It really was inevitable...

[lumpy]

I have taken the flu shot for several years with good results. I am fortunate in that my employer provides their employees the flu shot every year as a benefit.

I heard an announcement on the radio that the local health clinic was going to be giving flu shots. Medicaid and Medicare recipiants were free, and it was $20 for everyone else.

So I took $60 outta the old piggy bank, gathered up my three daughters, and headed out to get the family their annual flu shots.

Upon arrival I was asked to fill out the requisite paperwork and wait our turn. As a side note, the first question on the paperwork was "race" followed by "sex" followed by "Medicaid / Medicare number".

Anyhow, it got to be our turn, I paid the $60 fee, and the lady working the desk looked at my two year old daughter's form and told me that the other two could get their shots, but there is a special shot for children under 36 months and they only had enough for Medicaid and Medicare patients.

I was stupified. First of all I paid cash; not a check or credit card; good old fashioned cash. Second, it wasn't that they didn't have the flu shot, they just didn't have it for my daughter. Somehow the Mecicare / Medicaid two year olds are more important than my twenty dollar bill two year old.

I got pissed and recited a John Adams speech I just read the best I could; liberally mixed with some Ron Paul and a heavy dose of John Belushi. I grabbed my 60 bucks and kids and split.

Strange days we are living in.

[Vulconizer]

I wish more people could read this and then think, really think hard, about what will happen if we are stupid enough as a nation to actually allow " universal healthcare " to happen.

What has happened to Social Security?
Our older citizens were promised something ( rightly or wrongly, but it was promised ) and now it's soon to be used up and currently badly misused in all sorts of nefarious ways.

What about the VA?
Our soldiers deserve MUCH more than they get. They get nothing close to what they were promised. Anyone with any decency ( or experience with the VA ) will tell you that.

What about anything else that the government gets its hands into?
Can you honestly think of one large governmental program that isn't corrupt, underfunded/overfunded, and/or ridiculously mismanaged?

Do we truthfully want to trust our physical well-being to the bastards in Washington? The same guys who don't have to worry about healthcare because they voted for themselves to have some of the very best healthcare coverage in the world?

Understand me in no uncertain terms here: This is the Government. Not the republicans. Not the democrats. The Government has done these things to us. WE, the people that the Government is made up of and here to serve, have done this to ourselves. We have allowed these things to happen because we have not demanded any accountability from those we send to the capital to serve us.

If we do not change this practice of laziness on our part extremely soon, there will be only one way to fix it.


We will be severely screwed if " universal healthcare " ( call it socialized medicine or communism folks, time to cut the bullshit ) comes to pass. We are just a little screwed right now. While we are still only just a " little " screwed, how come we don't just clamp down on the politicians, insurance companies, and lawyers? It will be a lot easier to work on it now than if we let the governmental machine get going. Once that happens, they'll never give that power back....

I'm sorry, lumpy, that you as a parent, citizen, and taxpayer weren't allowed to do what you wanted for your child. It's ridiculous and infuriating.

[lumpy]

I'm trying really hard not to be mad at the Medicare / Medicaid recipiants. The plan is that someday when my geriatric lard ass can't climb up and down that paper machine anymore, I too will be a Medicaid recipiant.

I guess the timing was just bad. I have been chewing this economy mess for over a month now; it has become an obsession. My senators and representative have put my name in some kinda wacko database considering all the nasty letters I have been writing them. I have convinced myself that everything is geared to destroy the working middle class.

It's the best explanation. Once the government gets the self reliant out of the way, it's easy street to the gravy train of total socialism.

I am making sure that my kids are not indoctrinated. The incident yesterday was actually a blessing in disguise because they got to experience first hand what their government has in mind.

Problem is that it difficult to teach self reliance, hard work, honesty, and respect whenever those are the very traits that got us a fucking yesterday!

[brandondrury]

there is a special shot for children under 36 months and they only had enough for Medicaid and Medicare patients.

How many layers of discrimination are there?

I can live with a reasonable amount of help to children of broke people. I think think out 15,325 worse things the government spends money on.

However, the Medicaid people got their damn money. Why is further discrimination required? I'm completely perplexed!

Brandon

[brandondrury]

Can you honestly think of one large governmental program that isn't corrupt, underfunded/overfunded, and/or ridiculously mismanaged?

We think alike Vulcon (although it scares the shit out of me saying that!)
What has the Federal Government gotten right?

Do we truthfully want to trust our physical well-being to the bastards in Washington?

I've went full circle on this one. (I read an eastern philosophy book that screwed me up!). I don't blame Washington. I really believe the public gets exactly what it wants.

McCain and Obama offer NOTHING new. Those of us who want a smaller government get laughed at by the masses. The masses want EXACTLY what they've got whether they realize it or not.

Everyone wants everything to be simple, easy, and (most importantly) automatic. How many times do you hear "The government should give me X" in a day? Few people say "The government SHOULDN'T give me X today!".

Not enough people understand that we ARE the government. When the government spends a $1, we spent that dollar. When the government spends $700 billion, each person is shelling out $2,333. In Lumpy's case with a wife and 3 kids, his household is more or less responsible for $11,666.

Of course, they don't charge this fee directly. They do it with inflation which is a fee we all pay equally and therefore it hits the lower income sects the hardest. (Why the left doesn't seem to give a shit about this one is INSANE to me!)

Not the republicans. Not the democrats.

Minus the irrelevant moral issues, I can see next to zero difference.

If we do not change this practice of laziness on our part extremely soon, there will be only one way to fix it.

Agreed. I just haven't figured out a way to make people actually want to think. There is a reason the presidential debates offer practically zero substance. People don't want substance. Economics is a very complex subject. 1% of the population can stand talking about it with any depth. 2% scratch the surface in an attempt to understand. 97% bury their head in the sand.

I read recently that 66% of all Americans can't find the UK on a globe. WHAT?? How could they possibly comprehend the economic ramifications of excessive government intervention.

Problem is that it difficult to teach self reliance, hard work, honesty, and respect whenever those are the very traits that got us a fucking yesterday!

After reading the wrong books last winter (Books covering Cold War spending) I seriously considered attempting to get on welfare.

Not because I'm a lazy ass, but because the deck is so stacked against a guy who started with extremely little but has gigantic aspirations and I felt defeated for a while. (Luckily, that was just a two day phase.)

With that said, ultimately self-reliance and hard work is something the individual must have faith in. You are supposed to stand on your two feet and kick ass at your craft. That's what I believe anyway.

Brandon

[MatsonMusicBox]

pretty simple in my mind ... De Toqueville had it right a couple hundred years ago ... and to paraphrase it liberally (no pun intended LOL) ...

Democracy fails when more than half the people are wrong.

When the "laziness" reaches the point when people figure out that it's easier to vote themsleves survival than it is to work themselves into a living - we've lost the game - and I think we're REALLY close.

[Whammo]

Ya gotta remember: "Fully half of the people are of below average intelligence."
All people have exactly as much power to make political change as you and I do. If ya look at the Constitution as it was originally written, there were quite a few more restrictions on who could vote as there are now.

But naaaaah... that COULD'NT have ANYTHING to do with the problems we have now... And it certainly wouldn't be politically correct to say so.
As a matter of fact, I'd be racist, sexist and elitist if I were to say such a thing!
I an NOT saying that's what it is, of course. That would be silly.

Heh!

[Vulconizer]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

McCain and Obama offer NOTHING new.


Minus the irrelevant moral issues, I can see next to zero difference.



Brandon

Yep. I think the elephant and donkey been playing on the same team for a while now. It just isn't our team, I don't think....

[lumpy]

I wonder how many Americans honestly want the government to take more responsibility for their lives? Examples: healthcare, child care, employment, education from pre-K through college, retirement.

It has taken several generations to get to this level of thinking. My grandparents would have laughed at the concept of universal healthcare. My parents can't understand the reason for government day care centers.

Everyone knows that for every responsibility the government relieves us of we trade one or more freedoms.

Really?

What percent? I'd say 60 - 75%, but I have lost faith in all humanity and my opinion is skewed.

[brandondrury]

pretty simple in my mind ... De Toqueville had it right a couple hundred years ago ... and to paraphrase it liberally (no pun intended LOL) ...

Democracy fails when more than half the people are wrong.

When the "laziness" reaches the point when people figure out that it's easier to vote themsleves survival than it is to work themselves into a living - we've lost the game - and I think we're REALLY close.

Wow!! You hit the nail on the head! I 100% agree!

I wonder how many Americans honestly want the government to take more responsibility for their lives? Examples: healthcare, child care, employment, education from pre-K through college, retirement.

I think that is obvious. Look at the 2 candidates that get all the attention. The both want a bigger, more expensive government. That's what the masses want.

I can't count how many times I've been laughed at because I was so big on Ron Paul (the only candidate wanting to make MAJOR reduction in government spending, government size, and government's ignoring the constitution). In all honesty, I can't be sure if they were laughing at what he had to say (hard to do in my opinion) or laughing because the media had decided for them very early in the race that Ron Paul had no chance.

I personally feel that 99% of the population wants all the benefits of communism. I think if you asked people about the public school system many would say it is crappy and quite a few would say it's dreadly inefficient / expensive. However, only an extreme minority would have enough faith in pure capitalism to actually believe that the state and federal governments should get out of the school business and leave it up to companies to compete.

I believe that people want EVERYTHING on auto pilot. They want the government to automatically give them free wireless internet, free cable TV, free Xbox, a free car, free food, a free house, etc etc etc. Of course, no one really thinks about where the money is going to come from for all of that.

All people have exactly as much power to make political change as you and I do. If ya look at the Constitution as it was originally written, there were quite a few more restrictions on who could vote as there are now.

Voting restrictions is an interesting concept. As "enlightened" people of 2008 all people are supposed to have the right to vote. I think that is bullshit. I don't want to discriminate based gender, sex, etc but if I understand the topic and you don't I think my vote should be worth more.

I'd love for their to be a test on the consitution, the economy, global ****ing, or whatever that determined whether you were able to vote. Then some Richard Nixon piece of shit would cheat. The info in the test would be biased. There would be no objectivity. The government would spend $2.2 billion on the test and no one (including me) would be happy with it. All the while rich asshole would figure out a way to rob the middle class even more.

Everyone knows that for every responsibility the government relieves us of we trade one or more freedoms.

If I was to put up a billboard that said "An X-Box in every home. Vote For Brandon Drury" I'm positive that I would easily get 80% of the vote for people between 18-30. I have no doubt about it. For the "31-50" market I'd need something else. "Free oil changes for life" would be a good start.

Brandon