The town hall meetings that caused a stir over the summer have come and gone. Now that there is no easy forum for everyday American's to express themselves the time that has passed has allowed the politicians to forget all about it. Where once the bills were thought to be dead or dying they are now alive and thriving.
My thoughts are now dwelling on the fact that 51% vs 49% does not make a majority vote. It doesn't make sense that 51% of a population can have that much control over the other 49%.
Who has the power in this country? So called moderates. These are the people who really have the power and unfortunately, I feel that these "moderates" are the idiots who are easily swayed by the loudest voice coming out of their TVs. This week it might be Glenn Beck and next week Keith Obermann. Either way, they are uneducated to the issues and easily manipulated. These are the people who make those polls swing all over the place.
Lets use a rough made up number and say that 45% of people will always vote Democrat and 45% will always vote Republican. That means the remaining 10% are the decision makers. I do not think the numbers are close to being accurate but the percentage of decision makers are still a minority compared to the other too.
So what does this mean? It means that our countries direction is dictated by the minority. A minority that is flaky and easy manipulated. It is why the Democrats and Republicans are constantly swapping power.
What's the answer? Go back to the basics. Bring the power back to the states. Let the people of the state vote on whether they want to foot the bill to cover everyone who needs health care. Make it so 51% is not the majority and instead 75% is needed to pass a new law.
Add a run off system to our election so that when Dem, Rep, Independent, Libertarian, and Green party candidates run for office, the people can vote for who they want without fear. The candidates with the two highest number of votes run against each other. Then a person who preferred the libertarian but would take the Republican or the Green who would accept a Democrat, still get a voice and don't have to worry about their vote allowing someone they hate to get the majority. Think George Bush Sr. in '92 or Al Gore in 2000. Bush had Perot who siphoned votes and Gore had Nader who did the same. The people who voted their conscience and went for the third party candidate lost entirely because of it.
Conclusion: We a screwed and I see no end in site. No one trusts anyone, personal responsibility is gone, the hands are all reaching out for free gifts, and not one politician has come forward to say STOP WE NEED TO STOP.
I will campaign, fund raise, and vote for any politician regardless of party who comes out and tells this country the truth. That we need to stop spending, stop giving money away both inside and outside of this country, and that things are going to hurt worse before they get better. We, America as a whole, had a great run, but now we have to pay the credit card bill. Just like a family looking over their finances and realizing they are spending more then they make, we must tighten the wallet strings, cut our spending, get a second job, and start saving.
Things are not looking up, there is no silver lining, and there is no one in Washington who gets it. Do you at home get it?
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7 comments:
What would you like to see happen with the health care system? I assume you are against a public option. Should we do away with Medicare?
And in answer to your question, yes, I do get it at home:)
I believe the free market can take care of health care better than the government but that the government can place rules on them that promote fair play. I am not an expert in this area so I do not know the answers. I do know that I want limited government involvement and no free hand outs. We can pass laws that make it illegal to drop someone for so called pre-existing conditions and make so it is easier for someone with insurance to changed jobs while staying covered.
I do not claim to know all, but it is not right for hard working people to be forced to pay for lazy people who refuse to take care of themselves. Unfortunately, that means good people who really need help get caught up in the mix.
I have no problem with taking care of the old and the young. As a civilization it is our duty to take care of those who can not take care of themselves. But with everything, there is a limit to what we can afford.
Welcome to the blog Fluffy, I look forward to some spirited debates from the Queen of the Dirty Libs.
Think about this then:
Insurance is based on pooled risk. Once the pool is known, the insurance actuaries determine risks and costs. It's the fundamental math of insurance. The reason why Blue Cross, United HealthCare and all the others have different premiums is because they design their plans differently. That's all. If they all had the same plan and covered all the same procedures and had the same pool of insureds, there would be nothing to differentiate one insurance company from another. They would all charge the same amount. Of course insurance companies have the salaries and marketing costs to add too dont forget. That costs alot but those costs are passed on to us and we seem to like it.
So now, because people have been scared to death by all this talk of a government take-over in health care, and people like Sarah Palin talk about the government trying to kill our grandmothers and other such nonsense, the private insurance companies are likely to keep the status quo. I'm sure they helped it along because they are not going to allow themselves to step aside--not when it is a huge money-making insdustry. An otherwise worthy debate about a public option has been derailed.
We are now left with remnants of a public option and contemplating having the government cover only those who are very sick. Those the big insurance companies don't want. That would be great for the private insurance companies! They get to continue only taking those who can pay their higher costs and are in better health and the government gets the expensive sick people. That is not how pooled risk works.
The only way we can keep costs real (based on pooled risk and not the extra salaries for agents and CEOs salaries etc.) is to have one entity covering all. The only entity who could do that is the government. Costs from Medicare are significantly lower than those of the private insurance industry.
Medicare has its fraud and problems but is a great plan. Ask anyone who has Medicare. Those who say the government is inept at running a health care system for the rest of us have no experience with Medicare. It works and while it needs its own reform to keep fraud out, it is far less costly and is a good starting point to expand on.
I am very disappointed that the insurance companies have succeded in keeping the debate derailed. I blame the insurance companies and those who are so buzy talking about conspiracy theories and utter nonsense that we can't seem to move ahead.
Fluffy, in theory all progressive plans sound fantastic. However, in reality most wont work because they do not take into consideration the human condition. Communism on paper makes sense but it didn't work.
Single payer makes sense to me since any business gives discounts when you buy in bulk. So if that is the case why are taxes so friggin high in Canada? According to the article below, only 43% of Americans even pay taxes.
This is why people fear the governments plan. The cost is too high to cover everyone when only little more than half are paying for it.
No free hand outs ever.
Sorry didn't put the link
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/15/politics/otherpeoplesmoney/main4945874.shtml
“Fluffy, in theory all progressive plans sound fantastic. However, in reality most wont work because they do not take into consideration the human condition.”
If there is a progressive plan that sounds fantastic then it should be pursued. We are looking for a system that works—remember? That is the goal. We already know the math and fundamentals of insurance. Once you pool ALL risk, costs can be well anticipated and plan designs can be constructed -- in a business model. That’s how the private insurance companies do it —and they make money—lots of money. I don’t know what you mean by ‘they don’t take into consideration the human condition.’ That’s what health insurance does if we are still talking about health insurance.
"Communism on paper makes sense but it didn't work." Did we switch topics? I guess by your comment you first want to discuss what each of us thinks the role of government should be? Maybe we should do that first, because you wrote you don’t want the government giving anything to anyone. If we want to debate the health care reform topic, we should pick up the issue where we find it-- what to do about health care reform.
"Single payer makes sense to me since any business gives discounts when you buy in bulk. So if that is the case why are taxes so friggin high in Canada?"
I don’t know anything about Canada’s tax system. I’m sure like most any system tax or otherwise there are many factors to consider.
"According to the article below, only 43% of Americans even pay taxes."
Let’s not talk about taxes just yet. We need to first talk about what system works and how to best to find a solution from where we find ourselves now. Payment for everything should be thought of, but let’s see what makes sense first. A public option makes sense.
"This is why people fear the governments plan."
I must have missed something because Medicare is a government plan, and nobody fears Medicare. It works very well for those it covers. Ask someone on Medicare if they fear it – they will laugh at you.
"The cost is too high to cover everyone when only little more than half are paying for it."
Taxation and how to pay for anything the government does is extremely important but that is a larger issue. But as our population over 60 grows and life expectancy continues to be older and older we need to looks at what we should do about this health care system. If government IS to be a player then the business model it adopts should make sense. That is why I go back to the fundamentals of insurance and how it works. Identify all the risk, estimate the costs, and design a plan. That’s how I look at this anyway. The way insurance is now, isn’t working. Allowing the American people to fend for themselves in the private insurance only marketplace fails them and our nation as a whole. We are supposed to be the greatest nation on earth and how we proceed on an issue as fundamental as health care shouldn’t be something decided upon by cost. A public option would provide a choice and a good one nd we should be promoting it not speading panic about it. Therer is nothing scarey about a public option. I suggest you check out this 70 second video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBi8A_HutII&feature=player_embedded#
Thanks for the debate Fluffy, Queen of the Dirty Libs:
Progressive plans will never work because they hold that people are inherently good and honest. My opinion and I believe history supports me that people are not inherently good or honest. The majority may not be criminals in the worst degree, but I would say the majority lack the moral character to be honest in everything they do. It is also a progressive thought that if we pool together and everyone is equal everything would be better. Well no where in history do we see anything that supports that humans are capable of being equal and providing equal contributions. I believe we are inherently lazy and it is our need to survive that drives us to produce anything.
If the government takes away our need to survive, by giving everything to us, then what motivation is left for us to produce?
I am not going to answer your statements and questions section by section. I am going to say it like this. If you want to cover 100% of Americans but only 57% are paying for it that does not work. You go broke. Socialism and the Progressive movement are just Communism in sheep’s clothing.
You say lets not talk about taxes but that is the first thing we should discussing. How much money do we have? Not enough. Most of the hard working Americans have health insurance, so should we be spending money on people who don’t care about themselves? Hell no. Are there ways to take care of those hard working people who fell on hard times? Hell yes there are.
As for your video, the public option does make sense, but the video leaves out the fact that the government would be the one negotiating the prices. We have seen that government meddling in our banks has caused us to be in our current recession. So why would we want them in our health care. Deregulate the insurance industry and in-force common sense law, which should be all the Health Insurance Reform we need.
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