When is Right Wrong?

The world is spinning at such a high rate of speed that things appear to be peeling off the earth and spinning out into the cosmos.
The politics of our time are becoming more fractured and polarization is spinning at the rate of the earth as if a large centrifuge is pasting us and our issues to a wall.
The fact of right and wrong is now a hazy idea because the reference points of any discussion with any two groups are generally based on different reference points. While this makes for more difficult mediation of issues it also is causing a major distrust in the participants.
What I struggle with is that doing what is right by societal standards might be wrong when looked at in the bigger picture.
I am sure that most people would help a person in need and do it gratefully and many times with no expectation of being reimbursed. But let’s put that thought to a larger problem, national healthcare.
I am sure that no one debates the fact that there are people that need healthcare for themselves or a member of their family. Maybe healthcare has been lost through the loss of a job or the death of a family member and COBRA is too expensive.
What is the current course of action of any uninsured person that need medical attention…the local county hospital who is charged with treating all patients in a triage manner, that being the sickest are seen first. This medical system has been in place for decades and although it is time consuming; it is inexpensive to the person being treated.
I have heard no conversation on why this system is bad or ineffective. It is paid for by the tax dollars of the citizens of the county where the hospital is located.
Now, I understand that a patient using this type of medical coverage will not receive cosmetic procedures unless they are in accordance to an injury or other related illness but they will be seen and treated in some manner.
Is this not good enough to a person that is paying basically nothing for the service? If there were national healthcare and the person using the county facility cannot pay for that service then how can it be determined that they will be able to pay the premium on a national health plan?
I am not sure what benefit there will be in a national health plan when there has been no effective tort reform on medical malpractice in the past decade, that I am aware of. Are doctors under the NHCP (National Health Care Plan) not going to be sued by patients for the bad care that they receive? Are hospitals going to be exempt for malpractice under the NHCP? Without the threat of lawsuits or a cap on damages the doctors will be made to continue to pay for high end malpractice insurance to protect themselves, I would think.
Such a plan has multiple tentacles and all of them have to be addressed so that no party is left out in the cold under the new plan.
So it is right to take care of those that cannot take care of themselves and we should do it for free, if we have to. Isn’t that what we are already doing under the current county hospital system?
If we are doing that then why is there a need for a change? I’ll tell you my idea…the users of the new system want a more robust allowance for all types of medical procedures like cosmetic procedures that are expensive or not covered under most medical plans and they want it paid for by taxpayer dollars. So in order to get a breast enhancement under the current plan where it is not generally covered by medical insurance and has to be paid by the patent; the new plan will do it and it will be paid for by all taxpayers and not just the patient (that is assuming the patient works and pays taxes that subsidizes part of the cost).
Pretty nifty, eh?
Now, how do we build this system and what model do we use? Canada, Great Britain where there are cases of people chaining themselves to a gurney so that they will be seen by a medical professional? What is the model? I heard today Massachusetts and I will admit that I know nothing about it but Massachusetts is a small state and how does it cross over to a state like California? Hey, if it works I am willing to listen.
But back to right and wrong…
What used to be seen as a healthy discussion of the issues is now a more pointed effort in not convincing but also putting a thumb on the issue to quash any further discussion. This in itself is a deadly cocktail of disaster, as I see it.
The geo-political landscape of America is in tatters and it has not come quickly but rather there has been a disassociation of peoples in this country for many years. Watching the last few national elections we have seen more of a 50% in power 50% out of power mentality so half of our country is unhappy at any given time.
I believe that the problem truly stems from a falling away of the Puritan ethic that held grasp of our country for many years. I am not just talking about the religious effects of that time but rather the work ethic of the American people at large.
I point to Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) as the main focal point of the then moderate turn to liberalism to where it is today. His grasp of the American id during the time of his presidency was that we needed to be taken care of during the depression but there was a glaring error in his thought process…that we needed continued care by the government after the depression was done. While I do agree that the government needed to be beefed up during the depression I also think it should have been scaled back after it was over.
I do not think that the American government can take care of me better than I can take care of myself but I also believe that I am in the minority in this thinking today.
The tragedy of the FDR era is the welfare state that was created in that time and continued under every president since then. The Republicans do not escape this matter.
What we have now is a large sector of the population in an “entitlement” mentality fully expecting that the government will and, in fact, has to take care of them for as long as they live.
In an economics class that I took several years ago; my professor stated that 3.5% of the unemployment rate is hardcore unemployed. That being persons that because of their educational or skill level cannot get a job. This made me start looking at unemployment in a different manner.
If they are unable to get a job because of these issues then they are part of the other sector which is the entitlement group and they are demanding benefits all the time and will expect these benefits to be forthcoming for as long as they want or need them. Politicians cater to this group and, in fact, gerrymander voting districts to include them on their voter roles.
The true division of America really is the citizens who want to work and those that don’t, it is just that simple.
The citizens who want to work pay the taxes and support the other part of the equation. The non-working, non-tax paying group is the recipient of the goodwill and hard work of the other side. Unfortunately, the other side is beginning to break under the strain of the governmental support that is currently in place with the current tax system and the Cap and Trade bill that is being considered in Congress at this time.
The continued raising of taxes to pay for programs for the “entitled” group is slowly draining the reserve of capital of this nation but even more dangerous is the effect on the psyche of the working American.
We have all heard the saying,” There is no such thing as a free lunch” but we have forgotten what it means and what it means is that the governmental incursion into our daily lives will eventually become so burdensome that America will be gone as we know it and that is a sad thought indeed.
The middle class has been called on far too long to support the “entitled” masses that just keep getting bigger and bigger. There is a carrying load on the American taxpayer in how much they can and will sacrifice and the initial signs of unrest are being seen in various parts of our country.
The next six months will probably determine the course of America for a long time.
The current power group is not looking at the global impact of our growing debt in relationship to the other countries that are no longer buying it. If this continues there will be the possibility that the recent ARM interest rate reduction will be offset by higher fed rates. Those that were helped by the reduction will see an increase in their mortgage rates and will be back where they were or maybe even worse.
I am not sure that this juggernaut can be stopped because there is not enough information coming through the media to spark any type of debate and debate has always been a powerful thing in our country.
I kind of feel like the first day of my senior year in high school when we took over the quad and A.S.B. and ruled the school for a whole year and everyone else lived with the consequences of our actions. The current power base feels to me like those seniors in the quad and it will be a long time until the 2010 mid-term elections to see how America will be affected by the political push that is currently going on in Washington D.C..
Time will tell.