Election 2020

[Bob Butler 54]

(11-12-2020, 10:13 AM)David Horn Wrote: Let me weigh-in with a third opinion.  The old values are the Reagan neoliberal fantasies that we're all alone and we either make it or we're failures.  It's been sold in many flavors for the last 40+ years, and is now perceived wisdom.   Trump's followers believe it, even though it hurts them every day.  But the competitive model is now the only model, so they cheer-on their side and take a hit for the team.  It's zero-sum, and they need to win!

If the Dems ever succeed, it will be with a cooperative model that allows everyone to gain, not just a few.  First, the idea needs to be believed, and that's where the challenge lies.  Remember, Goldwater sold the neoliberal fantasy in 1964 and got slaughtered. New ideas don't just take hold on their own.

The above reflects that many of the domestic programs cut by Reagan and those that came after have insurance like functions.  If someone fails, they have a way out.  One example is health care.  If you get sick, you get healed and do not end up going bankrupt.

Now, most people do not get that sick.  For those who don’t, not providing health care at government expense is a win.  Taxes can be cut.  Most of the people come out ahead most of the time.  Those that do are schrod.

It becomes racist with the supposition that it is mostly minorities that get sick.  Racists want to stick it to the minorities, so they stick it to the poor.

But it is possible to want to gamble without being racist.  Either way, I see it as prudent that the government make the insurance official, while watching for people gaming the system, for those faking failures in order to deliberately live off the government.  In the unravelling, they just wrote a regulation that you could not turn people away from an emergency room.  You made the hospital responsible for the costs, and they passed it on to the community by making all health care more expensive.

But, yes.  A part of the problem is a belief that one should gamble.  Some things don’t have to be a gamble.  It isn’t in us to screw people who do like to gamble, who do want to cut costs.  To some extent, the government saves them anyway, and the costs inevitably do get shared.