gun club could run the programs to validate training to its existing members, and all of the additional people who would need a place to go get training. The local gun club could make alot of money on new memberships and running these training programs and issuing permits for the local government.
Now, back the the book readers. The Ipad is a book reader with lots of other benefits at a higher price, much like the Left. The Kinndle is a bare bones reader and not much more at a lower price.
So which is it? Ipad or Kinndle?
Lets talk about political labels. There are alot of political labels out there and it can get confusing, but it is really not all that complicated. Most of us are familiar with the traditional Democrat and Republican labels. While these are the most common they are actually part of a larger group label. Then there are the Conservatives and Liberals. Some would say these are the larger political groups that Democrat and Republican fall under, but they are not. Other labels are Blue or Red, the symbols Donkey and Elephant, and also libritarian and Independant. A new comer to the field is the Tea Party and also the Green party from a few years ago.
In reality, these labels are labels which fall under the larger group of Right or Left politics. Known in short as, you guessed it, the Right and the Left. With the possible exception if Independent, all of the titles above fall under the Right or the Left. Independents say the are independent of these Right and Left groups, but they do tend to have tendencies to one side or the other.
If I am asked where I fall I answer with "I am a part of the American group and I votes the "issues" not the "Party". This is code for Independant.
The Right wing party consists of the Republicans, the Conservatives, The Tea party, the Red color and the Elephant as a mascot. Libritarians also fall under this group.
The Left wing party consists of the Democrats, the Liberals, the Blue color, and the mascot Donkey. The Green party is also a part of the Left.
SIDE BAR: Who picked the Donkey and Elephant as the mascots. This has to be a bad joke centuries ago, that went from bad to worse. This person also had to really dislike politics. Cant we do something to change these mascots. Lets get some new mascot suggestions together and vote in a future blog.
Now that we have the two main groups, Right and Left, we should discuss where each of the labels falls within the right and left.
If you are called a part of the Conservative Right wing, or Liberal Left wing, you are as far from the center (Independent) as you can be. You may also be called fringe or radical, but it really means you are completely for the two basic concepts of each party. The Right believes in less Federal government and primarily States decide for themselves. Of course, this belief also tricles down to States leaving it to the counties, the counties leaving it to the cities, and the cities collecting all taxes to run all operations including schools and all programs for helping those less fortunate. Concervative right wingers at the city level and also other higher levels, Including the Tea Party believe government should not be running schools. They believe in privatization of all community needs. This means, the churches and private donations help the needy and schools are 100% privately owned. Think about your current tax bill. $2000 to $4000 if you are an average middle class person. Private schools in my area are $10000 or more each year, and thats just school. You have to pay for it somewhere and thats just schools. What about roads. Do you want to pay a toll to use the roads from the moment you leave your drivewayto the moment you return home. Some things have to be paid for no matter what. Does the local level really look like the right place to pay for these.
If you are called part of the Liberal Left wing, you believe the Federal Government should collect taxes from all individual tax payers, and the country as a whole should fund public schools and social programs such as Medicare, Medicade, the newly passed medical insurance for all individuals, unemployment benefits, and also pay monies to the states for things like Highways or other programs they decide the country as a whole should be doing for the greater good of the country. There is another name for this I have not yet discussed. It is socialisum. Socializum also means the government supplies what the country needs and funds it through taxes. Where socialisum fails is that especially in the United States people have a right to vote there leaders in and out. many people would like all the benefits of socialisum, but balk at the cost through taxes. (and toll booths incidentally) As a result many well intended social programs fall short of there expectations, because political oponants cannot win on a platform of collecting enough taxes to do it right, which fuels the fire for the conservatives.
Conservatives claim the government cannot do things right but not because they are the government. They want you to believe that a socialist government equals Communisum (Old Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, or Nazi Germany). This is complete nonsense. Anyone who uses labels like communisum or Nazi, or calls political people who believe in socialisum as "Hitler" are playing an emotional label card to try to shock you into believing in what they believe. They have run out of honest ways to convince you there way is better, or there way cannot convince you on its merits, and it usually comes from the Consevative Right or Tea Party members. They want to shock you into thinking this great country of ours will be come a Dictator run country just because of socialisum, which is an insult to the great american way of doing things. One Conservative political person in Wisconsin called The USA a 234 year experiment, and this description explains why The US could NEVER fall into the type of dictorial government some other countries have fallen prey to, because as AMERICANS we are a special breed of FREE Spirits who believe that each persons vote counts and each person contributes to this countries destination. I believe in the American Spirit and I believe that the american voters will always exercise there vote to keep this country the free independent country it is even if we are functioning in a socialist manner. You see, Communisum and dictatorship and socialisum are NOT mutually inclusive. The Right knows this, but they cant tell you this. Because they need to shock you and scare you into believing a Lie, instead of convincing you on the merits of their way of thinking. Shock Jockeying is the easier lazier way of converting people.
Quite frankly, I do not see anything wrong with either view as a whole. It is good for government not to become so big that it cannot function and it is good for the government to develop programs for the good of the country as a whole. Most people fall in this group and they differ in other areas like gun rights and abortion, and it is these arterial beliefs that decide a persons vote. Some are so strong on abortion that they could never vote Democrate because the "party" view is that abortion is a womans choice. I agree that a woman has the right to choose, I just think the choice is more appropriatly placed before a life is concieved and any choice to terminate a pregnancy is murder. As far as gun rights, I also believe that people should have the right to bear arms, and our constitution does currently give us that right. However I do not believe we all need to own M16's or other automatic firearms. I believe anyone who has not been convicted of a violent felony should be able to purchase register and keep fire arms. In addition, I thing those arms should be registered and people should undergo periodic training in order to have a gun. For all of the NRA members out there that just cried fowl to my views, if you really think about it most gun owners already belong to local gun clubs where they go to practice shooting already. Your local gun club could run the programs to validate training to its existing members, and all of the additional people who would need a place to go get training. The local gun club could make alot of money on new memberships and running these training programs and issuing permits for the local government.
Now, back the the book readers. The Ipad is a book reader with lots of other benefits at a higher price, much like the Left. The Kinndle is a bare bones reader and not much more at a lower price.
So which is it? Ipad or Kinndle?
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