I define a "soul-crushing welfare state" as totalitarian communism as currently existing in North Korea.
You seem to define a "soul-crushing welfare state" as any progressive western European nation with a workforce that has national health care, paid maternity leave, and generous vacations.
The two Republican members of Congress who issued a statement about the encyclical are obviously part of the propaganda machine that is attempting to convince people that the sensible and much-needed health care and other reforms of the Obama Administration will make America a "soul-crushing welfare state." And misinterpreting the Pope's encyclical to try to prove their point. Shame on them.
It's what goes along with it all, Fantine. Free healthcare would be great, but not a healthcare that does nothing more than create further dependence on government. There is a way to fix the healthcare problem in the United States and the answer is not more government involvement, but less. Subsidiarity means taking care of things at the lowest possible level where the value and needs of the individual are not lost. Are you comfortable with Sen. Daschle's opinion that the elderly need to be more understanding of the pains that come with age and seek less care? Do you want a nationally mandated cost-effectiveness matrix used to determine your healthcare? Would you rather opt for, “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments,” as Daschle puts forth you should? What's left in those cases but pain or the kindness of euthanasia? No thank you. I would rather not have a Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research determining from Washington how my healthcare provider here can treat me before they cease to become a "meaningful user" of the new Congressionally mandated system and face yet to be determined penalties.
In economically developed countries, legislation contrary to life is very widespread, and it has already shaped moral attitudes and praxis, contributing to the spread of an anti-birth mentality; frequent attempts are made to export this mentality to other States as if it were a form of cultural progress.
Some non-governmental Organizations work actively to spread abortion, at times promoting the practice of sterilization in poor countries, in some cases not even informing the women concerned. Moreover, there is reason to suspect that development aid is sometimes linked to specific health-care policies which de facto involve the imposition of strong birth control measures.Further grounds for concern are laws permitting euthanasia as well as pressure from lobby groups, nationally and internationally, in favour of its juridical recognition.
Openness to life is at the centre of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man's true good. If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away[67]. The acceptance of life strengthens moral fibre and makes people capable of mutual help. By cultivating openness to life, wealthy peoples can better understand the needs of poor ones, they can avoid employing huge economic and intellectual resources to satisfy the selfish desires of their own citizens, and instead, they can promote virtuous action within the perspective of production that is morally sound and marked by solidarity, respecting the fundamental right to life of every people and every individual.
I just pray we lay or politics aside and heed the Pope's prophetic warning before it's too late.
__________________ War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)
Last edited by isshinwhat; 11th July 2009 at 03:00 AM.
It's what goes along with it all, Fantine. Free healthcare would be great, but not a healthcare that does nothing more than create further dependence on government. There is a way to fix the healthcare problem in the United States and the answer is not more government involvement, but less. Subsidiarity means taking care of things at the lowest possible level where the value and needs of the individual are not lost. Are you comfortable with Sen. Daschle's opinion that the elderly need to be more understanding of the pains that come with age and seek less care? Do you want a nationally mandated cost-effectiveness matrix used to determine your healthcare? Would you rather opt for “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments,” as Daschle puts forth you should? What's left in those cases but pain or the kindness of euthanasia? No thank you.
Former Senator Daschle will have no role in determining our health care policy.
Everyone knows that health care will not be "free." Our hope is that health care reform will make health care more affordable and available to all.
When we have 46 million Americans currently uninsured and medical expenses causing 30% of all bankruptcies, it is obvious that the current system isn't working. So, according to the principle of subsidiarity, the solution has to lie in "taking care of things" at a "higher" level (since the status quo isn't working.)
But don't worry, health care reform won't turn the US into a "soulless welfare state."
__________________
Theodore Roosevelt said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
AGENCY FOR HEALTHCARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY
HEALTHCARE RESEARCH AND QUALITY
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS) Comparative Effectiveness Research Recovery funding: $1.100 billion
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) began a Comparative Effectiveness Research program after passage of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 to conduct, support, or synthesize unbiased research about the comparative effectiveness of different healthcare interventions. By knowing what works best and presenting this information more broadly to patients and healthcare professionals, those items, procedures, and interventions that are most effective to prevent, control, and treat health conditions will be utilized, while those that are found to be less effective and in some cases, more expensive, will no longer be prescribed. Substantially increasing the Federal investment in comparative effectiveness research has the potential to yield significant payoffs in reducing health care expenditures and improving quality.
__________________ War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)
But don't worry, health care reform won't turn the US into a "soulless welfare state."
No, our apathy and selfishness are beating it to the punch.
__________________ War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)
Every health insurance company has formularies which determine which medicines they will cover and how much of a copay you'll pay.
And utilization specialists who determine whether or when you can have a certain procedure performed.
It is naive to pretend that health insurance companies aren't restricting and limiting choice right now.
And that disgusts me, too. But the answer doesn't lie in changing who at the top makes the money, Fantine, and right now those are the only two options we are being given as we are divided neatly along political lines... Why?
__________________ War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)
And that disgusts me, too. But the answer doesn't lie in changing who at the top makes the money, Fantine, and right now those are the only two options we are being given as we are divided neatly along political lines... Why?
Because the alternative is that medical care will be available only to those who can afford it.
__________________
Theodore Roosevelt said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Because the alternative is that medical care will be available only to those who can afford it.
There are other alternatives, but everyone is in bed making money off of the current situation. Think small. Think local. Give the power back to the individuals and their local doctor, and give them a local/regional insurance option that isn't in bed with Merck. Let the decisions be made at a level where an individual can have a presence and there can be change.
__________________ War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. John Stuart Mill English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)
There are other alternatives, but everyone is in bed making money off of the current situation. Think small. Think local. Give the power back to the individuals and their local doctor, and give them a local/regional insurance option that isn't in bed with Merck. Let the decisions be made at a level where an individual can have a presence and there can be change.
In many small cities, health care is the biggest business in town. Downsizing health care would be the equivalent of the failure of GM in Detroit, Michigan.
While I do agree that there is a lot of "fat" in our current healthcare system, removing all of it would throw more people out of work than the banking, auto, airline, and housing crises combined.
I think this is one reason why the AMA now supports universal healthcare in some form, because they are probably seeing the effects of those who are un or underinsured not visiting their offices right now. As health care became unaffordable, people began rationing their use of it.
When I was a child, the doctor would come to my elderly grandpa's house for $7....conservatives like to pretend that if no one had health insurance that doctors would start making housecalls for $7 again, because "competition" would come into play.
I think they'd retire and invest their significant nest eggs into the stock market, small business, or real estate...
__________________
Theodore Roosevelt said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
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