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Basic Health Care a Right for All

Posted by Mike on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 1:13:52 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
Opposition to reasonable health care reform and support for legalized abortion are really two sides of the same coin. They both reject human solidarity. They both view life as a zero-sum game.

There can be no solidarity without deference to subsidiarity. All persons in society have a basic right to health care as a matter of social justice, which includes the corresponding responsibility of all to contribute in some way to the common good. Basic medical care should be provided first at the local level, and only receiving state assistance when the standard of care falls below normal. Capitalism tends to exalt personal choice above the common good, which is a form of libertarianism and leads to a decrease in the overall standard of care.

In actuality, there are two rights which are the subject of the debate. The first is the right to life, without which no other rights can be realized. This means that abortion is not legitimate health care because it denies human beings the fundamental right to life. Abortion and legitimate health care are polar opposites.

The second right that must be secured is the right of all to basic health care. Each individual who actively participates as a member of society has this right. This also includes immigrants here legally, but not immigrants here through subterfuge. Of course, local governments may nonetheless require that emergency services be provided even to those here through subterfuge for the common good of all.

These two fundamental rights are not opposed to each other. There is no reason why the Senate and House cannot together pass legislation that protects the life of the unborn and at the same time makes sure that the right to basic health care is insured where necessary.

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Basic Health Care a Right for All

Posted by Mike on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 1:13:33 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
Opposition to reasonable health care reform and support for legalized abortion are really two sides of the same coin. They both reject human solidarity. They both view life as a zero-sum game.

There can be no solidarity without deference to subsidiarity. All persons in society have a basic right to health care as a matter of social justice, which includes the corresponding responsibility of all to contribute in some way to the common good. Basic medical care should be provided first at the local level, and only receiving state assistance when the standard of care falls below normal. Capitalism tends to exalt personal choice above the common good, which is a form of libertarianism and leads to a decrease in the overall standard of care.

In actuality, there are two rights which are the subject of the debate. The first is the right to life, without which no other rights can be realized. This means that abortion is not legitimate health care because it denies human beings the fundamental right to life. Abortion and legitimate health care are polar opposites.

The second right that must be secured is the right of all to basic health care. Each individual who actively participates as a member of society has this right. This also includes immigrants here legally, but not immigrants here through subterfuge. Of course, local governments may nonetheless require that emergency services be provided even to those here through subterfuge for the common good of all.

These two fundamental rights are not opposed to each other. There is no reason why the Senate and House cannot together pass legislation that protects the life of the unborn and at the same time makes sure that the right to basic health care is insured where necessary.

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The Copenhagen Fiasco and the G-20

Posted by Mike on Monday, October 26, 2009 10:14:26 AM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
The Copenhagen Climate Summit looks like it may fizzle out. China and India, our future biggest economic rivals, have opted out. Likewise, Obama has RSVP'd that he will not be in attendance. Despite the rhetoric, nations need to act together to bring greenhouse gasses under control. Extending carbon credits to nations and multinational corporations is a workable solution. As stewards of the environment, it does not make any difference how much pollution is man-made and how much is naturally caused. The point is, we must live within the limitations set by God. At the recent G-20 summit, University of Pittsburgh student Kyle Kramer was forced to kneel by Chicago police for a trophy photo. This goes to show how irresponsible and out of touch some local government agencies are with the American people whom they are commissioned to serve. The bad news is that some law enforcement officers now regard themselves as Americops, or worse yet as Cosmocops (see inset).The good news is that more and more law enforcement and military are now taking their obligations to serve seriously, which brings hope that the higher level wrongdoers in government will face justice soon.
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Challenges Facing America

Posted by Mike on Monday, August 10, 2009 8:06:41 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
The majority of Americans are learning the hard way how to conserve non-renewable resources, protect the environment, and to share the wealth with others who are less fortunate. This is being done not by altruism, but rather by default. The unholy alliance between the super-rich, government, media and academia has given rise to ever bigger demands being made by fringe elements and minorities, with ever growing attempts to marginalize and disenfranchise the white majority. The upshot of all this is that everyone is forced to settle for less in terms of material goods and to cut down on unnecessary consumption which is often detrimental anyway.

Globalization will necessitate tougher economic and financial controls and regulations. This is already happening with increased regulation of credit card companies to protect debtors from unscrupulous, usurious lending practices and perhaps also from identity theft.

Quality health care is gradually being extended to all strata of society. For this to work, government must wisely uphold an ethic based upon respect for all human life to insure that medical services are not reduced to a mere commodity to be sold to the highest bidder. The frustration and anger over the proposed health care reforms is genuine. The majority of working Americans are tired of subsidizing those who are not loyal American citizens and those who refuse to work and are only interested in tearing down the majority culture.

Our greatest challenge is to uphold our true values of charity and justice against the prevailing tide of selfishness and greed. This will require real reform in knocking the self-proclaimed nabobs, gurus and elites off their imaginary pedestals.
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The Time Is Now

Posted by Mike on Saturday, July 18, 2009 3:56:19 AM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
Sonia Sotomayor's pathetic confirmation hearings typify everything that is wrong with America. Judges including Sotomayor use as an excuse for withholding or denying justice that they are just applying the law as though law were some abstract mathematical construct. Does Sotomayor think that she is fooling the American people? Does she think that it is funny that hard working firefighters have to jump through legal hoops to obtain justice because judges like her don't care about justice, but only follow a skewed and exaggerated interpretation of precedent? Before judges can even comprehend what precedent means they must have a firm grasp of the particular civilization of which these cases are only a reflection. Being outside of the cultural mainstream, they have no depth and can only add wrong precedent. The Supreme Court did not change precedent in ruling against Sotomayor and the other appellate court justices. The lower court did not know what it was doing, or they deliberately chose to deny justice to American citizens.

Senator Dodd boasts that he and his colleagues have excessively exquisite health care at essentially zero cost, while everyone outside the federal system must pay both taxes and insurance premiums for substandard, costly job-related medical coverage. I suppose Dodd thinks it's a big joke that he and his ilk in government are giving people outside the mainstream free health care and using them as a club against the majority in society, and acting as though they don't get that killing has consequences.

Well we have got news for you Chris Dodd. All groups of people outside the mainstream of society are there for a reason. They are the people whose time has already come and gone. The future of America belongs to those who stand up for truth. Stop spending our tax money to kill babies, Senators. Stop playing around.

Sarah Palin is hated by the liberal boneheads because she represents mainstream America. There will be a just accounting for each and every arrogant mistake, rebuff, and injustice taking for granted the majority of American citizens. The minorities outside the mainstream have been allowed sufficient time to show whether they are loyal or disloyal. We have allowed fools to run the show for too long and it is time for a day of reckoning in which the power of the majority will have to be used to the extent necessary to bring minorities into the mainstream, or if they still choose to destroy the majority, they will end up destroying themselves. Our patience is at an end.

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Wealth Inequality Affecting Social Policy in America

Posted by Mike on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 8:30:17 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
Several decades ago, Ferdinand Lundberg completed a monumental study of the rich and the super-rich. He identified the primary dynastic families at that time as being Du Pont, Mellon, Rockefeller, Ford, and to a lesser extent Pew. Since that time, new wealth has been amassed by other families including those of Walton, Buffett and Gates.

What effect does exorbitant wealth have on the formation of social policy?

The super-rich exert tremendous control over the media and the government, which has the effect of slowing down the process of democratization in society whether at home or abroad. Capitalism is basically a given at this stage of history. Most social injustices are caused by the wealthy wanting to keep control. Wealthy family foundations fund anti-life, anti-family programs such as Planned Parenthood, and are large contributors to liberal candidates for government offices, judgeships, and causes. Of course there are exceptions such as Richard Scaife a scion of the Mellon Dynasty, and the Pew Research Center which conducts research into religious strengths and weaknesses.

Capitalism obviously is not going to go away overnight. It is therefore the duty of responsible citizens to work for justice within these limitations.
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It's not about Fairness, Folks!

Posted by Mike on Saturday, June 13, 2009 12:40:31 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
Back in the days of the Reagan Revolution, there used to be an inside joke among the intellectual elite of Los Angeles mostly comprised of ex-drunks, that if you want "fair", go to Pomona, which is in reference to an annual event held every year on the far east side of the County. Regardless of the saying's dubious origin, there is a lot of wisdom and truth in that statement.

Today in America, the Affirmative Action Kid Barry H. Obama has appointed the Affirmative Action poster baby Sonia Sotomayor to a position on the US Supreme Court.

America has legalized abortion and affirmative action basically as a way to keep the Rockefeller and Bush dynasties and their greedy elite ilk in power. A couple of centuries ago, many had to endure the indignities of slavery for the same reason. This is also the reason for a barrage of dumbed down, coarse and degrading jokes on our broadcast networks. As unjust as it may be, we don't get "fair" in this life except once a year in places sponsored by the 4H clubs of America.

The law is never as clear cut as some would expect. There are those particularly in the media who find it incredible that two different judges would reach different conclusions, both following the same laws, because of racial or ethnic differences. These are the utopioans who think that legal problems are the same as mathematical equations in which there is only one right answer. Sadly for them, life is not so simple. If that were the case, there would be no need for judges. Everything could be done by computer.

Then there are those, usually among minorities and others who have chosen to live on the outskirts of civil society, who are obsessed with predictability in legal decisions. Included here are the lawyers and judges who uphold precedent above common sense. They want to know in advance what the outcome will be so that they can work the system by exploiting the inevitable crises having no loyalty to anyone but themselves.

The Christian ideal is to accept government in whatever imperfect form it may take, and work to bring about justice. We never arrive at this goal however in this world.

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