Why did Obama win? Largely, I think, because Mitt Romney was never able to coherently articulate his position to the voting public. He was never able to (or allowed to) explain that what Barak Obama wanted to do was not only unwise but downright stupid. Too many American voters have decided that the government does indeed owe them something more than an opportunity. I do not advocate killing all social programs, but some things must change, and soon. We as a nation just can't afford to do this for much longer.
I was a member of AARP until I got fed up with the liberal-atheistic-gimme-gimme-gimme bias they have, but they're still sending me their monthly newsletter. In the issue I received today, there's an article on "The Challenges Ahead" which states that in twelve years, Medicare won't be able to cover full hospital costs, fifty-six million people received Social Security benefits in 2012 (year's not over, so I don't know where that number comes from), and that by the year 2030, the number of Medicare beneficiaries will double from the forty million of 2000.
Not once in the brief article did they discuss ways to reduce costs or waste or fraud in any of those programs. That wouldn't fit the organization's mission to gouge all the money it can out of younger people to pay for the health and welfare of senior citizens. And let me tell you that I'm just a step to the left and a jump to the right from qualifying for the senior discount at IHOP.
The only way to keep that kind of outflow going is to increase taxes on everyone, not just on the rich. I've become convinced that politicians of all persuasions pass legislation not for the good of the country or even the benefit of their constituents, but to get re-elected.
The article also says that only thirty-four percent of younger people (it doesn't give the actual age limits) think that Social Security will exist for them. That's probably a valid expectation. European nations who have all-encompassing social insurance and health care reserve those benefits for their citizens, not for the general populace. The US makes health care available to anyone who needs or wants it just by visiting a hospital emergency room. Not all nations are that accommodating.
Please understand that I am not protesting this practice. I agree that an emergency clinic should be available to anyone who needs emergency care. But I do not believe that people who use the services should avoid paying the fees incurred. The Constitution does not guarantee us health any more than it guarantees us wealth, yet that's what a majority of voting Americans seem to believe.
The Preamble to the Constitution reads as follows:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
(text taken from
this website)
I think we the people have done a pretty poor job of that since 1945. And I don't know how many more chances we're going to get.
