This is my take: I wouldn’t want any person to have to beg for money just so they or a loved one can receive medical care. Not even my worst enemy. I’d rather them keep their dignity, perserve their sanity, and focus their energy on something better (um, like their health) than street hustling for nickles and dimes.
Would your rather people go through this rigamorole just so you can save a few dollars in taxes? How is this kind?
That has nothing to do with the statement I challenged. I am in favor of healthcare reform, but I am not in favor of ridiculous statements.
You may prefer to do things one way, while others may not. Or, others may prefer to take their chances. Or they can ignore the problem and hope it never happens to them. None of that changes the fact that successful taxation depends upon the contribution of people who do not want to contribute.
See, now that’s really strange. 'Cause I’m looking at the list of “hot polls” on Facebook right now, and we’ve got such gems as:
Do you support Gay Marriage?
68% Yes (This, actually, surprised me.)
Is the word “Christmas” offensive and should it be banned from phrases like “Merry Christmas” and should a Christmas tree be called a holiday tree?
65% No, I am not a Christian and it does not bother me.
Should a man have a say in whether or not his unborn baby is aborted?
69% Yes
Should Balloon Boy’s parents go to jail?
74% Yes
Do you hate the new Facebook News Feed?
87% Yes
Will you take the vaccine for the H1N1 Flu?
79% No
Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God, and that He suffered on the cross to pay for your sins?
67% Yes
Do you think Global Warming is a Myth?
52% Yes
What do you trust more, science or the bible?
52% Bible
If a child dies from illness because the parents relied on prayer instead of modern medicine, should they be convicted on criminal charges?
70% Yes
Should Americans be able to drink alcohol at the age of 18?
56% Yes
If you were exiled from whatever country you live in now, where would you move?
18% Australia
Should vulgar language be automatically blanked out by Facebook?
67% No
Do you believe that individuals should be responsible for the consequences of their actions?
98% Yes
Do you support Gay Marriage? (Repeat)
58% Yes
Could you live without a cell phone?
54% Yes
Should smoking be illegal?
57% No
Movie Scenario: Push one little button and get 1 million dollars and walk away, there is one catch someone in the world will die. Would You Push That Button?
39% No way, no how
Should the Obama Administration shut down Fox news?
68% It’s Unconstitutional
Which President would you like to have in office now?
52% Ronald Reagan
Should pot be legal in the USA?
72% Yes
Do you smoke?
75% No
Do YOU believe in GOD?
67% Yes
Is our universe a product of the Big Bang or was it created by God?
49% God
With the exception of the Gay Marriage issue, and possibly the Marijuana Legality issue, everything else is decidedly slanted to the Right. Congratulations, you’ve just demonstrated selective perception.
So freaking what? That’s Taxation 101. You aren’t saying anything new by pointing this out.
Pay attention to the thread, and you won’t look so stupid in the future. I am not offering up any earth-shattering news, I am refuting the idea that taxation can accurately be referred to as “the kindness of strangers”.
If the statement I made in post #62 is so obvious to you, then you’ve already contradicted yourself.
Let’ see, who is ultimately responsible for the tax laws? The voting citizenry (mostly strangers to you and me). Could the motivation for these laws be, at least in part, a sort of kindness? I see that as part of my motivation for supportiong tax funded services. So “kindness of strangers,” though a bit hoaky and hyperbolic, is still not as absurd as you make it sound, certainly not as absurd as marauders.
It is totally absurd, and factually incorrect. All taxes come, in part, from people who are unwilling to pay them. The Iraqi war was not funded through the kindness of strangers. Sentors’ salaries are not paid by the kindness of strangers.
you do understand that tax laws aren’t handed down from on high, that with enough of your like-minded voting-age friends, taxes can be eliminated? you know that right? the fact that taxes haven’t been eliminated most likely means that a larger portion of strangers are either ok or indifferent to taxes and the related expenditures. the ones that are ok with taxes, those are the kind strangers. the collective society that endorses the system, it is the collection of kind strangers.
Okay, well, I can’t even find a place to see the “Hot Polls” so I can’t comment on that. And, I don’t really care to participate in such unscientific polling, so I ignore those types of things.
What I’m talking about is the seemingly constant “status updates” that contain some kind of call to action or defense of a position, which contain only those positions of my “friends”. The vast majority I see are generally considered Lefty, like when Obama won the Nobel, or that awfully annoying “If you believe someone shouldn’t die from having no health care (or whatever it was)”. That’s what I see most often.
these are the friends you’re counting on populating your spaghetti dinner?
So, you admit that asking for help would be embarrassing, and you’d rather get help from faceless strangers, so you can save face in front of your loved ones? Like it or not, having expenses paid by taxes is “help”
You’d rather inflict economic pain on total strangers who owe you nothing, than ask for help from people who care about you, and would often be happy to help? So, taxation is actually better than charity? Your ego is more important than job loss, economic stagnation and wasting dollars on government administration. :dubious:
Nope. It is a collection of people who believe that the particular tax is necessary, or that it improve upon society as a whole. Kindness doesn’t enter into it. We don’t have Senators out of kindness. We don’t fight wars out of kindness. If people all vote for healthcare reform, or No Child Left Behind because they think it will make their individual lives better, then kindness has nothing to do with it.
Regardless, we were talking about a charity event vs. taxation. To think that it is more appropriate to think of the latter as an act of kindness is intellectually dishonest.
I’m starting to think this is the crux of the matter for those opposed to health care reform: if more people detect preventable diseases before it’s too late, there will be fewer opportunities to bask in the warm glow of righteousness you get after donating twenty bucks towards painkilling medicine that help dull the physical torment of the last months of someone’s life. Yay.
We’re not talking about taxes being used to fund wars or pay salaries as acts of kindness, we’re talking about implementing universal healthcare - I am telling you right now that there is at least one person (me) who supports universal healthcare, in part, out of kindness. I sure as hell don’t need it. None of my family needs it. It’s absence means better business for me, but I support it. I’ve given you one example of a tiny percentage of a tax dollar that could be borne of kindness. You’re wrong to say the claim is factually inaccurate.
which of these is caused by UHC?
This is starting to describe Americans more and more, it seems to me. People who care about warm fuzzies more than actual results. How else to explain Glenn Beck, homeopathy, bountiful but malnutritious food, jingoism, “equal time”, and on and on…
And you couldn’t fund it alone. Therefore, it is not funded out of acts of kindness.
jesus man, what part of “in part” eludes you? If something is funded 50% with donations and 50% with revenue, it is funded with donations, in part. It’s still fukcing funded with donations (along with revenue). To say it is funded with donations is accurate, though incomplete, but accurate nonetheless.
Facebook status updates (on political issues) are the new bumper stickers. Some people will agree, some people will disagree, and many people will think you’re a moron or an asshole.
You’d have to prove to me that UHC would “inflict economic pain”. From what I can see, Canada and Western Europe manage to maintain a fairly high standard of living. Anyway, I could just as easily accuse the other side of inflicting physical pain to others due to greed and fear of nanny government.