To impeach, or not to impeach

[David Horn]

(10-14-2019, 01:52 AM)Kinser79 Wrote: Most roads, cops, and firemen should be handled on the local or state level.  I'd go further and say the same is true of schools and universities.  

I have no real problem with this. Federal involvement in local infrastructure and first responder activities is minimal now, and it seems to work. Schools, on the other hand, educated and train the next generation in the never ending relay race of civic life. There needs to be a lot better consistency of results, and Mississippi isn't about to emulate Massachusetts, or Minnesota for that matter, without some prompting and funding.

Kinser79 Wrote:The Postal Service is an enumerated responsibility of the Federal government.  I'd say that regulation of interstate commerce (IE big oil) and interstate infrastructure would be the responsibility of the Federal government as well.

Okay, though somewhat short of the mark.

Kinser79 Wrote:As for the private healthcare system being broken it seems to me that it is broken more due to governmental intervention, and more governmental intervention is unlikely to solve the problem.  That being said, I would support a Medicare for All but with that comes some costs namely much higher taxes (I think tariffs would help a great deal here...but that has more to do with my economic views than my political ones).  Needless to say, the solution to healthcare is to make the US system all one thing or all the other.  Either it must be totally private or totally public--any hybrid system or incrementalist system will only result in a poorly functioning patchwork.  

Actually, Medicare is already a hybrid for most people using the system (it is for me, and I'm not atypical). Does it have to be? Probably not, but it does allow some flexibility for people to have more coverage or less, without pushing anyone off decent health insurance. I have a supplement plan that covers pretty much everything that Medicare doesn't, except for dental, vision and vanity care, like non-reconstructive plastic surgery. Drug coverage is the one part of the hybrid that is totally screwed-up, and that needs fixing pronto!

Kinser79 Wrote:All of these things though I would say are not necessarily socialism--ie the means of production being in the hands of the state.  Not even Norway or Denmark or Sweden are socialist.  Yes they have vast welfare states and highly regulated markets  but the means of production are in the hands of private persons.

True, for the most part. Some interaction between public and private occurs too, like utilities and defense spending.

Kinser79 Wrote:What do the Democrats have to offer?  Just take a look at the cities that they have run for decades.  Look at what California is turning into.  Quite frankly I can think of nothing worse than the whole of the US looking like San Francisco or Portland or hell even Chicago.

San Francisco is in the state it is, because too many people want to live there who have money. It's hard to live in a city where entry-level housing costs 7 figures, so the teachers and bartenders live elsewhere. It's screwed-up, but I'm at a loss to see a fix, unless you cut the pay of all those mid-to-high-6-figure software developers by a lot. Good luck with that.