Civility amongst citizens...
The Cement of Society Is...
31–40 of 167 posts
Re: The Cement of Society Is...
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
How many times have I heard from folks claiming "conservatism" that they don't want progress, in any form-- individual, mutual, societal...
opposite extreme: "'progress'- whatever the cost"... for some reason referred to as 'woke'? (still need to work on understanding that angle) "replacing what works with what sounds good" --T.Sowell offtopic rant, but on the subject of politics; to me it seems underhanded to pursue experimental federal programs eg for healthcare- why not demonstrate it works in a few test states.. wouldn't california love to pass somet…
> why not demonstrate it works in a few test states
It's tough to do some things at the state level because there's less money at the state level vs the federal level. It's a lot easier for a business to move from a state to avoid taxes meant to pay for healthcare by rerouting fund from the private market to the public market than it is to leave the US entirely.
The federal government gets it's taxes first from income taxes then payroll taxes, I checked a couple states and most are income then sales/use tax which is a big difference. Not being able to reroute money from employer based systems into the single payer system is a huge hole in any state level attempt at single payer. Also just having more people means a federal level system will have more bargaining power than even the largest states.
Re: The Cement of Society Is...
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
How many times have I heard from folks claiming "conservatism" that they don't want progress, in any form-- individual, mutual, societal...
opposite extreme: "'progress'- whatever the cost"... for some reason referred to as 'woke'? (still need to work on understanding that angle) "replacing what works with what sounds good" --T.Sowell offtopic rant, but on the subject of politics; to me it seems underhanded to pursue experimental federal programs eg for healthcare- why not demonstrate it works in a few test states.. wouldn't california love to pass somet…
> offtopic rant, but on the subject of politics; to me it seems underhanded to pursue experimental federal programs eg for healthcare- why not demonstrate it works in a few test states.. wouldn't california love to pass something like that? if only there were a way to pass the buck to the federal government for the homeless...
Some states have scoped this out, and Vermont passed a law to pursue it. The problem has to do with financing (individual states can't print money) and the freerider problem, which isn't about the homeless, so much as more...libertarian states paying all of their diabetics to move to California to get treated.
Re: The Cement of Society Is...
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
How many times have I heard from folks claiming "conservatism" that they don't want progress, in any form-- individual, mutual, societal...
opposite extreme: "'progress'- whatever the cost"... for some reason referred to as 'woke'? (still need to work on understanding that angle) "replacing what works with what sounds good" --T.Sowell offtopic rant, but on the subject of politics; to me it seems underhanded to pursue experimental federal programs eg for healthcare- why not demonstrate it works in a few test states.. wouldn't california love to pass somet…
There is nothing "underhanded" about it, and it's nowhere near being "experimental": almost every country in the developed world has universal healthcare and the overwhelming preponderance of evidence demonstrates its superiority in every criterion.
If you think that the debate over healthcare has anything to do with the substantive merits of one system over another, you're viewing it through the wrong lens. It is purely a power struggle between a class of potentates who have become obscenely wealthy from selling insurance, and the vast majority of the public in whose interest universal healthcare is.
Medicare for All being a success in one state would change little by just adding more evidence to the existing mountain because, again, it is not a struggle between differing points of view, but between monied interests and the masses. The colossal propaganda apparatus wielded by corporate interests would continue to wage relentless war against any expansion of such programs.
Re: The Cement of Society Is...
#35The iterated prisoners' dilemma.
Re: The Cement of Society Is...
#36Trust. Or, as Reagan might have said, "Trust, and verify if you must."
Forgive me if this is too much of a tangent, but can anyone explain "trust, but verify" to me? I can't tell if it's drily ironic (basically meaning 'don't actually take anything on trust'), or kind of meaningless (like the previous interpretation, but meant to be polite and superficially positive), or has a meaning I'm completely missing.
One charitable explanation is initially trust, but verify on your own time. This allows for cooperation and growth of real trust, but lets you, well, verify that you're not being had, just asynchronously.
Re: The Cement of Society Is...
#37Trust. Or, as Reagan might have said, "Trust, and verify if you must."
Forgive me if this is too much of a tangent, but can anyone explain "trust, but verify" to me? I can't tell if it's drily ironic (basically meaning 'don't actually take anything on trust'), or kind of meaningless (like the previous interpretation, but meant to be polite and superficially positive), or has a meaning I'm completely missing.
Approach new information, assuming good intent. Nonetheless, there's no shame or guilt in verifying your assumption by verifying. No offense should be taken, it's merely prudent behavior. Verifying should not imply lack of trust; however, it's conceivable that repeated verifications may render the need to verify in the future a lower priority, due to past precedent.
At least, that's my take.
Re: The Cement of Society Is...
#38Alcohol. Banks. Chromosome identity politics. Divorce. Email. Foreigners-as-the-excuse. Generational warfare. Heels. I. Jokes approved as PC. Kafka. LVMH. Minimalism in lieu of poverty. No homes for Millenials. Objects. Puritanism. Quiet carriages. Restlessness. Streaming. Terror. University debt. Vegans. Woks. Xenogamy. Yellow peril. Zoom.
Gotta go back and find that “favourite hn comment ever” thread.
Re: The Cement of Society Is...
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're in a car. The speedometer reads 50mph. How fast are you going?
You're in a rocket-ship, the speedometer reads 0.5c (half-lightspeed); How fast are you going? If you understand you'll ask "from what frame of reference?"
I wonder... If there were such a speedometer what would it use as a reference in real life? Earth? Sun? Sag A?
Re: The Cement of Society Is...
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
How many times have I heard from folks claiming "conservatism" that they don't want progress, in any form-- individual, mutual, societal...
opposite extreme: "'progress'- whatever the cost"... for some reason referred to as 'woke'? (still need to work on understanding that angle) "replacing what works with what sounds good" --T.Sowell offtopic rant, but on the subject of politics; to me it seems underhanded to pursue experimental federal programs eg for healthcare- why not demonstrate it works in a few test states.. wouldn't california love to pass somet…
They just want to pass programs they can get people addicted to to secure votes. Example: welfare.