better than the last one
# Patrick Says:
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:19 am
If I could have a sit down with her, I would ask her how exactly she expects to accomplish her goals. It seems that in little speeches as such, she is just trying to emotionally win votes. In my own opinion, I would be willing to sacrifice some of my own gains in the effort to provide a more for those who do not have such. I would be willing to stretch even as far as Canada or Australia in the means of equal education, health care, and stuff like that. I think that with the help of the government and through my own personal means, I can be more benevelent to those in need– like He calls us to.
However, what she is suggesting is in line with what Mao did to China 50 years ago. Communism is great, but it doesn’t work. What she is suggesting is socialism/communism with all the benefits from capitalism. It doesn’t exist and it would take a bit longer than 4 (or 8) years to transform the American machine into that. Also, if she is hoping to transform America, is she really going to call it the “We’re all in it together plan for a better society?” She should talk to the aging generation in China, and ask them how the cultural revolution treated them, and then decide if she would like to depart from our current way of doing business.
What about the lower class? Do we not want them to succeed in the global economy? I am pretty sure corporate CEOs are rich, not because of the Bush administration, but because they are innovators, lucky, hard working businessmen that made it to the top. Should there be a graduated tax? I think so, because it is only by doing this that the poor are not completely stifled. But, we aren’t going to get mad at the president because of government spending, because I am pretty sure the Senate signs off on that every year.
Would being the First Lady of the United States for 8 years and senator of New York be considered a priveledge?
Where did she give that speech? I would like it in full so that I could analyze it.
# Caleb Says:
June 3rd, 2007 at 7:46 am
Patrick, you make some very valid points, but I think there is a huge difference between the benevolence that Christ calls us to do (which is born out of our love for him and others) and the forced, inadequate, inefficient, and wasteful system the government has setup. God also calls us to be wise with His money and pouring money into programs that only encourage poverty is not a wise use of His money. Of course, I will always “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”, but that doesn’t mean I have to think it is a wise use of God’s financial blessing to me. Besides whether Christ would want us to give out of force or out of love, I question if that kind of forced benevolence is what the founding father desired from our constitution. James Madison, 1792 “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
In regards to universal health care; the wait times for major(and minor) surgeries in countries that have universal health care (England, Canada) are much longer. The Frasier Institute found that average wait times to get treated on even minor problems was over 4 months with some major treatments taking over a year. I would also like to retain the option of choosing my doctors instead of the government doing so. If I feel that a doctor is inadequate, I should be able to take my money to some one who will get the job done. There is a reason that many of their citizens come to the US to get their medical procedures done.
Gotta head out the door for church… If I can find it, I will post a link for the transcript of the speech a little later for ya.
# Patrick Says:
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Caleb,
Great points. One of the foreign teachers here is from Australia and two are from Canada. On seperate occasions I have talked to both of them and they have mentioned long wait lists, no choices, and in one case just really bad medical practice. It is fortunate that medicine can do so much to help, but as you probably know, if you have a unusual or emergency situation, it can be very expensive. It is almost getting to the point where medicine has outrun people’s ability to pay for such procedures. Is there a way to provide the high quality of medicine at a price that is affordable for everyone? Perhaps grants to research more affordable means of treatment… maybe subsidies for people who cannot pay but are qualified… maybe more protection for the doctors from lawsuits… who knows?
Also, as for welfare, I am still deciding what I think is best. I was talking with Noël last night and she brought up a few good points. She used to work in a grocery store and she saw the people who used food stamps and what they bought– mostly Mexicans and mostly junk food. She saw more people abusing the program than people who utilized the program. She also said that most people who have worked in grocery stores or places like that will have similar experiences. The problem still reamins… how do we help people? Something that she said and I coined into words was, what if the focus was not on the tree itself but on the seeds? More scholarships, more opportunities for those who can use the jump start. Again, I would like to think that there is always something more we can do to help everyone in our society.
Finally, what is the breakdown of our governments expenditures? I know that the United States spend more on its military than anyone else in the world… by far the most. New programs like the F22, space based missile defense system, paying for the intelligence agencies, and properly funding the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan costs a lot of money. I do not think that it is wrongly spent there, just that it is a lot of money. How much then is spent of those things in compared to social welfare programs? I know that in Australia, they spend so much on health care and so on, that in result their government is much smaller than ours. If we had a smaller government, then we wouldn’t have to fund so much through taxes. What would be best, and what I think people try to find, is just a good balance between spending and taxes, helping people and not breeding welfare-dependant people, providing for the lower-class while not ignoring or hurting the upper and middle classes, protecting American interests abroad while not hurting others abroad. I am thankful though, that the country is not run by one person, but by thousands of devoted people doing what they think is best. Having been an expat for a very short time, I am now a devoted American and love all the things that it stands for and I am willing do what I think is best to help out people, society, and our country.
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:19 am
If I could have a sit down with her, I would ask her how exactly she expects to accomplish her goals. It seems that in little speeches as such, she is just trying to emotionally win votes. In my own opinion, I would be willing to sacrifice some of my own gains in the effort to provide a more for those who do not have such. I would be willing to stretch even as far as Canada or Australia in the means of equal education, health care, and stuff like that. I think that with the help of the government and through my own personal means, I can be more benevelent to those in need– like He calls us to.
However, what she is suggesting is in line with what Mao did to China 50 years ago. Communism is great, but it doesn’t work. What she is suggesting is socialism/communism with all the benefits from capitalism. It doesn’t exist and it would take a bit longer than 4 (or 8) years to transform the American machine into that. Also, if she is hoping to transform America, is she really going to call it the “We’re all in it together plan for a better society?” She should talk to the aging generation in China, and ask them how the cultural revolution treated them, and then decide if she would like to depart from our current way of doing business.
What about the lower class? Do we not want them to succeed in the global economy? I am pretty sure corporate CEOs are rich, not because of the Bush administration, but because they are innovators, lucky, hard working businessmen that made it to the top. Should there be a graduated tax? I think so, because it is only by doing this that the poor are not completely stifled. But, we aren’t going to get mad at the president because of government spending, because I am pretty sure the Senate signs off on that every year.
Would being the First Lady of the United States for 8 years and senator of New York be considered a priveledge?
Where did she give that speech? I would like it in full so that I could analyze it.
# Caleb Says:
June 3rd, 2007 at 7:46 am
Patrick, you make some very valid points, but I think there is a huge difference between the benevolence that Christ calls us to do (which is born out of our love for him and others) and the forced, inadequate, inefficient, and wasteful system the government has setup. God also calls us to be wise with His money and pouring money into programs that only encourage poverty is not a wise use of His money. Of course, I will always “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”, but that doesn’t mean I have to think it is a wise use of God’s financial blessing to me. Besides whether Christ would want us to give out of force or out of love, I question if that kind of forced benevolence is what the founding father desired from our constitution. James Madison, 1792 “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
In regards to universal health care; the wait times for major(and minor) surgeries in countries that have universal health care (England, Canada) are much longer. The Frasier Institute found that average wait times to get treated on even minor problems was over 4 months with some major treatments taking over a year. I would also like to retain the option of choosing my doctors instead of the government doing so. If I feel that a doctor is inadequate, I should be able to take my money to some one who will get the job done. There is a reason that many of their citizens come to the US to get their medical procedures done.
Gotta head out the door for church… If I can find it, I will post a link for the transcript of the speech a little later for ya.
# Patrick Says:
June 3rd, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Caleb,
Great points. One of the foreign teachers here is from Australia and two are from Canada. On seperate occasions I have talked to both of them and they have mentioned long wait lists, no choices, and in one case just really bad medical practice. It is fortunate that medicine can do so much to help, but as you probably know, if you have a unusual or emergency situation, it can be very expensive. It is almost getting to the point where medicine has outrun people’s ability to pay for such procedures. Is there a way to provide the high quality of medicine at a price that is affordable for everyone? Perhaps grants to research more affordable means of treatment… maybe subsidies for people who cannot pay but are qualified… maybe more protection for the doctors from lawsuits… who knows?
Also, as for welfare, I am still deciding what I think is best. I was talking with Noël last night and she brought up a few good points. She used to work in a grocery store and she saw the people who used food stamps and what they bought– mostly Mexicans and mostly junk food. She saw more people abusing the program than people who utilized the program. She also said that most people who have worked in grocery stores or places like that will have similar experiences. The problem still reamins… how do we help people? Something that she said and I coined into words was, what if the focus was not on the tree itself but on the seeds? More scholarships, more opportunities for those who can use the jump start. Again, I would like to think that there is always something more we can do to help everyone in our society.
Finally, what is the breakdown of our governments expenditures? I know that the United States spend more on its military than anyone else in the world… by far the most. New programs like the F22, space based missile defense system, paying for the intelligence agencies, and properly funding the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan costs a lot of money. I do not think that it is wrongly spent there, just that it is a lot of money. How much then is spent of those things in compared to social welfare programs? I know that in Australia, they spend so much on health care and so on, that in result their government is much smaller than ours. If we had a smaller government, then we wouldn’t have to fund so much through taxes. What would be best, and what I think people try to find, is just a good balance between spending and taxes, helping people and not breeding welfare-dependant people, providing for the lower-class while not ignoring or hurting the upper and middle classes, protecting American interests abroad while not hurting others abroad. I am thankful though, that the country is not run by one person, but by thousands of devoted people doing what they think is best. Having been an expat for a very short time, I am now a devoted American and love all the things that it stands for and I am willing do what I think is best to help out people, society, and our country.
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