In a word: Yes.
Absolutely, yes. Because while I'm sure you personally donated A LOT of your income to charity voluntarily last year, fact is that most people don't. You can't have a fire department in every town, streets all across the country for you to drive on for free, free public schools for your kids, space exploration for the nation's pride, weather forecasts, customs inspections to keep Americans safe from tainted and illicit imports, a police force that helps provide a safe environment for free, child protection agencies, an Environmental Protection Agency to prevent over-greedy profiteers from polluting our rivers and air with toxins just to make an extra buck as they do in China, an SEC to keep insider trading in check which is only harmful to the small investors that we all are compared to the big funds... you can't have any of that based on voluntary donations.
So, where do you personally draw the line? Deep down, you don't feel like you should be able to do what you want with your money? Or, is it just that you don't make enough cash for it to make a difference?
Because personally, I'm sick and fucking tired of my income increasing, and the amount of money I actually get to keep decreasing.
And I haven't even touched on healthcare at all. What about Medicare, Medicaid, free emergency care - to be paid by donations? Healthcare, IMHO, does not lend itself well to private enterprise. The first interest of any for-profit entity will always be ... profit. Not your well-being. That's why you have absurd things like pre-existing condition denials, binding arbitration clauses, ridiculous payment scales by age (anyone who has private insurance now, have you checked what you would pay in your same plan when you're 60?), etc. Unlike in normal markets, you have only limited control over your medical needs. Sure you can live healthy, but what if you're Matt from the other thread and have the "choice" of paying $250,000 for brain cancer surgery or die? Is that a free market choice, like you buy this new car or you don't?
So, by your logic, every single thing out there should somehow be reformed by the government? After all, I'm sure that a grocery stores number one concern is profit, and not making sure that everyone in America gets the exact number of calories they are supposed to have on a daily basis.
Coming soon: GROCERY REFORM - Because everyone deserves to eat Delmonico Steaks instead of Ramen Noodles.
In case you missed it, there were already programs in place for "poor people" to get insurance. Does Medicaid ring a bell? If it was simply about forcing insurance companies to accept people with pre-existing conditions, there was no need to pretty much take shit over from A-Z.
Do you realize in a couple of years that you personally won't be allowed to buy a health insurance plan unless it is deemed acceptable by the government? If your plan isn't acceptable, you get fined. That is fucking bullshit.
I think it's the right move to add healthcare to the long list of other services above that make sense in the government's hands. Because - at least in theory - to get re-elected, the government's best interest SHOULD BE the well-being of its people, not profit.
One thing is for sure, nothing the government ever does is make a profit. Instead, it will cost those that actually make a living out the ass to pay for the governments mismanagement, fuck ups, and blunders. Other than some programs related to wars, the government has never run ANYTHING efficiently, on budget, or for the benefit of the majority of the people.
But that only works if participation is not voluntary.
You stupid mother fucker. In the country that we live in, almost everything that we do or don't do as long as our actions don't affect others is supposed to be voluntary.
I almost can't wait until the shit really hits the fan with this health insurance shit, good doctors quit, and hospital waiting rooms start looking like the front stoops of the projects.
Life isn't supposed to be fair. Shit, my neighbor just added a fucking 1000sq/ft addition onto his house, I'd love to do it right now, but it's not in my budget. I think we should do housing reform so that I can have as many sq/ft as he has. After all, everyone has the right to have a nice place to live right? Everyone has the right to eat? Everyone has the right to drive a nice car? Everyone deserves to wear nice clothes?
I think far to many people confuse what "rights" really are. You have the right to get out of life whatever the fuck you get out of it. If you can't afford health insurance, get another job, get a part time job, if your a woman, stat fucking a rich dude, do what normal people do and find a way to make it work. Thinking that the rest of society owes you shit is a fucked up way to go through life.
There's nothing Marxist about this. At all.
Wake up