Democrats vs Republicans

Frankly, I’m getting tired of thinking about it. But I do have some opinions, and I’m entitled to mine just as you are yours. Here’s what I think:

Democrats and the far left are anti-second amendment. It bothers me that they apparently do not believe that I can be trusted not to go on a shooting spree. At root, the Democrats do not believe that the common, law abiding person has the self discipline to handle owning and carrying guns. Well, frankly, I do have that self discipline, and I resent the implication that I can’t be trusted. Or maybe they’re afraid of us.

Republicans, on the other hand, are pro second amendment. Republicans trust me with a gun. They encourage me to defend my family, myself, and those needing protection around me. I like that.

I hear that the Democrats want ‘socialized medicine’.

Now, I know that our medical system is broken. Part of this is that it just isn’t as simple as it needs to be. A hundred years ago, you go to your doctor; you get treated; you pay the doc; minimum money spent. Today, though - you, or somebody, pays insurance premiums continuously. You get sick, you go to your doctor; you get treated; someone gets paid to fill out forms and insurance gets filed; you still pay the doctor a copay, usually; the insurance company pays some or most of your bill. But think about this - the insurance company is making money doing this. All the employees required to do all that paperwork, and all those lawyers, and lawsuits, and all those insurance executives, are living off of your insurance premiums, ultimately. In the end, the cost of medical care is inflated by the cost of the entire insurance industry. What the heck are we paying all those people for?

Back to HillaryCare and it’s variations from the Democrats. They want to require everyone to have insurance. A lot of people find that attractive, Shucks, I find it attractive, too. But, who is going to pay for it? If we pay for it in taxes or any scheme that evenly distributes the costs of the insurance, isn’t that unfairly penalizing healthy people? I guess maybe the justification is that we all benefit from a healthy society. Pretty hard to quantify the benefit of a healthy society to me, though. And, do you spend a million dollars to keep somebody alive another month? Who decides? Pretty soon these people will begin thinking that benefits should only be applied to the non-hopeless cases, to cut costs. Shortly after that, somebody will introduce the idea of euthanasia of old people. And so on. I think socialized medicine may be a very slippery slope, and the individual will no longer have any control over it. Mother Hillary will take care of You!

From the debates a couple of nights ago, most of the current plans involve requiring mandatory insurance. There seem to be different ways of paying for it, but no matter how you slice it, in the long run we the people will foot the bill. If we’re going to foot the bill anyway, why don’t we just axe the entire insurance industry and save all that overhead cost? But I can’t see this happening - the insurance industry spends a LOT of money in Washington. YOUR money. And both the leading Democratic candidates have already said they will raise taxes. Bend over, here it comes!

What do the Republicans say? Well, I don’t think anything much will change on that score. Listening to the debate, I think they want to improve the system, but they say that it won’t be mandatory; so at least we’ll have some choice, something the Democrats won’t give us. I think Republicans probably make better neighbors than Democrats; they don’t seem to get in your business quite as much.

I kind of like Robert A. Heinlein’s idea, mentioned in his novel “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”, that if you need insurance, you find a bookie and place a bet - on the progression of your health, for instance. It’d be a heck of a lot simpler than what we do now.

in general, Democrats want more government control of individuals and individual rights. This is the same thing any dictator wants, and that comparison makes me nervous. Once you give them that control, it will take revolution to get it back.

In general, the Republicans want to promote capitalism, a system that has it’s good side and it’s dark side, but it does seem to work pretty well. People that are willing to get out and work, and think about what they’re doing, will do well with the Republicans, People who want the government to spoon-feed them will lean towards the Democrats.

Personally, I don’t want or need the government in my business any more than necessary for the defense of the country as a whole. This causes me to lean towards the Republicans.

-Pop