Western civilization is strong because of Christianity and Christian influence. One of modern Marxism’s greatest goals is to stamp out Christianity and the straight while males that lead the local church. They can’t take the culture, and therefore the nation, without contending with the pastors, first. The Church has been weakened by wokeness, which is why the culture has declined so rapidly.
There’s nothing stopping you from joining a book club. The thing that has made the Christian Church historically strong, cohesive, and effective is not the structure... it’s the God behind the book. Seeking God’s blessings while refusing to honor him or even give him thanks is a big problem.
From Romans 1...
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Hope in men will never fail to disappoint. The only thing that will never disappoint is the certain hope that Jesus Christ offers. Trump may be a great man, but he’s only a man. If you want a hope that never fails, that is certain no matter what evil leaders may do, and that will not only last to the end of your life but beyond it, then you need to look to Jesus.
Where’s the red, white, and blue? The eagles? Stars and bars? TRUMP? There’s not one patriotic image on this poster. It looks more like an ad for poetry reading at a gay bar followed by a dance party.
I don’t think they know what images and ideas are patriotic, because they don’t understand patriotism.
And, really? Freedom is a right? They don’t even have a clue what we’re saying.
It's not like all of the power is generator in California and sent to Texas... it might be a logistical nightmare, but it would probably serve to grow Texas tremendously... Especially since they can decide to drill off shore if they want as much as they want without the insane taxes that are associated with it.
Strong men will never be truly obsolete, but they may not be valued for a time. I think that this is one of those times - perhaps we are in agreement there?
I probably went too far in my description of her philosophy, I accept that. I'm also not a great student of Ayn Rand - I just heard the book was good and filled with conservative concepts, so I read it. I found the whole thing deeply unsettling, and not because of the evil men; they were the same old evil that we've come to expect, I think. The whole scenario with Rearden, Galt, and Dagny was disgusting. There may be a lot that I agree with Rand on, but I think that we diverge fairly quickly. Her view of charity, based on what I've read from other posters and snippets here and there, is directly contrary to what I believe as a Christian. It seems very naturalistic. I'm willing to accept there's more to the story, but what I've read thus far does not endear me to her philosophy.
John Galt’s speech isn’t philosophy? If Atlas Shrugged was a thought experiment, then it was an experiment in what happens when the strong men take their ball and leave, which seems to me to be Ayn Rand’s philosophy applied. I don’t see how the book is not philosophical in nature.
I really appreciate Ayn Rands promotion of these ideals... but she does it because she applies evolutionary thought to all of life and society. Her philosophy is truly horrific. If you hate Marxists shouting, “Eat the rich!”, then you should be equally disgusted with Ayn Rand’s call for the strong to eat the weak. I identified a lot with the first portions of the book, because she comes to some of the same conclusions that conservative Christians do regarding personal responsibility and hard work. She goes way past those, however, since the bedrock of her argument is natural selection rather than God. I can’t recommend her books to anyone that will actually read them, since her philosophy is reprehensible.
Police enforce laws. Period. I would hope they would not enforce unjust laws, and I’m sure meant wouldn’t, but it is unreasonable to think they all wouldn’t. Put the blame where it lies. Who makes the laws? Hint: it’s not the enforcers.
For your benefit:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7326305/#!po=31.8182
TLDR:
Article 1 - Capital costs (which includes equipment) accounted for 4% of private hospital expenditures in 2018. Labor accounted for 42%.
“ Private short-term general hospitals incurred $732.2 billion in total operating costs in 2018. Capital costs and overhead costs accounted for almost half (48.0%); ancillary, inpatient, and outpatient care accounted for the remaining 52.0% (Fig. 1). Based on the cost type, non-capital-non-labor costs constituted 54.6% of total operating costs (28.1% for overhead and 26.5% for patient care), labor costs 41.3% (15.8% for overhead and 25.5% for patient care), and capital costs 4.0%.”
Article 2 - Administrative costs of healthcare for just billing and insurance was almost $500 billion. We spend about $3.5 trillion a year. A full 14% of expenditures go to just managing billing with insurance.
“ Anyone interacting with the U.S. health care system is bound to encounter examples of unnecessary administrative complexity—from filling out duplicative intake forms to transferring medical records between providers to sorting out insurance bills. This administrative complexity, with its associated high costs, is often cited as one reason the United States spends double the amount per capita on health care compared with other high-income countries even though utilization rates are similar.”
5 minutes of searching yielded some very good reports that totally contradict what you're saying. Can you show me a report describing how equipment and machines make up the largest portion of hospital costs?
It would be helpful if you dropped the smug act. You’re not as smart as you think you are, and it’s evident. You may be the smartest person in the room wherever you come from (I pity the people there), but you’re clearly not here. If you want to educate us, you’re going to need to know something that we don’t, first. If you want to persuade us, then you're going to need to actually bring an argument and some evidence to bear rather than relying on wishful thinking and back-of-the-napkin math.
If the machines are affordable, then why do you think that giving away machines will suddenly fix high medical costs? The equipment is not likely to be the big cost. The highest cost for almost any business is the employees. That being said, even the employees aren’t the issue here.
As I told you earlier, and several others have as well, the availability of funds makes the service more expensive. Health insurance (regulated as it is) makes health care exorbitantly expensive, just like college loans make college exorbitantly expensive. The two primary complaints all leftists have, the cost of health care and the cost of education, are both dramatically impacted by government manipulation. For some reason, people seem to think that MORE of the same bad thing will now reduce costs instead of increasing them. That is patently absurd, and that is what everyone here is telling you.
People aren’t ignoring the problem. You are. You do not understand the issue well enough to craft a solution, which is obvious based on what you’ve offered up. No one is saying that the system is good, but giving away a bunch of money isn’t going to make it better - it will make it worse. Costs will simply balloon even more as a result. The solution is to get health insurance out of the mix entirely so that prices can come down. Additionally, we have to recognize that health care is a human labor. You don’t have any more right to a doctor than you do to a mechanic to fix your car. Both are in limited supply and neither are free.
GYou have the right to life: people aren’t allowed to just kill you. You have the right to liberty: people aren’t allowed to infringe upon your freedoms. You have the right to the pursuit of happiness: the pursuit, not the guarantee.
Nothing is guaranteed. The constitution frees you to live and pursue, but it does not give you the right to anything that isn’t yours. This is the same trash logic that people try to use to justify all kinds of ridiculous things as “rights”.
The price of healthcare is high for the same reason the price of education is high: guaranteed payments for anyone and anything. There is no need to keep prices down in that circumstance to remain competitive.
Being a man who has dealt with the “modern” woman (many times) before finally finding a good wife, I can empathize with the sentiment. They’re nasty. And there are a lot of them. It’s not right to blame all women, but it sure is easy to see why many men take that stance. Sorry to hear that it’s been such a frustration - that’s understandable.
I mean, that’s kinda what the stock market does. Investors don’t like uncertainty. I suspect it will crash regardless, given how tumultuous these months have been, and then it will recover and keep on going as it has been. It will go crazy if Trump opens everything back up.
“Black” here. I identify as American, but whatever, right? I got a Kwanzaa card when I was a kid. It was stupid and fake then, and it’s stupid and fake now. I’ve never seen it mentioned in a serious note outside of that one card over 20 years ago.
Many are, these days. That’s why they’re weak. There are plenty of strong churches that stick to the scripture and aren’t having any of that nonsense, though.