Obama care

[PaperLuigi]

Whether the government can do anything right is irrelevant.  They shouldn't be doing any of that.

Why?

[superstarMASIAH]

High taxes for the rich, lower taxes for the poor.  Just saying.

[PaperLuigi]

That's certainly a good thing.

[Turtlekid1]

Why?

Because everyone is meant to provide for himself and his family - and the poor, if he makes such a choice - and to not be forced by those in power to provide for everyone else, too.

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

I don't see anything in there about health care, schools, environmental protection, or other governmental institutions mentioned in that /b/ post, except the postal service and police force. 

[Lizard Dude]

Land of the free, and land of the great it is no more.

If you truly think that because of national health care, then the USA has not been the land of the free or great since long, long before you were born. Social Security, Medicare, highways, national parks, all that stuff: same deal. Citizens paying for public projects that not everyone uses. Don't like it? Move to Somalia, where the government doesn't control your health care or nutrition.

And I think Turtlekid's problem is he hasn't seen the real world. Yes, it's easy for the gov'mint to seem evil when it looks like all they do is take your money and blow it on things you don't support or care about, but without the government countering the actions of private companies we would be ****ED. Here's the key: the government's goal is not money. They need tons of money, but its not the be-all end-all point. For almost all private companies, that is the only goal: money. And it causes them to act very, very evil. In a pure capitalism or anarchist system, nature's beauty would have been utterly destroyed by now, we would not have safe food or water, and 99% of the population would be uneducated serfs slaving their entire lives away to serve an elite 1% of CEO-type people. It still trends that way somewhat (as we are still capitalists) but the government is extremely useful in preventing this kind of monopolistic domination of every area of life by businesses.

So get a non-government job some time, and you may begin to appreciate the government's actions, even if they weren't mandated by an ancient document (you sure do seem to love those).

[Turtlekid1]

I do believe I've found my WTD Award nominee for this year.

[WarpRattler]

You can't vote for yourself, Turtlekid.

[Mr. Wiggles]

Rebuttal of the Gods.

I don't care if this GIF is overused or whatever, but this brilliant post deserves the recognition.

[Weegee]

Save for that unwarranted Biblical shot at the end, I find myself almost kind of slightly agreeing with LD for once. Without government intervention, this would essentially become America's flag:



Back to the issue immediately at-hand, there's a reason why Tommy Douglas, the founder of Canada's modern health care system, was voted the Greatest Canadian in history by a nation-wide poll. His contribution revolutionized the nation for the undisputed better. The government providing a completely-accessible health care system is just as important a function as supporting law enforcement and the judicial system.

[Turtlekid1]

Except, in America's case, the document at the core of its system of laws does not allow for it.

[PaperLuigi]

Save for that unwarranted Biblical shot at the end

Why is faith worthy of respect? Seriously, he called the Bible ancient. Is he wrong?

[Weegee]

No, but there was no need to refer to it as a point to discredit TK's stance.

[Lizard Dude]

I meant the US Constitution, not the Bible.

[PaperLuigi]

Because everyone is meant to provide for himself and his family

So what about single-parent families headed by women? I guess everyone equals men only.

[Turtlekid1]

Whoa, easy there.

The rules of grammar dictate that when gender is unknown, it's correct to use the masculine pronoun, that's all.  Or at least, that's what my grammar textbooks always say.