What’s wrong with the Gov’t of America today?
BTW, my views are moderately liberal, with some Constitutionalist and a bit of Libertarian thrown in.
That’s kind of a broad question. Its not as if everything the American Government does is wrong.
I think you are the first person in the history of the internet to say that.
I’m falling in love!
Kasey, I think Vimes is asking us what we each think is wrong with the American Government.
As for me: American Politics has become an spectator sport, where how popular the candidates are is more important than what they do. Last year’s political campaign started as “what’s cooler, A Black President or a female one?” and then turned into an outright circus when Sarah Palin was chosen apparently just to have another major female political figure.
This wouldn’t bother me so much if it weren’t for the fact that we have MAJOR problems going on today (the War on Terror, the Recession, etc.) Get your acts together, people!
whats wrong with our government? jewz :no2:
Lols.
Well,then, healthcare for people older than 19 and young enough not to have a good job yet would be nice. Ive had to go without a doctor since I was…14? except part of my pregnancy, because healthcare is too expensive. My mom made about, oh, A DOLLAR too much for healthy kids, and her pay definitely did not allow her to buy us insurance. Then as soon as I wasnt considered postpartum disabled, back to no doctors(which means no medication for my hypothyriodism, which fucks me) So, our healthcare system is pretty fucked.
The problem is, getting affordable/universal healthcare without making getting the treatments hard. Ive heard of people in countries with ‘Universal’ healthcare having to wait for a long time to get help.
Also, daycare or preschool should be paid for the same way kindergarten is. Seriously.
Does universal healthcare destroy competition?
What I wish the question was:Should there have to be competition when it comes down to whether someone does or does not deserve medical treatment?
Perhaps if there were more free clinics, the US would be better off. I dont think that making healthcare entirely controlled by the government is a good idea, but I think I deserve something damnit. Someon working a regular job (there are plenty of people working for 7.75 at mcdonalds) can’t afford $100+ per week for family insurance. Its ridiculous.
Yes, universal healthcare would destroy comnpetition. But lets think about that; do we want a competitive healthcare system? Because, to me, that just says that one group sucks and that there is someone better. Why can’t they all just be awesome?
Whats wrong with american government today? Evangelicals.
The Education System.
If we had an education system that treated children like humans with a potential for great things instead of retarded sheep we might see a politician or two that’s capable of more than squabbling like a chicken with it’s head cut off in amongst a crowd of chickens with their heads cut off (or at least a population that’s capable of making more informed decisions rather than relying entirely on either Fox News or MSNBC to tell them what to think).
Killmore, I saw on your profile that you’re about the same age as me. So, when you were in school did you see the effects of the ‘no child left behind’ laws? Or really, any of the many horrible issues-underfunding, overcrowding,etc.
The school systems are fucked up, at least where I am. I move to NH, and there’s no classes for ‘advanced’ kids, in fact, they discourage getting ahead because it ‘hurts the other childrens’ feelings. So, they want me to go from reading full length novels and books (In the third grade my tested reading skill level was 12, as in 12th grade) to reading grade-appropriate books, as in grade three.
As you get older it got worse. My boyfriend was so bored off of his ass with the classes he was stuck in (we’re in high school and he’s assigned a book for sixth graders) he just stops. Instead of doing assignmens, he reads his own books.
What is the schools reaction? They stick him in Special Ed. Really. This person, who is choosing to do the same kind of work I did in my honors and AP courses is stuck in special ed because…it was easier,basically.
My High School focused a ridiculous amount of curriculum and energy towards the extra standardized testing that has cropped up in the last few years. The stuff that shows up, in case people don’t know, isn’t all you need to learn to be a mildly educated person on graduation day.
Our education system is horribly fucked up. The way the system is, if a school is ‘failing’ they lose funding. So, to keep funding they have to stop really teaching and prep for the tests. Failing school get no money and fail harder.
Preschool and daycare could do with more funding as well, not to mention ther high costs of college education.
Main problem with our government: private interests.
The way I see it; Universal healthcare should be strived for. This is especially important for families with children who might find themselves in a bit of a jam if living costs become surprisingly high (and why not the elderly, students, heck, everyone…). The private sector is an excellent choice for those with the funds to afford it, if they’re not satisfied with the queues in the public sector.
The private sector is also something the public sector can lean back on, if previously mentioned public clinics get overcrowded - The current situation in our dental care is that the public dentists are hopelessly overcrowded - critical cases are taken care by a special 24/7 reception, and often directed towards a private dentist with a service note that covers the private dentist fee for the cost of public service.
It’s a way for the public sector to “encourage” healthy competition between the private clinics.
That government gives the illusion of safety and a convenience replaced with bureaucracy at a rate directly proportional to the size and influence of a government. Statism is a failed experiment and a worldwide pathology we should work to correct.
You’re saying that about an educational system that allows everyone to go to college (provided they can make the grades). Compare that to European or Asian education systems that steamroll people into set paths which preclude post-high school education solely because of how they performed on national tests when they were in the 7th grade.
The failing of the American educational system is that we’re a country of individuals, and as kids, we are taught we can be anything we want if we set our mind to it. Lift yourself up by the boot straps. All that jazz. We believe everyone has the capacity to go to college, become doctors, etc. It causes our overall performance to suffer, but I would rather that than what is essentially government decided employment.
You say our educational system treats people as sheep? Maybe in some ways. However, the sheer ideal of Worth of the Individual prevents true Sheeple, at least in the educational setting. The problem you’re getting at is not education; it’s short attention spans and Selling of Politicians. You can thank Eisenhower for that.
Edit: As for what’s wrong with the government? How about increased federal intervention in matters which are decidedly local and better suited to be handled by more intimate government (state, county, city). The Seventeenth Amendment was probably the most disastrous amendment ratified solely because it destroyed all ideas of federalism. State appointed Senators allowed some representation of what’s best for the state (not the people of the state, The State). Today, with state wide election of senators, all you get is representation of the narrowest interests that will get the senator reelected. Also, because state legislatures no longer have a say in national matters, state politics have become far less important because who cares? The federal government will just do something.
As for competition in the medical field, yes it’s better. Competition does imply that some services are inferior. However, it also means that the inferior services, if they wish to survive, must either reduce their prices to become more palatable or they must increase their services. Government monopoly bureaucracy has no incentive to improve its services because it has no competition available to show it what might be better services. Rather than being one system that will be Uber-Awesome, it will be one system that does the bare minimum to keep the people placated (even if they are annoyed) and the politicians out of its hair. See the Post Office, the DMV, etc. Hardly efficiently run Uber-Awesome services there.
Hey screw you, buddy. 
I don’t know what it’s like in the rest of Europe (which I guess is kind of odd), but in Ireland we not only have the opportunity to go and do whatever we want in college provided we make the grades, we don’t even have to pay for it! Though that’s about to go out the window, for 12 years we had free education from primary school to college. It was cool, though honestly probably a little detrimental to the overall quality of graduates.
984: Amen. I’ve given similar rants to canadian friends, but you said it a lot better than I ever did.
So, my roommate’s in on Ron Paul. He told me what Ronnie says he’ll do if elected, and it all kinda sticks together, but then he told me RP wants to get rid of the department of education.
WTF?
Then I thought about it. What if the teachers decided the curriculum? Doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.
Ditto for healthcare. What if a doctor decided what treatment was needed, and how much it should cost? I heard about a physician on the east coast who started charging people $75 a month for basic health care. Lost the link… Anyways, he’s in court because that’s somehow illegal.
I have this nagging feeling that all the special interests, big things like HMOs have altered our political landscape to their advantage. This feeling REALLY bothers me because I can’t figure out WHY I think this.
Usually, I don’t know what I think about something until I write it down, then I have to figure out why I think that way.
Ron Paul wants to get rid of the Department of Education because of federalism reasons. Public education didn’t exist back when the Constitution and BoR were written. It really didn’t evolve until the mid/late 1800s. Under RP’s reading of the Tenth Amendment, the federal government cannot legislate anything which it was not expressly given power to do. On the flipside, justification for the Department of Education rests in rather broad readings of the Necessary and Proper clause and the General Welfare clause of Article 1, Section 8.
By advocating getting rid of the Department of Education, Ron Paul isn’t anti-education. His views likely hold that individual states have the power to fund public education. Instead, he is arguing for a stricter reading of the Constitution and powers delegated to Congress. As a result of the stricter reading, some departments would cease to exist (well, probably phased out rather than an overnight occurrence).
All I will say that is advantageous about Universal Health Care is that it does provide services which would otherwise be either prohibitively expensive for people to afford, or that wouldn’t be provided at all in some areas. It is a similar situation with post services, or water services, usually. While it is not the most efficient use of resources, it might be the most equitable use of them, which may compensate for the loss in efficiency.
Though the Irish postal service is actually extremely efficient so, hey, awesome! (While our healthcare is kinda fucked up but OH WELL at least our death cards will get there on time.)