"Thus far the only consistency is that you seem to be 'against socialism'."
What gave it away? "You seem to think that Single Payer is socialist as well" "As for the so-called Public Option, do you consider that socialist?" The public option is just a step towards single payer which is a step towards socialized medicine. Even Representatives Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Barney Frank (D-MA) have admitted that the public option is the pathway to single payer. Just one more step. Is single payer a step towards socialized medicine? With single payer, everyone pays the government for insurance. Then, the government pays the medical bills. With expanded coverage comes expanded use, especially in areas that were formerly not over used. For example, the common cold. When there is a service that cannot meet the demands of the users, it has to be rationed. Since the government controls all finances, it will be the organization doing the rationing. While this may not look like socialized medicine to you, it does to me. So, what one has to ask is: Will the current health care system lead to a public option? If insurance companies no longer offer policies and employers do not provide insurance (which is happening today), what agency is going to step forward to offer insurance? Someone has to since insurance is a requirement. I don't think it's a stretch to say it will be the government. Viola. A public option. "Once again, all I really see from you is a repeated refrain of 'government is bad'". Big, bloated governments that are infringing on personal freedoms are bad. It doesn't matter who the president is either, democrat or republican. "Government and private companies coexist in many industries." You mean competing in the same business? "Are you against municipal utilities?" "Should government get entirely out of the business of energy, water, roads, etc?" It depends on how well the municipal utility is ran and if there is a private option that can do the same job better for cheaper. "I'm a really big fan of freedom." I'll take your word for it. "I want to see government keep private industry in check and vice-versa." The government has some responsibility to keep private industry in check. I do NOT want private industry keeping the government in check. That is lobbying by another name and lobbying is one thing that is weakening the political integrity of the country. I want citizens to keep the government in check (hello tea parties) and for politicians to have some integrity. "Create the best conditions possible for competition and choice..." Sure. "...and that includes giving governments (local, state and national) opportunities to compete as there are some things they do really well. " No. No. No. No. Private companies cannot compete with the government when the government can run deficits and undercut the competition. This just gives government another means of controlling the people. The example now is health care. If the public option is ever implemented, the government can keep the price so low that no insurance company would not want to compete. Hello single payer. "Right now we have a tendency to shove all the nasty bits onto the government, take anything potentially successful and hand it off to private industry and then bemoan that government doesn't do anything." I don't that want the government to do anything except what it was designed for: Provide for a common defense and regulate interstate trade. "Government is ours, we own it." Do we? Then why don't representative listen to their constituents. I'd say government is owned by the lobbyist and big business. That government and big business are some entwined that it's hard to say where one begins and the other ends. "I can't say that about Welpoint or Halliburton or Enron." I'd say the opposite. Shareholders own the company. It's up to them to police the company and punish the company by selling stock and investing elsewhere. Those who don't do their job lose money when the company fail. "Instead of demonizing what you own and handing off all power to an entity over which you have no control and who has no compulsion to do anything to your benefit, why don't you try improving what you do have and try and make it something in which you have pride?" I do not demonize our country. I love our country and would proudly die for it. I demonize those who are corrupting it and destroying it. Those who say we are no longer great and we should take a back seat to global community. I demonize those who are stepping on personal freedoms and those who think they know better than the people. I demonize policies that are weakening what made our country great. J - No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. - Mark Twain The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy. - Thomas Jefferson ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:326792 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
