Yeah, I agree, Leilani. Socialism isn't a terrible thing, provided that it's not the ONLY thing. Capitalism in most areas, and socialism for things where it's obvious that everyone benefits, seems like the best-working mixture. Like our space program. We may watch China build the first moonbase (because it appears we'll be too broke to compete with them), but it was socialism that put the first man on the moon, OUR man.
Education is socialized too, and it should be. We all benefit from having a better-educated populace. That's what's a little odd about fighting against universal health care -- it's good for our populace to be intellectually healthy, but it's somehow NOT good for our population to be physically healthy? What? So we'll gladly help educate people...and then let them die, killing our investment right along with them. I mean, duh, that's just idiotic.
I am just killing some down time I have right now and decided to relax a bit by reading some of the posts a few pages back. I knew, from MedMan's comments about schools, that I had missed some posts about that.
So along those lines, Bongulator, this is a great post. I could not agree more. It IS idiotic.
I recall once hearing a gay guy that I worked for asking why he should be expected to pay taxes to support schools, when he knew he would never have children. My answer: Do you really want to be living in a world run by uneducated **adults** when you are older? He nodded his head: yeah, good point.
Like Bongulator noted here, we all benefit from an educated populace.
UnderTheIce (I think that's the screen name, sorry if I got it wrong) has countered this argument with comments about socialism (that are way too strong, exaggerated, in my opinion), saying that we are turning out uneducated fools, basically, and that the system is already failing.
That statement is true--but only to a certain extent. The first thing we all need to acknowledge is that public schools and their quality are mostly determined by the states, and within the states, determined by individual counties. Yes, the federal government does play a role, but the states' roles are much, much bigger. That's why in states like Mississippi and Alabama--very poor states, right?--have such poor quality schools.
And then you have states like New York, where taxes are higher, the schools are superb. Teachers from states like that also make good salaries and retire with good pensions. The end result: a more highly educated populace, able to earn and produce more and enhance the quality of life in general.
Those are your taxes at work.
Now back to what Bongulator wrote: that socialism is not a terrible thing, as long as it's not the only thing. YES! It's so glaringly apparent that Americans hear the word "socialism" and get a knee jerk response that is nothing but a hangover from the olden days of the 50's, 60's, and 70's; too many people hear that word and immediately think: OH NO! THAT'S COMMUNISM!
No, it is not. Not when our system is primarily capitalist with elements of socialism. Just like Bongulator wrote.
And to that end, I'm all for redoing our health care system. What a bunch of waste and inequality and plain old horseshit we are dealing with regarding health care. It's a god awful mess. No, sorry, we don't take your insurance here. Or, well, we do, but you have to pay up front and then be reimbursed by your insurance company on your own because we do not bill that company.
It's just stupid, like Bongulator said. And that's if nothing horrible happens. With the aging of the baby boomer population, just watch what is in store for us if we do not get a grip on this health care debacle. Alzheimers, cancer, all of that "old age" diseases? We are going to witness the destruction of pensions earned and saved, and disgraceful suffering--that we, the US, allow this to happen. We are the only western industrialized nation without national health care. Gee. Are all the people wrong, all the time, except for us?
Germany's health care system is the one I'd like to see us emulate. Their system is excellent.
Germany also pays for university educations for anyone who wants it and qualifies. They are doing well in many areas. We'd be smart to investigate how their systems work.
All done. Done with my break.
Great post, Bongulator.
You voting for Obama.
