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Originally Posted by host
They do....this is a forward thinking discussion...they want it...they've been ripped off and abused to the point that there will be an extreme, if delayed reaction.....they want a socialistic economic system....if wanting similar "balance" to what exists in Canada and continental Europe is socialistic....
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This is too black and white. Americans don't want pure socialism any more than they want pure capitalism. We need to find a healthy mix, and right now we're skewed too heavily in the direction of capitalism.
The trouble is that when you socialize something - healthcare is a good example of something that desperately needs socialization - taxes go up, and people immediately panic. Oh shit! My taxes will go up! I'll be broke!
They fail to realize (and those opposed to socializing a given system are only too happy to keep them in the dark) that while taxes will increase a bit, they will not increase to the point where the tax increase is more than the money the average person will save on healthcare. If I could drop insurance, not have any copays for my meds, not have to pay outright for my kid's braces, etc etc etc, I'd more than make up for the tax increase, because the burden of healthcare would be shared across the entire country.
Sure Europeans have markedly higher tax rates than we here in the States do, but they also get free healthcare. Period. No bullshitting about whether this or that cancer treatment is "medically necessary." If they need it, they get it, and that's the end of that.
On the other hand, pure socialism would suck. Say goodbye to your sportscars, your SUV's (well. . maybe that part wouldn't suck
), your conversion vans, whatever. We'd all drive cars that we needed, but nothing more. I like capitalism here. I don't wanna give up my sports car
Interestingly enough we already have a socialized system in some areas. Eldercare is partially socialized. That's what social security is. We all pay, old people get to eat. Works pretty nice, despite the scare tactics employed by Bush and his cronies when they were trying to convert it to capitalism because it doesn't directly benefit his rich friends.
Back to healthcare, I think it's absolutely pathetic that in the richest country on the planet, the most advanced country on the planet, we have people having to decide whether to buy medicine that they need to live, or to buy food that they also need to live. It's pathetic that people needlessly die from curable diseases because their insurance company won't pay for the treatment and they can't afford it on their own.
Frankly, if you argue against socializing medicine, you are arguing for letting people die from conditions that could be cured.
We should socialize the necessities for life. The rest should be bought with your own money and at your discretion.