Forum Post: While Your At It, Please Tack this On To Your Demands

I have no argument with anything you've wrote. I admit to not being an expert on so called Obamacare or any of the public health care debate. I didn't really follow it except from an occassional soundbite. Just an illustration that I'm not agin socialized insurance. What I thought about yesterday in challenging my current beliefs about "the system" is how sad, and a bit misguided, and self absorbed the whole debate is. It kind of speaks to this occupy movement and the underlying motives. Up front, let me say again, I'm not out to demean anyone or cast judgement. I'm challenging the whole system. This movement is about the haves vs. the have nots, contrary to what postings say. If those promoting it, involved in it, had sufficiently more of the "have" they would not be on the street. What do they want by and large? Oh, let's oversimplify for the sake of argument, a job, opportunity for advancement, a reason to feel good about themselves. Those things based on my experience go a long way to keeping people content. Let's call that Jefferson's pursuit of happiness. So, fast forward, they get what they want somehow, the economy turns, all is once again right with the world, folks are working, commerce is churning away. Back to occupy a house with a white picket fence rather than wall street. As you were comrade. Back to status quo, typical political bickering and problem solving... In that rosy picture, pre 2007, sure, we know there were problems. We seek to solve some, healthcare, whatever. What's wrong with that picture to me? This desire that as a nation, we want to guarantee our folks a right to healthcare. For Christ's sake, sorry for my color, we're talking about doctor's visits, and we can't even yet guarantee every citizen, let alone every other human being on this planet a right to the most basic necessity of life - food. How arrogant and egotistical and selfish that seems to make us as a nation to me. Haves vs. Have Nots. So, I just pondered some. What would that mean, if we as a species decided to take up that cause? I think such a cause would potentially rock the foundations of every institution we pat ourselves for inheriting from the founding fathers. I mean those men had definite genius, but they didn't dare consider putting that in the constitution. We should stop looking at "the poor" as just a convenient phrase and dismissing them as "something that will always be with us", something seems Dave Matthews touched on in his song "Help Myself": "A treasure not my own I take it, took it, nobody will notice Well that suits me well Big house, big yard, help myself, help myself Every once in a while To help the helpless comes into style" As for me, it kind of makes me feel a little sick about myself about things I've stood for. To make matters worse, I have no answers. I can't even really formulate all the questions. But, I am going to think about it, I hope often. Seems to me we as a species really don't want to solve that problem, because we like unfairness, we like to have more than someone else and the chance to be better than the next guy. We don't all really want to be equal for we love inequality as long as we ain't living in the worst of it.