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I saw a bumper sticker the other day that really made me laugh. Well, I laughed at first anyway. But the more I think about it, the less funny it becomes. The problem is that what it said might just be a little bit too true. It read “If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it is free.”

 

The socialization of health care doesn’t look too bad on paper. But when you think about why healthcare has become unaffordable to many people you quickly see that a Marxist approach will not solve the roots of the problem.

 

What are the big problems? First of all, lawyers are a huge problem. Malpractice lawsuits and therefore malpractice insurance are the largest expense that health care providers face. Another huge problem draining the health care system is the fact that people who can not (or will not) pay for it can not be currently denied health care. Illegal immigrants come to mind here.

 

So instead of taking a communist approach to health care reform, why don’t we fix what is broken instead? Redefining how we look at lawsuits and requiring that people pay for services as they receive them would go a lot further towards fixing our health care woes. Burying our heads in the sand and relying on other peoples’ money will fix nothing.

There is a huge debate right now about what to do with the millions of people who are upside down in their houses that are facing foreclosure. The housing market has collapsed to a certain degree, and many people are now in a situation where they can no longer afford their houses. There are a variety of reasons for this, but the most common is the greed of the individual consumer which was fed by irresponsible lending on the part of banks.

 

Our current administration seems to be bent on the idea that we should save these people who are struggling. The people who borrowed more than they could afford are victims in the eyes of the democrats. Our president suggests that we all bail out these so called victims.

 

Well I’m not exactly a republican, but I just don’t agree with this “steal from the rich and give to the poor” mentality. I was good and even though I wanted to cash out on some of my home’s equity a few years back when everyone else was, I didn’t. So I am not upside down in my home or facing foreclosure because my payment never went up. And because I did the responsible thing, now I am expected to bail out the people who were irresponsible? What happened to personal responsibility?

The immigration debate  is one that is far from over. The United States of America has often been described as the great melting pot. And I think that immigration has been one of the key factors that have shaped this place into the great country that it is.

 

But decades ago immigration was an entirely different beast than it is today. When my great grandfather came to this country, he came with the ambition to not only succeed, but also to assimilate. He came to America because he wanted to become an American. One of the first and most important orders of business for him, his wife and my grandparents (their kids) was to immerse themselves in English. I have been told that speaking Italian was not even allowed in their house!

 

Well this is in stark contrast to the immigration we are seeing today. Today’s immigrants have what seems to me to be a complete unwillingness or at least no motivation to assimilate. In fact it seems to me that it is quite the opposite. Instead of learning English the new immigrants expect us to provide everything in Spanish. Should I really have to press 1 for English whenever I make a call in America? My great grandfather would be very disappointed if he could see what is happening. This is one of the key issues in today’s immigration debate.

Have you seen what politicians who are running for office have started doing in order to avoid the more traditional debate? These politicians are turning to the internet instead. And instead of going face to face with their opponents they are doing video blogs. Then they simply post these video blogs on YouTube.

 

Now if you are anything like me, then you might just be seeing a little bit of a problem with this whole scenario. After all, what would Abraham Lincoln or Stephan Douglas have to say about this? Does this signal the beginning of the end of the great orators? Sure you can both attack and defend via a video blog, but it is not spontaneous. It is the off the cuff format of political debate that allows us to see who the candidates actually are.

 

With video blogging the candidates get an opportunity to polish their presentation to the point that it is really more like a television commercial than anything else. By the time they are done with these presentations we have not had any kind of chance to see who they really are. Hopefully these video blogs are not a sign of changes to come. Hopefully the good old fashioned American tradition of political debates will survive.

Can you even fathom just how much 790 billion dollars is? This is the number that is being thrown around by our politicians in Washington that our new president thinks will save our economy. I am of course talking about the so called economic stimulus package.

Now let’s just take a quick look back at some of the other free money that our elected officials have passed out here recently. First we had the banking bailout (wasn’t that originally supposed to be a loan to the banking industry?). That one was 700 billion dollars so that banking executives could have their golden parachutes and so banks could keep their private jets. Then there was the auto makers’ bailout (also was supposedly going to be a loan) of 25 billion dollars. Did we solve unemployment by throwing cash at an industry who is failing because it is reluctant to keep up with the times?

Now if we add up just these three little items, how much are we spending? That’s 1.515 trillion dollars! So if we already have more than a 10 trillion dollar national debt, where is all of this money coming from? It is coming from you if you are a taxpayer! And this should warrant more debate!

With the federal government running a debt, each state is being held financially responsible for more and more of its own programs. While federal money used to be directed towards state sponsored programs, states are suddenly trying to absorb federal shortfalls and continue to offer a consistent level of services. Each state must determine how best to cover these shortfalls and where to trim the budget for the coming years.

Each State Legislature is tasked with determining where the budget can be cut or trimmed to save much needed dollars. They will debate information related to each program and take relevant testimony from expert witnesses. They will listen to their constituents and determine how the proposed cuts will impact the citizens of the state. State and local governments will review their ability to raises taxes and other potential revenues.

Trimming the budget will leave some citizens feeling upset or angry. Unfortunately, when budgets are cut, the impact is felt on a personal level. Funding for education, roads, libraries, parks and public services touch people’s everyday lives. Citizens can debate information back and forth but if one area gets funds another areas looses funds. With the current financial crisis raging on every front, states are making difficult decisions for the future of its people.

It seemed like the recent Presidential campaign lasted longer than those in the past. Maybe it was the insane and constant media coverage or the fact that I followed it closely due to the current economic crisis, but did we learn anything about our candidates through the media coverage? I learned about the presidential and vice presidential candidates through the debate information exchanged at the several debates held prior to the election. In the debate forum, they were speaking about problems our country is facing and experience that would prepare them to deal with our current problems.

Another benefit of using debate information to make election decisions is you are making your own decision and not allowing media influences to cloud your judgment. Each media outlet has a bias toward one candidate. While they claim to be fair or balanced, one candidate tends to get more positive press depending on what news channel you watch or which newspaper you read.

No matter which candidate you voted for on November 4^th, I wish President Obama luck in fulfilling the promises he made to the American public during his debates. His success and failures as a president will be played out on the stage of public opinion and the media has the clips to play over and over again if he doesn’t fulfill his objectives.

sss_underrehabilitation inquired:


politics?Any information i should bring up agasint my class mates?
politics. like governmental structure. Allies that would help the government out, and treaties maybe to form. I dont know how to really word it.

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