4 ms·

That's just it. We've woken up and found that our free speech rights are de-facto already gone, pinched off from multiple angles at once. One solution is to ma

That's just it. We've woken up and found that our free speech rights are de-facto already gone, pinched off from multiple angles at once. One solution is to make political opinion a protected class alongside sex, race, and religious belief.

janalsncm 3y ago
That is a nice idea but I think in practice it is hard to enforce. Employers discriminate against hiring disabled people and it’s difficult to prove it has happened. The original sin was linking all basic needs to employment in the first place. Why should whether a child has access to healthcare depend on how upstanding and wealthy his dad is? We don’t say that about grade school.
- wakawaka28 3y ago
  >Employers discriminate against hiring disabled people and it’s difficult to prove it has happened. This is a contentious one. Disabled people often are less able to do many jobs specifically because of their condition. On the other hand, political opinion is almost never relevant to one's ability to actually do a job. >The original sin was linking all basic needs to employment in the first place. Why should whether a child has access to healthcare depend on how upstanding and wealthy his dad is? We don’t say that about grade school. Where are these critical needs supposed to come from, if not from the fruits of someone's labor? Do you think other people owe you something for merely existing? People who get wealthy tend to get that way by providing for other people's needs and desires, and that is why they and their children are able to pay for their own needs. We do live in a society that affords even the poorest people certain benefits for free, like free school. But even in that case, poor people pay a substantial portion of the cost for those "free" benefits through their taxes. Health care is just too expensive to give to everyone for free. It would require taxation roughly equal to the cost of insurance premiums to be extracted from everyone, and then the government would still act like it's doing you a favor.
  - janalsncm 3y ago
    > Health care is just too expensive to give to everyone for free. It would require taxation roughly equal to the cost of insurance premiums to be extracted from everyone I don’t see the problem. Insurance companies aren’t charities, they exist to make a profit. How do insurance companies make profits? By paying out less than they charge. In other words, by ripping you off. Government can provide these services at cost. The evidence for this is: every other developed country. It’s not an accident that Canadians live longer than Americans. Canadians get healthcare, Americans get propaganda and excuses for why it’s not possible. And propaganda doesn’t help you when you’re sick.
    - wahnfrieden 3y ago
      We accept roads but not doctors
    - wakawaka28 3y ago
      >I don’t see the problem. Insurance companies aren’t charities, they exist to make a profit. How do insurance companies make profits? By paying out less than they charge. In other words, by ripping you off. Government can provide these services at cost. The evidence for this is: every other developed country. Insurance is a service, basically holding and investing your money and absorbing unknown risks, and processing payments. The government can't actually do it cheaper except by utilizing salary-controlled labor and other tricks. >The evidence for this is: every other developed country. This only happens in the West, and the West (with the exception of a few oil-rich countries) is financially screwed. >It’s not an accident that Canadians live longer than Americans. Canadians get healthcare, Americans get propaganda and excuses for why it’s not possible. And propaganda doesn’t help you when you’re sick. Canadians constantly complain about their system. It is very difficult to get appointments and their healthcare system is increasingly offering/suggesting euthanasia as a cure for various ills, even simple depression. No thanks.
      - janalsncm 3y ago
        The risks are unknown at an individual level but at a population level are quantifiable and fairly stable. In any case the companies are turning profits in the billions of dollars which means Americans are overpaying for worse outcomes. > Canadians constantly complain about their system Everyone complains. That’s part of democracy. Americans complain about our health care system too. What matters is outcomes, and Canadians live longer than Americans. The fact of the matter is the US government can’t figure out how to get healthcare to people, so instead sells them excuses and propaganda for why not fixing the problem is actually acceptable.
asadotzler 3y ago
So you cannot deny me service or a job because I express the political views that you, your family, and people like you are sub-human and should exterminated? You should be required by to let me and my Nazi friends come into your bar and start spreading the good Nazi word every night to your suburban middle-class liberal establishment with no recourse because the expression of my political beliefs are protected by law?

janalsncm 3y ago

That is a nice idea but I think in practice it is hard to enforce. Employers discriminate against hiring disabled people and it’s difficult to prove it has happened. The original sin was linking all basic needs to employment in the first place. Why should whether a child has access to healthcare depend on how upstanding and wealthy his dad is? We don’t say that about grade school.

wakawaka28 3y ago
>Employers discriminate against hiring disabled people and it’s difficult to prove it has happened. This is a contentious one. Disabled people often are less able to do many jobs specifically because of their condition. On the other hand, political opinion is almost never relevant to one's ability to actually do a job. >The original sin was linking all basic needs to employment in the first place. Why should whether a child has access to healthcare depend on how upstanding and wealthy his dad is? We don’t say that about grade school. Where are these critical needs supposed to come from, if not from the fruits of someone's labor? Do you think other people owe you something for merely existing? People who get wealthy tend to get that way by providing for other people's needs and desires, and that is why they and their children are able to pay for their own needs. We do live in a society that affords even the poorest people certain benefits for free, like free school. But even in that case, poor people pay a substantial portion of the cost for those "free" benefits through their taxes. Health care is just too expensive to give to everyone for free. It would require taxation roughly equal to the cost of insurance premiums to be extracted from everyone, and then the government would still act like it's doing you a favor.
- janalsncm 3y ago
  > Health care is just too expensive to give to everyone for free. It would require taxation roughly equal to the cost of insurance premiums to be extracted from everyone I don’t see the problem. Insurance companies aren’t charities, they exist to make a profit. How do insurance companies make profits? By paying out less than they charge. In other words, by ripping you off. Government can provide these services at cost. The evidence for this is: every other developed country. It’s not an accident that Canadians live longer than Americans. Canadians get healthcare, Americans get propaganda and excuses for why it’s not possible. And propaganda doesn’t help you when you’re sick.
  - wahnfrieden 3y ago
    We accept roads but not doctors
  - wakawaka28 3y ago
    >I don’t see the problem. Insurance companies aren’t charities, they exist to make a profit. How do insurance companies make profits? By paying out less than they charge. In other words, by ripping you off. Government can provide these services at cost. The evidence for this is: every other developed country. Insurance is a service, basically holding and investing your money and absorbing unknown risks, and processing payments. The government can't actually do it cheaper except by utilizing salary-controlled labor and other tricks. >The evidence for this is: every other developed country. This only happens in the West, and the West (with the exception of a few oil-rich countries) is financially screwed. >It’s not an accident that Canadians live longer than Americans. Canadians get healthcare, Americans get propaganda and excuses for why it’s not possible. And propaganda doesn’t help you when you’re sick. Canadians constantly complain about their system. It is very difficult to get appointments and their healthcare system is increasingly offering/suggesting euthanasia as a cure for various ills, even simple depression. No thanks.
    - janalsncm 3y ago
      The risks are unknown at an individual level but at a population level are quantifiable and fairly stable. In any case the companies are turning profits in the billions of dollars which means Americans are overpaying for worse outcomes. > Canadians constantly complain about their system Everyone complains. That’s part of democracy. Americans complain about our health care system too. What matters is outcomes, and Canadians live longer than Americans. The fact of the matter is the US government can’t figure out how to get healthcare to people, so instead sells them excuses and propaganda for why not fixing the problem is actually acceptable.

asadotzler 3y ago

So you cannot deny me service or a job because I express the political views that you, your family, and people like you are sub-human and should exterminated? You should be required by to let me and my Nazi friends come into your bar and start spreading the good Nazi word every night to your suburban middle-class liberal establishment with no recourse because the expression of my political beliefs are protected by law?