Vigilante

I don't like what you say about this topic, so go away. Honestly, it doesn't typically work that way.

I don't agree with either side of this. It's not black and white, "tax for nearly everything so everyone may benefit" or "no tax for anything, ever".

At some point, people have to take responsibility for themselves. People sitting on their ass have to get jobs, people addicted to drugs have to get help, people that work at a local shop with no benefits can find a new job that offers benefits. I did that very thing 2 weeks ago. Hey, it's life. I don't need to have my hand held, I can figure it out. Also, and this is a big one for me, people should be taught to take their time about having kids. It should be a part of sex education, and part of a federal standard for education. If you have a kid at 20, you're going to have a hard time unless daddy left you a fat bank account. If you have a kid at 30, you're more likely to be in stable financial health and be able to handle the stress. Shit, I'm 33 and my wife is 31 and we still don't have a kid.

So once that mindset is established, why do we need to hold peoples' hands? They can figure it out. Sure the healthcare system needs an overhaul, but the question is how much of an overhaul does it really need? The answer to that is another thread, but I'm just putting that out there. It doesn't have to be black/white, 0/1, yes/no on/off gov't healthcare/no gov't healthcare.

To say that healthcare is a right is alien to me. I don't see healthcare in the bill of rights. Ben Franklin didn't consider healthcare to be an inalienable right. It doesn't appear to be mentioned anywhere. If I've missed something, please cite that. "Pursuit of happiness" is pursuit, not handouts of happiness. To tack it on to the current list of rights is a big leap. It's modern, and while that is good, it needs refinement and not just thrown in as it stands. I would say it is too new to be called a right, yet. IMO we should have a working system, however that is defined, before we define the system itself.

---------- Post added at 12:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:52 PM ----------

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I see nothing that implies healthcare. I see that you can pursue healthcare as part of happiness. And so chase it you shall. May you catch that, and riches, and whatever else your heart may desire, as long as it doesn't infringe on others' pursuit of the same goals.

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We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
-Winston Churchill