This line of thinking ignores the fact that in socialized healthcare systems nobody gets out of jail free, so to speak, on the healthcare bill. Everyone pays. It's not free for you, it's just reduced cost.
And, seriously, I may not know most of my neighbors but I'd gladly take a bump in taxes to make sure everybody else had healthcare.
ESPECIALLY kids. There's nothing more sad than a sick kid that can't see the doctor because mommy and daddy are poor or their insurance doesn't cover the specialist s/he needs. Compassion for my fellow humans is totally a thing.
---------- Post added 2013-04-05 at 05:44 AM ----------
Let me just ask this now and save myself a lot of trouble later: Are you the kind of guy who doesn't want to pay taxes for city street lights if you never go out at night, or for public schools if you never intend to have kids, or for roads in parts of the town you never drive to/on?
---------- Post added 2013-04-05 at 05:53 AM ----------
How are you fine with this stuff but not public healthcare? Wouldn't you be better off paying people to build the roads and buildings YOU WANT, or hiring a private security company instead of even bothering with a police force other people who don't pay as much taxes as you have access to?
---------- Post added 2013-04-05 at 05:59 AM ----------
I'm curious about this full story that makes hitting a student acceptable. I come from an educational background and I guarantee that short of having a weapon pulled on me I'd have been fired immediately. I pushed the lines pretty hard, but I never hit my students. PM me the details if they're not fit for the topic at hand, would you kindly.
---------- Post added 2013-04-05 at 06:04 AM ----------
Eh, the Golden Rule falls apart under any real depth of scrutiny. Example:
I'd really like to have sex with that girl, so I should. Just because I'd like something to happen, or done to me, doesn't mean other people would. Even going the less rapist route it's kinda silly. I, for one, enjoy my privacy. I might have a hypothetical neighbor who loves to be chatted at, and thus by the rule here constantly comes over to yack at me. I would be displeased.
I would amend the golden rule thusly: Do unto others, unless they don't want you to. Then, move alone.
---------- Post added 2013-04-05 at 06:14 AM ----------
I'd like to start a referendum to bring this back into the daily activity list.
---------- Post added 2013-04-05 at 06:39 AM ----------
Or - and I'm just spit balling here - people don't use those services that they don't like, and those services die off. Maybe?
---------- Post added 2013-04-05 at 06:49 AM ----------
Despite what people who say it say, change isn't always bad and tradition isn't synonymous with good.
---------- Post added 2013-04-05 at 07:03 AM ----------
Not shaming one's family is very, very important in at least Japanese culture, and I image it would extend to others in the region as well. They bring that attitude and consequent work ethic with them when they come over to the States; and other countries, I'm sure.
Being a good student, or worker, or what have you suddenly becomes more important when the dignity of your entire family is on the line. There are some downsides, such as kids being pushed into careers they either don't want or aren't suited to for the honor of the position, but all in all it's not a half bad mentality. It flies in the face of the Individualist mentality of the typical been-here-a-while American though.
Of course people generally want to do their parents proud and all that jazz, but it's not so extreme as the Eastern cultures.