Sharing is Evil??

Why do we teach our children to share and take turns and be fair, if that's not the way we intend to run the real world. Isn't that hypocrisy? I'll tell you what man, it is a shock to grow up here in American and learn about all the "advantages" of being an American, and then face the real America and find out how cutthroat our economy of capitalism really is and how uncaring our health care is. What's the point of teaching our children to be fair and caring and sharing, if that's not the skills they need to survive the real American culture?

What is so bad about sharing as adults? Why is it viewed as evil to share health care benefits, or anything else meant for the common good? Ah, capitalism, where the land of the free is free to push everyone out of their way in the name of the almighty dollar. (Don't believe me, check out our foreign policies.) When was it in school that we learned to value money above friendships? To worship money instead of use it for the good of everyone like participating in fundraisers for camp? What happened to splitting the kitty after a car wash? Or raising money for any cause other than your own pocketbook? The answer is capitalism.

I believe that capitalism is the real cancer of our society. It promotes greed, and selfishness. It values the efforts of an individual over the greater good of the group. Capitalism has promoted this notion that whoever has the most wins, and it doesn't matter who you crush on your way up. People sit around and complain about things like inflation, and the high cost of gas, and yet they preach capitalism as if it is the only economic system that a democracy can or should employ. I believe that we can be a democracy and have a different economic system in place.

Like socialism, in some form or another. The definition of socialism according to Wikipedia is:

Socialism refers to various theories of economic organisation advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterised by equal access to resources for all individuals with an egalitarian method of compensation.

Most socialists share the view that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital and derives its wealth through exploitation, creates an unequal society, does not provide equal opportunities for everyone to maximise their potentialities and does not utilise technology and resources to their maximum potential nor in the interests of the public.

Why can't we can have a country where sharing is a good thing? Where making sure that the welfare of all the people is a priority? If our people are strong and healthy and cared for, our nation will be strong from the inside out. Our poorest citizens are just as worse off as the poor in third world countries. Maybe even worse. In a lot of our cities now it is illegal to be homeless, and you can be thrown in jail and put on probation for "camping". This is at a time when the jobless rate is up at 10%, and people are losing their homes right and left. At least in a third world country you have the "right" to exist without a place to live.

Why is our society so eager to beat down those who have fallen? Like a wild pack of dogs on a raccoon, the instinct to kill is alive and well. In the city I live it is illegal to be homeless within city limits and you will be arrested. Recently, a large group of churches along with a national non-profit group were trying to start large homeless shelter in my city. They had a ton of support from the community. But during a special city hall meeting to discuss the plans with the city leaders, they took a recess and when they came back in session, the city council members announced new and exorbitant fees required on the project if they wanted to go forward. Why? WHY? Why would they crush the efforts of those trying to good? Of course the project was immediately dropped because of the fees.

There are already lots of "socialized" programs in place here in America. For instance, in California we have a state medical program for the poor called Medi-Cal. Also if you make a little more money you can put your kids on Healthy Families (administered by Blue Cross). It is for children and pregnant women only. Nationally we have MediCare. There are programs like Unemployment Insurance where a percentage of what you pay into it is what you will get out. Welfare is a social assistance program. So is HUD. So is Social Security. I'm sure the list is longer than this, but who cares. The point is that these programs are helping people, and many Americans rely on them every day. In fact a lot of people have adopted an "entitlement" attitude, believing that the government owes them these things because they pay taxes or because they believe it is one of the rights of being an American. Another point is why would people embrace a few programs and not others? Why not health care for all? Lots of other countries who have democracies also have national health care systems. Many of them are looking at us like we are fools for not taking care of our own. Here is the definition of Universal Health care from Wikipedia:

Universal health care is health care coverage for all eligible residents of a political region and often covers medical, dental and mental health care. Typically, costs are borne in the majority by government-funded programs.

"Single-payer health insurance" is used to describe the primary systems of health care funding used in Canada and the United Kingdom. Multi-payer systems are used in France and Germany, but like Canada and the United Kingdom, health care in both of these countries is primarily financed by publicly controlled insurers.

Health care systems vary according to the extent of government involvement in providing care, ranging from nationalized health care systems (such as the U.K. and Sweden) to decentralized private or non-profit institutions (as in Germany and France). Universal health care is implemented in all industrialized countries, with the exception of the United States. It is also provided in many developing countries.

Don't you see? The ones spreading the nasty rumors about the proposed new reforms to our health care are the insurance companies, and the drug companies, and anyone else who is making a profit off of sick people. Change is hard, and scary. And they want to make sure that you are so scared of change that you will stop the reforms because the reforms will take a chunk of money out of their pocket and keep it in yours! There is so much wrong with the way health care is run in this country that major and permanent reforms are necessary! I don't want to be afraid just because someone told me to. I just want change. Sure, there has got to be compromise and clarification about how much power the government really will have over our individual right to receive health services. BUT I do believe that if we have a "public option" that it will force the insurance companies to fight for our business in reduced costs to the consumer like no other option will, and at the same time prevent the government from having all the control over the entire system. The people will have choices, ones they can afford.

There is always an ebb and flow of power, and money and control. I think we should take the plunge into universal health care now, and hammer out the details as we go. Isn't that what we do right now anyway? Our forefathers wrote the Constitution over 200 years ago, and we are still hammering out the details to this day! You expect congress to be able to fix the entire health care system before we can have real, meaningful, efficient health care for all U.S. citizens? We don't have 200 years to do that. Gimme a break!

Things are always changing, sometimes in your favor and sometimes not. Those of you who lost thousands or even millions of dollars in your 401K's and stocks from the recession know this. Why are you kidding yourself that anything is set in stone? You think just because you elected a certain political leader, that they can't be bought by special interest groups and professional lobbyists? You bet they can, because capitalism says that he who dies with the most, wins! Almost all politicians can be swayed to one side or the other. Lets stop the bickering and backbiting and just get it done!