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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (36645)	5/8/2014 5:07:45 PM
From: TimF	1 Recommendation Recommended By FJB Respond to of 42652

Lane, 90% of success is an accident of birth; where, when and to whom. Maybe if you include what country your born in. But that would argue more for foreign aid (if you think it actually works well) or a major liberalization of immigration, if equalization was your main concern. "That is, the typical person in the bottom 5 percent of the American income distribution is still richer than 68 percent of the world’s inhabitants." forbes.com Message 29202977

To: Road Walker who wrote (36645)	5/8/2014 5:25:10 PM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 42652

/That's pretty much been proven now I don't think so. Obviously being raised in a drug infested, dilapidated neighborhood makes it really, really hard if not impossible and being abused as a child can ruin you for life, but that's a small proportion of people. There are advantages to having to struggle to move up and disadvantages to a silver spoon. You, and I were lucky enough to be born in the right place at the right time to the right people. Speak for yourself. That we should throw all "those bums" out on the street and revert back to the 1800's social codes. That's black and white thinking. There is secure middle ground in helping those who for no fault of their own cannot manage on their own. Birth defects come to mind. For the rest, the message that the world owes you a living may feel kind and generous but it sucks the moxie out of a society and is not stable let alone robust long term as a culture. Where I can't see having an argument is if we should pay the bills for money that our representatives have spent. From a fiscal perspective, I can't disagree. OTOH, not standing up to the reckless spending makes us complicit in it. You'll likely lose the fight BTW because the majority of us realize that it's all serendipity, and "there but by the grace of God go I". I realize it's a losing cause. We get what we deserve. I'm resigned to it. Just refuse to party to it. I take issue with "realiz[ing] that it's all serendipity." It's not. There certainly is luck involved, but that's way to fatalistic for me. Either that or wanting to indulge the irresponsible, undisciplined, and stupid in ourselves and others without consequences. Yeah, it's a bitch to have to develop character to prosper...