Ok for those like myself that were forced into attending gov't schools: Gewgaws - something gaudy and useless; trinket; bauble Yes, they are exactly the same.
When we are born into this world, we are born into a world whose rules, written or unwritten, were negotiated by our parents amongst each other. Now, if you believe in Jared Diamond's thesis as stated in "Guns, Germs and Steel" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel you realize that success is much to do with accident and being at the right place at the right time, and less to do with other things that people claim. Imo, the role of government should be to alleviate this disadvantage to new generations, otherwise there is very little incentive for new generations to work. Human beings aren't ant colonies or bee colonies, that devide themselves into classes of slave workers and queen bees. And yet, we give ourselves to wage slavery and other inequities: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wage_slavery We tend not to see things this way because we do not realize just how much luck we have had to be where we are. Further, human beings are easy to polarize. I linked to this earlier and I doubt anyone read it, but it is at the heart of modern politics: "When we remain locked into dialectical thinking, we cannot see out of the box." - http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/dialectic.htm So if you are born with advantage, and it could be subtle but we know from chaos theory how even small changes in initial conditions can affect end results immensely, you will defend that advantage to death. Not only that, you will pass that advantage to your children, and they will defend it too. The natural end result? We alll polarize. Finally, let me quote a famous document: What do you think those words mean? Think about that for a real long time. Think of it in the context of one man, one vote. Almost every argument made about Ayn Rand or any other philosophy can be grounded in these simple terms. The key is not to get polarized in a Hegelian dialectic.
you didnt like it when the teacher tried to instill in your son a lesson on sharing and consideration for others? i mean really,its only pencils. if after hearing that you went around belittling the teachers in front of your son what lesson did you project?
Then you and I are on entirey different and irreconcilable wave lengths. Really. For you to compare an LCD TV with basic health care truly boggles the mind. Where is your humanity?
The worst thing about government health care is that when the opposing party gets in power, they will deny claims just like the private companies do now. That's the way it has always been with both the clean air and the clean water acts. The opposing parties gutted the regulations. The same thing will happen again.
I didn't like how the teacher tried to INDOCTRINATE my son with a liberal concept, that is the opposite of private ownership. Sure, pencils now, later your dollars and a portion of your life. I don't call that sharing either. Sharing is when you WILLFULLY give something, not through force. BTW, my wife was a teacher for the same county and if a student showed up during the first week of class without the required materials, she called the parents and told them to go get them.
Alright, we could compare two services. The right to heathcare vs the right to an oriental oil massage. Still the same issue. Where is my humanity? What's wrong with donations & charity instead of gov't force. I do have a heart, I just don't like being forced to do anything.
"Imo, the role of government should be to alleviate this disadvantage to new generations, otherwise there is very little incentive for new generations to work." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Nitro, I just don't see it as the government's role to alleviate disadvantages. I say let a free market, with little gov't intervention take care of these things.
I think Nitro is saying to take away a disadvantage so all can compete in a free market, and the best will win. Like this. If someone is hungry and has bad health they will not feel good enough to compete and use their brain. If they have nutrition and health care, they feel good and compete with other people who always have food and healthcare. Now the best will win, maybe the poor person, maybe the rich person. But the one who work hardest will win in that free market.
Again, imo, it's not the government's responsibilty to take away disadvantages. Who decides what constitutes a disadvantage? Blond hair?, small boobs, frizzy hair? Where does it end? Do you really want that much gov't in your life? Yea, they've done a great job with social security, now lets have them run healthcare.