The Right to Liberty and the Pursuit of Craziness

I am always trying to figure out what these "conservatives" are really thinking. Their distrust of government (except to blow up other countries) and their bizarre ideology that somehow people can be trusted to do the right thing. Do they really feel humans are that awesome and smart? Or do they only want to protect their own large sums of money so they get everyone all jazzed up about taxes?? (I can't help thinking that Rush simply wants the poor and paranoid to protect his own wealth by staging anti-Obama rallies)

One theory of mine is that many right-winged politicians are simply not well traveled. When you argue that people can make good financial decisions without government legislation--they haven't opened their eyes to the incredible corruption that happens in countries without such regulation. (Don't they know people are greedy little pigs?)

Even Ron Paul, who has some good ideas, but also a few nutty ones, has a silly thought that doctors would uphold the Hippocratic oath to provide free medical care if we eliminated Medicare/Medicaid. It is certainly an interesting theory that Government programs have eliminated personal responsibility towards the poor. However, in this day and age people are definitely more greedy. If you reversed the clock I just don't see people going back to the days of yore when they looked out for each other. It is a fact that the higher your income level, the less you actually help others, volunteer or donate.....

My personal experience growing up in NJ was that people were horrid to one another. Then moving to Alaska I almost fell over how much people trusted and helped one another. My explanation for this difference: the less populated an area, the nicer the people. We get cranky living on top of one another...Just like gerbils attacking their young in a crowded cage...
So for now Government is what we have to protect us from ourselves.

The Social Security Blues

One of the favorite topics of Conservative know-it-alls is the "entitlement" (hate the term) systems of SS, Medicaid/Medicare. The blow-hards will tell you how they are going broke and costs are exploding--which is true enough.
What is very frustrating to me, is that about 98% of Americans probably don't even know the difference between these programs and why they exist.
A quick run down:
Social security payments do go to the elderly as retirement benefits, but the other part is disability payments. I'm not sure what the cost break down is (which costs more the elderly or disabled) but I do know the process of applying for disability is much, much harder than most people assume--and not given out willy nilly.
Medicaid on the other hand is medical insurance for low income and disabled-varies by state to state, and Medicare is insurance for the elderly and long term disabled and completely federal.

Those nuances aside, the irony is who is using these programs? Many are the result of a medical system that prolongs life at any cost. Interestingly enough, isn't that very pro-life?? I mean are the liberal lefties the first in line yelling about not pulling plugs, I think not. In a hip hip hooray free market people are going to get rich extending life at any cost--but guess what --someone needs to pay for it- and it's not cheap. (I'm not saying at all that I am anti-saving lives, I'm saying it's not a free ride)
These same confused conservatives, seem to think it's ok to judge a woman when confronted with the prospect of raising a severely disabled child, yet would gladly deny government assistance to pay for the child's medical bills. In some instances millions of dollars in care. Guess what rich republicans-- even people with health insurance get denied tons of medical services when the costs go wild.

Conservatives hate to tell people how to live. "No government intrusion"--is what the radical right screams all the time--keep them out of our lives!! Ok then, but do you know what people do without seat belt laws or nutrition guidelines? They make themselves even more sick and disabled and so much of our disability payments are already going to preventable causes. But in a free market it is more important to protect the rights of Burger King and Pepsi than try to curb consumer appetites for the stuff. Which of course would be the fastest way to shave costs of these "entitlement" programs as of yet.
So as long as folks in this country are in the life saving business and the "live how you want" business someone needs to foot the bill. And if government doesn't do it--well get used to seeing a lot more death, or at best peddlers and beggers on the streets. Remember simple history-- that was the reason these programs started in the first place.