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> It happened when we started penalizing people for having anything less than perfect health. It's my understanding of history that it wasn't until very recent
by defen 15y ago
> It happened when we started penalizing people for having anything less than perfect health.
It's my understanding of history that it wasn't until very recently that some societies started to mitigate some of the effects of being in "less than perfect health".
- arethuza 15y agoI thought the modern idea of welfare programs (old age pensions, accident insurance, medical care and unemployment insurance) originated in the 19th century in Prussia with Otto von Bismarck: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck#Paternalistic_welfare_state http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck#Paternalistic... That doesn't strike me as "very recently" - even the UK "cradle to the grave" NHS is over 60 years old: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/background_briefings/your_nhs/86100.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/background_briefings/your_...
- defen 15y agoThat's very recent in civilizational terms.
- potatolicious 15y agoYou're right - progressive societies are a relatively new invention, but is that really an excuse? The history of the world is dominated by oligarchies because these ideas and systems didn't exist. We now have working examples of a better way - and in fact the USA's closest peers (in terms of economic output, political stability, etc) are practically all progressive socialist nations. And yet all I can see in this country is the poor cheering madly while the oligarchs trample all over their faces.