Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Kwestions by Kenny

Questions, questions, three bags full.

Kenny has posed some interesting questions on his site about which he sincerely wants to know his readers opinions.

The topics were Universal health care, the Presidential election, and the War in Iraq. These are all very important issues facing every American today and I think it shouldn't come as a big surprise that I have an abbreviated, public knowledge opinion on all three. ;)

Universal health care:

The thought is admirable. It's human kindness at its core. Every American should have some form of health care. On principle, you've got no argument from me.

Execution, however, is a different story.

I'm not going to pretend I know what is wrong with the current system nor do I know exactly what will heal its terrible ills. I will tell you that if you want to know if universal health care is a good idea, look at the countries that have it/have tried it. For the most part, they hate it. It takes too long to see a doctor for something that should be routine (I heard a lady from Canada call into a radio show and say her next Dr's appointment is in 15 months), a diagnosis takes four times as long as it should, and the taxes levied to pay for it all are outrageous!

It is no secret that, if given the choice, the population of the world would get their health care from America and it's not hard to see why. We have, likely, the best quality doctors, surgeons, equipment, and research facilities in the modern world. The cost for wellness visits is relatively low. Affordable health insurance, apart from what you hear on the network news, is more available than you might believe for anyone who is gainfully employed, disabled, retired, or has links to the military. Hell, even the poor who can't work have health care (medicaid). By and large, the only folks who don't have it are those who also don't have jobs because they don't want to work [I understand that there may be exceptions to this].

Ultimately, I think the same pitfalls that got Social Security in the downward spiral from which there is little hope of escape will likely be the same that will crush universal health care if it is tried in America.

I'll tell you what, you figure out a way to give every American health care without my having to pay for it (directly or indirectly) AND prove that the quality of care is just as good or better than it is now, and I'll vote for it.

Good luck with that one.


War in Iraq:


My brother fought in it. I was sick for 14 months until he came home in one piece.

Simple plan - as soon as the Iraqi government can police, govern, and protect itself, 100% of American forces should immediately exit the country.

The troop surge obviously worked. Therefore, we should be moving towards a more expedient end to this conflict. God, I hope so.


Presidential Election:


If Hillary wins the candidacy she'll lose to McCain in a roast. No question.

If Obama wins the Dem's ticket, he'll be the second black president of these United States.

2 comments:

Kenny Simpson

Agree with you on most thoughts. Not sure how well we're doing in Iraq, seems like the goals are not so clear. Hard to make an Islamic country a democracy.

J. Canterbury

I'll agree with you on the lack of clarity on Iraq goals. President Bush certainly did not make it easy on himself when making the case for Iraq because at seemingly almost every turn, there was a new reason for going to war.

For example, it all started over WsMD, then the reason was tyranny, then it was to get Saddam out of power, followed by Saddam was a terrorist, then it was getting Al-qaeda because they were in Iraq.

The course has not been a clearly defined one, and the "mission accomplished" stunt really puzzled me because I didn't know that there was only one mission...nor which one of the many it was.

I'll leave how we're doing in Iraq up to those on the ground there. I asked my brother when he got back from Iraq if we should have gone and without hesitation he said, "Yes...but Bush is starting to screw it up". I guess that is not so much of a ringing endorsement.

In my humble opinion, I think victory in Iraq is fostering a stable country which can govern, police, and protect itself. The second that is accomplished, we should get the heck out of there.

We'll see if that happens but I'm glad that the troop surge is working. Seems that is a strategy that we should have gone in with now doesn't it? ;)

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