Quote:O.K.  I'll play (for now, it's almost my bedtime).  Just one point.  What is so bad about putting healthcare responsibility back into the hands of the people?  Specifically, get rid of the employer mandate.  After all, a person's health needs are their own, not their employers.  Let's just start with that one.

 

Well, first of all...  The Constitution puts the power in the hands of the people.  In theory, the republic creates a government that represents the will of the "majority".  Not the most wealthy, but the majority of citizens.  (that's the problem, of course)  One which Trump initially got the Republican riled up about.  

 

But if we are true Constitutionalists that find our values based on the Constitution of the United States, we all understand that the people (you know WE THE PEOPLE) already have the power and responsibility via our government.  

 

To say you don't trust our government means that you really don't want responsibility in the hands of the people.  You want the power in the hands of whatever constituency you've been duped by, unfotunately, you're duped by the Republicans which means you go against your best interests every time.  It's sad (in my opinion), but it's your choice.  In your case, especially since you've lived your entire life getting checks from the government either directly or indirectly, it's really sad to see how much you dislike a democratically representative government having the ability to make the decisions.  I mean, it's alot better than just having a few people tell you what to do without any input by you.  But I think that's a discussion for another day.

 

In terms of the employer mandate, I think you mentioned the history of it, which is accurate.  It was only because of WWII and the depleted labor force and strained federal government's inability to support the citizenship that was at home during the war that caused the employer benefit of healthcare to be enacted.  Which means, in a world without war, where the democratic republic is not overwhelmed by the military industrial complex, the cost of health care (along with other social programs) would be funded fully by the government.  Of course this means via taxes and nationalistic pride in helping your fellow US citizen.

 

But we all know the failures of that.  The first being that republicans have been indoctrinated to not trust the government because of other coutnries failures.  It's such tripe.  But for whatever reason (dixie-crats, civil war, perhaps?) republicans have been brain washed to think that the government is out to get them and that they should hate it.  

 

Perhaps we should figure out a way to work within the government and do what's best for the majority, and not just worry about  businesses, especially since businesses have no loyalty to the USA.

---