Is the United States Compassionate?

19 January 2017 0 Comments

During Tom Price’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Bernie Sanders rebuked his claim that we are a compassionate society.

“No, we are not a compassionate society,” Sanders said. “In terms of our relationship with poor and working people, our record is worse than virtually any other country on earth.”

The Resurgent

This has been repeated over and over in the last decade. Rand Paul’s response to Sanders was a thing of beauty.

“One of the things that’s extraordinary about our country is just two years ago, in 2014, we gave away $400 billion — privately, not the government, individually — to churches and to charities,” Paul said. “We’re an incredibly compassionate society. This was misplaced in sort of the wonky numbers of this number and that number within health care how much we do help each other.”

“Not only do we help each other within our own county, I’d bet you most — half the physicians in my community in Bowling Green have gone on international trips and done international charity work and all that is lost in saying that we’re this heartless, terrible country, and I would just argue the opposite,” Paul continued. “I think the greatness of our country and the greatness in the compassion of our country — we give away more than the gross domestic product of most of these socialized countries around the world.”

There is a huge difference in what Sanders and Paul/Price are saying. Rand Paul’s expectation is that the government is small and that it taxes the people reasonably little. The people then, not the government, can choose to do with their money how they desire. Sanders, on the other hand, expects the government to provide services to the people, and to do so requires large amounts of taxes and government structure.

When Sanders, on Wednesday, makes the claim that we lack compassion for the working people and the poor, he is saying that the government doesn’t do enough for these individuals. When Paul and Price say that we are compassionate, they point to all the individuals and private institutions do and give to society.

If it is your expectation that the government should provide for the people, you would be right to think we don’t care. But then look at the $400 billion given to church's and charities that goes to help the people you think the government isn’t doing enough for. Maybe, instead of demanding that the government take more money from your fellow citizens, give your own money to these causes and make a difference.

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Healthcare Ignorance Makes Me Sick

17 January 2017 0 Comments

I’m supportive of protests, however this particular protest exposes ignorance. What?! Liberals, ignorant? Yes, it’s true. You see – this protest demonstrates that these people believe there are only two options – Obamacare and going back to the way things were before Obamacare. The reality is that Republicans have released several thoughts on what the best replacement plan might be – yes that’s right, replacement plan – as in not going back to the pre-Obamacare years. It’s no secret there were issues with healthcare – no one is denying that.

The Resurgent

This goes back to the echo chambers that we build around ourselves, whether on Facebook, Twitter, or the news we read. For the conservative, it is hard to live in a self-confirming echo chamber. All major news sources have a liberal lean outside of Fox and even if you watch television, liberal concepts and priorities are pushed very heavily.

For the liberal, the opposite is true. Outside of Fox, Last Man Standing, and a number of online publications, almost all news and media content from Hollywood is self-confirming. Breaking the echo chamber has to be intentional.

Ignorance of your opponents is what is driving people to declare everyone that voted Trump to be racist, misogynist, bigots. I regularly ready articles from the New York Times, Washington Post, and even HuffPo. Why? Because hearing about something from multiple worldviews is important and makes it harder for me to stereotype the Left.

So back to healthcare, the article above gives some insight into the Republican reform of healthcare that is coming this year under Trump. We don’t want to go back to how things were before Obama. I don’t know anyone that does. So read that and ask questions of conservatives in your life. If you don’t know any conservatives, this is a good year to start.

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