Agree; we're both being fairly civil, so I'll be nice, too.Aaron wrote: I'm being respectable in my arguments, you could show the same courtesy. This is an issue we will all have to deal with, and one very important to all of us. No need to get dis-respectable and condescending.
I'd like to point out a couple of things;
1) Your particular position in life is firmly middle-class, so the system works out just peachy for you. But it's incomprehensible that you would compare health insurance to things like owning cars or sunglasses.
Your health should NOT be considered a luxury. Everyone has the right to a long life. Yes, even the bone-heads who abuse their bodies. You talk about primo insurance covering your bills, and how the system treats you OK. Let me ask you something: What steps have YOU taken to ensure you have enough money on the side to step in if your insurance fails you?
Because by your own logic, if your insurance company decides to decline coverage, it's your own damn fault.
2) Not everyone is selfish. Again, it's not about charity, it's about responsibility. Socialism isn't about carrying the lower class. Socialism is about EVERYONE having an equal and shared responsibility to the population. This is how Socialism != Communism.
Communism attempts to normalize EVERY man woman and child by total and equal wealth distribution. Well, that's the ideology, anyway. Communism is NOT compatible with capitalism or free market for obvious reasons. It's not "evil," (any more than guns, when you think about it)although some pretty nasty things have been done with it.
Socialism is the institutionalization of this shared responsibility. What it means is that you are free to pursue your life as you see fit, as long as you are holding up your end of the stick. Again, this isn't "carrying" the lower classes, or "dragging down" the upper classes. Every individual "pays into" the programs--not because they need them, but because they *might.*
Socialism is the acceptance that your own station in life is NOT static, and that it can change at any time. So you pay into healthcare, employment insurance, etc., for the simple reason that everyone does--because everyone has equal access to it if they need it.