republicrats need to take their TAXil

[SWAFMAN]

responding to J9K's post.

(tried a private message, but couldn't fit this into the PM size limit and didn't want to break it into multiple PMs. Sorry to all the forumers who've had to plod through my similar rants before...)

Republicrats

J9K, you read my mind with the word vitriol. It was the exact word that came to my mind as I re-read my post.

I've said before that I'm neither Republican or Democrat. I'm conservative and believe that the federal government should operate strictly within the powers delimited by the exact letter of the Constitution. If that is not adequate to meet emerging needs of the nation, then the Constitution should be amended through appropriate ratification by the States. We should not be making end-runs around the Constitution through Supreme Court judicial activism - either liberal or conservative.

I firmly believe that much of the perceived philosophical difference between the two major U.S. political parties (The Republicrats) is nothing but a dog & pony show put on by both sides to trick people into polarizing to one of the two parties, when the reality is that, over and above those philosophical differences, both parties are above all else committed to preserving the status quo of an illegally manipulated two-party system that acts in collusion to prevent any other party from acquiring political power.

That said, I do think there's a very real and very important difference between mainstream conservative (as opposed to radical conservative) and radical liberal political philosophy. This is not a strictly Republican vs. Democrat issue, as there are certainly some liberal Republicans and some conservative Democrats. But in general, I'm sure you'd agree that more conservatives polarize to the Republican party and vice-versa.

I would not ever attempt to try to persuade anyone who holds diametrically opposite views. Like the saying goes, "I may not agree with your opinions, but I'll fight to the death to preserve your right to voice it," as long as your opinion doesn't involve "performance art" consisting of immersing anything in human excrement.

As you pointed out in your post about the Paid Prescription bill being voted down by Democrats because of the difference of opinion in having SocSec paid prescriptions administered by the private sector versus creating yet another federal bureaucracy; yes, as a Conservative, I favor smaller Federal government, and therefore favored passage of the bill in its current form.

Your claim that we'll still foot the bill as taxpayers is true, to an extent. But by privatizing the administration of this process we place responsibility for the spending of those tax dollars in the hands of corporations who are (especially now, with new regulations on corporate fiscal responsibility) held to a MUCH higher standard of accountability for how they run their business than the Federal government. It's the old and very correct saying that, "if anyone ran their private business the way the federal bureaucracy runs the government, they'd be out of business and probably in prison in very short order."

It's the textbook difference between government conservatism & liberalism. I favor a smaller federal government. I trust my government at the state and local level more, because at those levels, the elected officials are more likely to understand and share more of my own needs.

I think that people who favor a larger government at the federal level are either elitist, in that they don't trust state or local government or especially the average American with the freedom to determine how they ought to be allowed to conduct their lives, or they're so intellectually underdeveloped that they think they need a big brother / big mother federal government because they truly can't be make those responsible decisions for themselves.

People who favor a large, powerful central government are denying the precedents of history and the common sense idea that "A Government that can Give you everything and Do everything For you, is also powerful enough to Take everything away from - and Do anything To you."

[bigbarada]

The only thing a US citizen has to fear is the US government. That's why we have the right to carry guns, not to protect us from crime or for hunting. We are allowed to carry guns to protect us from our own government.

Republicans and democrats are both sides of the same coin. No difference between them at all.

[JediTricks]

Hey Swaffy, not commenting on your post itself, but could you please think up a better title for your thread? I'll be glad to change it to something more accurate, but I'd rather it had an accurate title. I won't change it unless you say it's ok though... just, you know, it'd be nice to have a thread with a real title. (BTW, I have no prob with you spinning off a new thread from that other one, you could even add a link to it if you want, I just wanted to stop seeing those 3 train wrecks all meeting in that thread every time I logged back in.)

[rynobot]

(in Swaf's voice) "It'sokay Jedi Tricks, you can do what ever you want to my posts."

[JON9000]

Originally posted by SWAFMAN

Your claim that we'll still foot the bill as taxpayers is true, to an extent. But by privatizing the administration of this process we place responsibility for the spending of those tax dollars in the hands of corporations who are (especially now, with new regulations on corporate fiscal responsibility) held to a MUCH higher standard of accountability for how they run their business than the Federal government. It's the old and very correct saying that, "if anyone ran their private business the way the federal bureaucracy runs the government, they'd be out of business and probably in prison in very short order."

I think that people who favor a larger government at the federal level are either elitist, in that they don't trust state or local government or especially the average American with the freedom to determine how they ought to be allowed to conduct their lives, or they're so intellectually underdeveloped that they think they need a big brother / big mother federal government because they truly can't be make those responsible decisions for themselves.

If the government forced private insurers to extend prescription medication benefits to medicare recipients, insurers would eventually go belly up and demand a bailout, holding the the government hostage by threatening to cut off the benefits. The insurers would now have an incentive to mismanage any part of their business (including giving themselves huge salaries) and blame it on medicare drugs.

We have yet to see how the new regs will work- they really just help accouting and fraud.
But I have a solution***

PART I Every industrialized nation tells pharmaceutical companies that it cannot charge over a certain amount for drugs- price caps. That is why prescriptions cost in so much less in Canada and everywhere else. Big Pharmas sell anyway because it is still too much money to say no to. Only one country does not follow this practice- you guessed it- the USA. So here we are, subsidizing the rest of the world and paying through the nose. We need price caps as well.

PART II- Put an end to pharmaceutical advertising and end kickbacks to doctors for prescribing certain drugs. BIg pharma usually cries that its research efforts would be hampered if it had price caps. BULL! The government does most of the research anyway, and big pharma spends 1/3 of its total budget on advertising. Doctors should be the ones who advise us on what we should take. Also, if we stop over-prescribing (end the kickbacks), we will all save money.

What is stopping this is BIG PHARMA. This is the worst thing that could happen in their eyes, because they would not make as much money. The reason they are able to stop it is because they own every politician. Campaign Finance Reform!!!

[darthvyn]

Originally posted by bigbarada
The only thing a US citizen has to fear is the US government. That's why we have the right to carry guns, not to protect us from crime or for hunting. We are allowed to carry guns to protect us from our own government.

Republicans and democrats are both sides of the same coin. No difference between them at all.

well, we have the right to carry arms to defend ourselves against the ENGLISH government. without our guns, the king of england could just waltz right over here and start telling us what to do...

[billfremore]

And you know that King is just waiting for the NRA to give up so he can come over and take over America with Nerf™ bats.

[JediTricks]

Originally posted by rynobot
(in Swaf's voice) "It'sokay Jedi Tricks, you can do what ever you want to my posts."

Oh, ok Swaffy... HEY, wait a minute!


Anyway, to the real Swaffy, your PM box is full so my response is basically "great, thanks. got a title though?"

[darthvyn]

Originally posted by billfremore
And you know that King is just waiting for the NRA to give up so he can come over and take over America with Nerf™ bats.

yeah, what's more civilized, american police with guns, or english bobbies with BATS!!!.

"bloody americans, with their guns that can wound quickly to stop a perpetrator. give me a good ol' fashioned cockney beating any day of the week, eh whot?"

[SWAFMAN]

Originally posted by JediTricks
Oh, ok Swaffy... HEY, wait a minute!


Anyway, to the real Swaffy, your PM box is full so my response is basically "great, thanks. got a title though?"

oops! okay, howzabout "republicrats need to take their TAXil"