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Individualism as a Reason Why Christians Oppose Health Care Reform.

Why do Christians oppose health care reform? It’s really difficult to think of a reason. Paul Raushenbush, over at Huffington Post, can’t think of one. Now abortion is a reason for Christians to oppose any particular health care reform bill. And since feminists are just as determined to defend abortion rights as Christians, some at least, are to take those rights away it may be difficult to create a health care bill satisfactory to both sides. But it is clear some Christians oppose health care reform on general principles. They really and truly believe the present system is more in keeping with Christian principles than any possible alternative. And the question is why?

One thing most Christians believe is the importance of the individual and the unimportance of the state. Individuals, in Christian belief, live forever. The state, on the other hand, will someday disappear. So individuals are infinitely more important than the state. Furthermore Christians believe materialists can’t share this understanding. If human beings die and are no more but the state continues for a very long time then it is reasonable to assume the individual should exist to service the state. So when materialists and atheists and secularists and agnostics support public policies that increase the power of the state Christians are suspicious of their motives. Christians support a small state on general principles. At least when they do not control it.

The problem here is the need for big government intervention in the health care field if health care is to be anything other than a luxury only the wealthiest can afford. Government will have to give money to the poor so that they can afford health care. This money will have to be taken from those more well off through taxes. In order to keep individuals from gaming the system individuals must be required to purchase health insurance. Only then will the reforms Christians can live with really work. In simple terms we can either have big government health care reform or have health care only the wealthy can afford. That as they say is that. And since the Christians who oppose health care reform are distrusting of the motives of those who advocate health care reform they are willing to let health care become a luxury only the wealthy can afford.

Perhaps it would help Christians to understand why we need big government health care reform, and big government in general if we described the need for big government in terms of sheep, shepherds and wolves. Imagine a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Wolves surround this flock. Left to fend for themselves the sheep will be killed, one by one, by the wolves. The sheep can live in safety only if a well-armed shepherd appears to protect them. That shepherd is big government. Without the intervention of big government greedy corporations, the wolves of this scenario will make health care too expensive for most people to afford. Individuals cannot protect themselves from abuse by large corporations lead by greedy individuals by themselves. For this collective action is needed. And only big government can provide this collective action.

Health Care Reform: A Political Lose-Lose for President Obama and Democrats?

Yes health care reform has become a lose lose proposition for Democrats. It can only be passed by reconciliation. It is an expansion of the power of government. Perhaps as many as 40% of the American people can be induced to vote for Republicans by Republican propaganda over the passage of health care by reconciliation. So passing health care reform through reconciliation isn't wise.



But if health care reform is not passed the base will stop voting for Democrats. As Blanch Lincoln has just discovered progressives are no longer willing to simply let blue dog Democrats be. Primary challenges and lack of votes from progressive Democrats in general elections await those Democrats unwilling to pass health care reform through reconciliation.



So Democrats in the House and Senate have to decide which fate is worse, being voted out of power by angry moderates or being voted out of power by angry members of the base.
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<strike>25 Easy Things</strike> One Hard Thing You <strike>Can</strike> Must Do to Save the Planet

No the hardest thing is support by environmentalists for the only present day existing real alternative to more coal fired power plants, nuclear power plants.
About Earth Day
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Extra! Extra! Newspapers Need an Overhaul, Not a "Rescue Plan"

Of course if there is no marketing mechanism possible what other choice does one have other than to give away content for free. The problem with newspapers and new media is that no one has yet figured out how to make money from new media. Indeed there doesn't seem any way possible to make money from new media. Thus the resistance to new media from old media. News people want us to know will be given away for free. Unfortunately selling this news was the source of income newspapers used to get news people did not want us to know. So now we have no way of financing the getting of news people don't want us to know. That is the dilemma of the modern news organization.
About Newspapers
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The Debate Over Online News: It's the Consumer, Stupid

The problem is generating a revenue stream. Newspapers don't sell content they sell the paper on which the content is printed. Radio and television don't sell content they sell air time to advertisers. This is where their revenue streams come from. The only people getting a revenue stream from the internet are internet service providers. The only way content providers get a revenue stream is by selling advertising space on their sites. Their only other alternative is begging. The MSM fight for maintenance of the present system because it is the only way they know to generate a revenue stream. They may not be wrong in thinking that.
About Eric Schmidt
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Advice to Obama at G-20 Summit: A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

Congress builds barriers to free trade because workers in the US can't live on $3.00 a day like workers can in the underdeveloped world. The ultimate problem with free trade is simple. The downside of free trade is obvious while the benefits of free trade must be taken on faith. When jobs are lost to foreign countries it is obvious where they went. When wages are decreased because of foreign competition it is obvious why the wages were decreased. New jobs and higher wages created by free trade could have been created for other reasons. You simply can't point to any particular job and say free trade created it. So opponents of free trade have plenty of evidence to use for their position. Defenders of free trade have far less evidence for theirs.
About Barack Obama
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Why Won’t Government Tell the Truth About the Economy?

On CNN recently a commentator observed the stock market was going down because it was waiting for the government to tell it the truth about the economy. In reality the last thing the stock market wants is the truth. What is wants is confirmation of its comforting illusions. That is one thing this administration is reluctant to give. In reality many businesses already know the truth. This is why they are cutting their workforces. The stock market is simply reacting to this decrease in business activity.

We avoided Great Depression 2 for over 60 years by the following means. We encouraged consumers to buy things they didn’t really need. In order to keep profits high and wages low we encouraged consumers to go into debt for these purchases. In addition all this economic activity used material resources, especially energy, that could not be replaced. In the past year and a half we came to the point where the debt needed to be repaid. In addition energy and other resources began to run out. This lead to an increase in their price. So the system began to break down. The worst economic calamity since the 30s is the result.

This breakdown creates a difficult political problem for any American administration. Americans are individualists. Individualism is a part of what it means to be an American. In order to have a strong society based on individualism it is necessary for the economy to create enough jobs so each and every individual who wants a job can have one. In order to do this we must be able to grow the economy. If we can’t convince people to buy things they do not really need we won’t be able to produce enough jobs so everyone who wants one can have one. And if the material resources to produce and ship and use these goods doesn’t exist there is no way we can produce enough jobs to maintain our present social system.

Yes we can create sustainable economic and social systems. Yes we can create resilient economic and social systems. But in these systems the needs of the many are going to be more important than the needs of the one. This is the United States of America. We can create these systems. But we cannot make the idea the needs of the many are more important than the needs of the one politically popular. This is the truth that dare not speak its name.