I haven't been following the thread but I see them not as being similar, but as being very different.
On the one hand there are those who are volunteering to bravely defend the country . By volunteering - they are volunteering to potentially sacrifice themselves for the good of everyone else. They are seeking to better themselves, and better their country. Additionally, it is very clear cut and obvious who is serving in the military and who is not. There is no ambiguity. Lastly, these individuals are defending the country against (primarily) external threats. Threats that the citizenry of the country has less or no control over, force is often needed to resolve conflicts. On the other hand you have a very large percentage of people in the US who do not respect their own bodies and do not take care of themselves. Smoking, lack of physical exercise, and other self destructive activities that are detrimental to an individual's health, and to the nation's productivity as a whole. In the context of this comparison, this represents the opposite of seeking to better themselves and their country. It's also (sometimes) less clear which health problems are caused by self destructive behavior, which makes it more ambiguous than military service. Lastly, if healthcare is a "defense", it's a defense against an internal threat that, at least having to do with self destructive behavior, was self inflicted, in an environment where free will is present and force to resolve conflicts is less acceptable (court system instead of war). I would MUCH rather see my tax money spent helping people quit smoking and be healthier than fixing them after a life of self destructive behavior. That still leaves a sizable group of people who did not self inflict their health problems - and that is a serious problem. However, I think national healthcare would be an easier pill to swallow of that group were primarily who we were talking about. I'm not sure it is. -Cameron Zaphod Beeblebrox wrote: > This weekend, I was watching the thread about healthcare go on and on and > on. I saw one response that summed up a lot of people's view on national > healthcare. "Why should I pay for you?" > > This got me to thinking how thankful I was that this sentiment isn't echoed > by our soldiers regarding defense of our country. Our soldiers are willing > to lay down their lives for their country. That means all of us. It's a > highly respected attitude and one that I think most, if not all people, are > grateful for. > > So, then I got to wondering what's the difference between the two > positions. Why is it that the ultimate sacrifice for defense of the country > is acceptable while paying more in taxes for, in essence "defense" of the > country isn't. Maybe it's the way it's framed? Is it because it's not > voluntary, but a forced tax? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:253886 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
