My beef is primarily with the "loss of rights" argument. I don't think anyone is losing rights in this country. We may want more rights than we have, but that's probably been the case ever since the Constitution took effect. The federal government exists to provide a foundation and general direction that it believes will best serve the country as a whole, rather than each of us as individuals. It will make decisions that you and I disagree with from time to time, but that doesn't mean our rights have been taken away.
The Bill of Rights doesn't promise anyone the right to ride a motorcycle without a helmet or the right to allow smoking in a restaurant he/she owns. It does promise the right to speak freely without being arrested, the right to vote, seek elected office, etc. If someone has lost any of THOSE rights, I'd be interested to hear about it.
I heard Gary Player interviewed this week about the death of Nelson Mandela, and he said something that is particularly apropos here: "I don't believe we're all born equal. But what I want to know in my
life is that I have equal opportunity. That's the thing that we've got
to create in the world."
I don't believe that it is government's responsibility to provide unlimited handouts to the poor, sick, uninsured and disadvantaged. We should not be encouraging people to remain unemployed or to complain because someone else has succeeded. But I do think if we are to be honest with ourselves, it is a much tougher road to success for a kid born in the ghetto to a single, unemployed mom in poverty who has no insurance than it is for a kid born to two middle-class or upper-class parents. That's not to say the poor kid can't succeed or the rich kid can't fail, but the initial opportunities are simply different. The poor kids often do NOT have the same opportunities to succeed.
I do think government should be there to provide those in need with basic support for a certain, finite, well-defined period of time, with requirements -- again, for the betterment of society as a whole. The alternative is to do nothing and then have to deal with the drain on society that a growing population of people who are sick and unemployed people would create. Poor, sick people with no access to money, healthcare or help will steal or turn violent to survive, then perhaps spread disease, end up incarcerated (where we pay to keep them) or drain the healthcare system (our rates increase as a result) and die. That's not a chain of events or an outcome that is good for society.
In the case of the ACA, I believe the intent was to address this cycle in part. Of course, it has not been implemented well, IMO, and certainly is a very complicated matter to begin with. I don't think the Obama administration has communicated things effectively, and it certainly has failed to keep some of its promises related to the ACA. I don't think those failures mean the overall concept necessarily is a flawed one, though.
Going slightly off-topic here...
I think it's ridiculous that some states allow people to claim unemployment for years. I know someone who was getting $65k a year in Massachusetts to sit on her ass after she intentionally got herself fired because she didn't want to work anymore. Then she "applied" for positions every few months that she had no chance of getting (CEO-level jobs) just to show her "good-faith" effort. That's ridiculous and should never be allowed to happen. Talk about a drain on society.
I don't think we ought to keep paying more welfare to single moms who are unemployed and keep having more kids. I don't think we should be rewarding people who come here illegally from other countries. Come legally, the way my grandfather and millions of others did, or don't come at all. I don't favor raising minimum wage, because I think that takes away the incentive for people who are working minimum wage jobs to better themselves.
The solutions to all these issues usually are not black and white. But I think the common thread through all of them -- the solution that could help provide equal opportunity for all kids, better job opportunities for the unemployed and minimum wage workers, hope for those without it, economic development in communities nationwide -- is education. That's one area in which we must do better, and since most kids are educated through public school systems, it's an area for which I would support more government funding.
