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And about the taxes, trust me the reason this:
happened was due because of high taxes, and it can easily happen again, there is a reason Reagan was so popular, and Jimmy Carter and Mondale were so unpopular.
Not like that, no. Even the most optimistic Republican strategists doubt they can make such gains as overall voter demographics are turning against them. Not to mention that bigger problems than simple taxes landed on Carter’s doorstep and Regan had the celebrity charm to help him.
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Prisons are held by state governments. We the taxpayer keep them there.
No, there are for-profit prisons as well. Many of them find ways to keep their prisoners as long as possible and make sure convicts get sent to their prisons. There was one famous case where a judge was sending juveniles with no real problems to a private correctional facility, and a judge got bribes for sending them there.
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You seriously trust the government? mellow.gif
Yes. The government is inefficient argument is simply not true. If it was, then what’s the point of even having one? Complete privatization simply doesn’t work; why else do you think much of Europe and Japan have elements of socialism? We have both private and public schools, mail and attorneys. And just because it’s private doesn’t mean it’s well managed, and I’ll give you an example.
When my mother was giving birth to me, she was largely ignored and told by the doctor she wasn’t ready. It wasn’t until one of the nurses yelled that my heart rate was at zero that they finally paid attention. After that incident, my mom was complaining that she was feeling incredibly ill, but the nurses simply told her she was fine without even doing an evaluation. She continued to feel worse, and found a thermometer lying on her bed, and took her own temperature. She had a fever of 104. She immediately called another nurse, who again reassured her she was fine, and at this point she yelled out her temperature. Now, logically, the first thing a nurse would do would be to rush for a doctor, right? No, the first thing that came out of her mouth was “Who left that thermometer there with you!?” She was eventually treated for blood-poisoning, and as she was ready to leave the hospital with me, the head doctor told her she could have died. With privately run hospitals like that, who needs socialized medicine?
I can say the same for private vs. public schools as well. I went to public schools, kindergarten through 3rd grade. Then I was sent to a private school 4th through 6th grade. While I’m thankful for going there if nothing else just to meet one of my best friends, in all honesty we didn’t learn much in regards to math and English, very little in terms of science as well. Around 7th grade, I went back to public school, that had all the problems people associate with it (disruptive students, some violence, overcrowding…) So logically, I should be ahead, right? Nope. I was behind. I caught up eventually, but it really hit home how I never really did learn anything (a large part of it was probably because my previous school never gave out homework). While I’m sure that many private schools do a great job, I also feel that they do in a way shelter students from the real world, unlike public schools.
One area where public is better than private: News. Look at the corporate owned news channels. It’s hardly news. It’s just a lot of heckling, reporters getting emotional, and pandering to whichever side will bring them ratings. PBS, on the other hand, just tells it like it is and stays neutral. It’s never about whether the government or a private company runs things, it’s about the people they hire. If the public sector was really that bad, then how do you explain those who are eager to enter government to get things done?
If government is truly inefficient, why don’t we all just buy shotguns and fight the war on terror ourselves? (sees people passing out from desert heat and panicking in the midst of gunfire).
"But we should let the army handle this! They’re trained for it!"
But they’re part of the government, and government can’t do anything right!
Instead of dropping government programs because they're "inefficient", we should find out why it's not working and fix it. Despite all the complaints about Medicare and Tricare, I have sincere doubts that people that benefit from those programs would honestly give them up. And if socialized medicine really is that bad, why haven't the other industrialized nations figured that out? Most of them had 4 decades worth of opportunity to vote for privatization and it hasn't happened
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Look at the bright side: at least the town didn't experience a record cold. That's happened to him several times when he's gone to make a global warming speech.
Okay, this denial of global warming is getting ridiculous, because it’s been proven and the scientific consensus is overwhelming. You’ve got less than 10 skeptics. You might say “Only 57% of Americans believe global warming is real.” Yeah, and more than half believe in creationism. Instead of saying “Well this is happening so therefore global warming cannot be real” you should ask an expert “Wait, if the world is warming, why is it so cold?” The reason for your skepticism you are citing is weather, not climate. Anomalous cold snaps don’t disprove global warming; just because the overall trend is warming does not mean every place on the globe is hot. Scientists have made it clear that winters weren’t getting warmer, just shorter and drier. And 2009 is on its way to being the warmest year recorded thus far. There are several other skeptical arguments that have been proven incorrect. If global warming isn't real, then my last year of college was a waste of my time. Show me the list of accredited scientists who do not believe in global warming and where in Science and Nature magazines have they published their articles?
I should also note that while in 2007 Gore’s home was not green powered, that has changed since then.
Edited by Kodachi Claws, 18 November 2009 - 12:19 AM.
