So I Benefit the Most

When it comes to healthcare, I do not think I can force trained professionals to serve me, or save me. Believe me, even when they are trying, they are not always very sharp.  Sometimes.

So, the country has been all into the healthcare thing; Obamacare, et al.   It is like a ball of yarn assembled by a cat.

I listen to people whose deductibles went north, whose premiums and coverage are less favorable, etc.  And I know people who have to go to the primary in order to do anything and they get caught in various catch-22's.  The HMO system creates much of what it was supposed to eliminate.  It is a bureaucratic misanthropic construct.  And it is sold to the public as the opposite of its reality.

But in my case, any poorer and I would be screwed.  Any wealthier and I would be screwed.  A whole lot wealthier and it wouldn't matter.   That tells me that my mind is thinking that it is not even worth the effort unless you are going to be a big whole lot wealthier.   Just some wealthier is not worth it.  Not my idea.  Indirectly, IT'S THE LAW !!!

The brings me to an aside.  I remember posters and such put out to indoctrinate the public during the 55 mph phase.  Maybe it is just me, but some posters and slogans put out by government agencies, whether irs, police, blm, or other,  are ridiculous, insulting and moronic.  Not to mention heavy handed.

The one I am thinking of was in a DMV office in Albemarle, NC or somewhere like that.
It had some graphic of a cop car or something scary, and it just said, 55, Not only a good idea, IT'S THE LAW!  Just seemed odd, as if they are saying, "Yes, 'good idea' and 'law' are not necessarily coexistent entities."  And I'd thank you for your candor.

That is neither here nor there.   The real point is my good fortune amid an overall history of odd fortune.  I hesitate to call it bad, or good.  But odd comes without caveat or hesitation.

Be happy.  It looks like I will pay more than I am using this year.  Last year you took most of the hit.  Not all,  by any means.  Now that I look at it.   But that is how things work.

If this keeps up, good news.  Things are always in flux.  When that is a good thing, I don't know.

Way Behind the Times

Not the NY Times.   Just the general pop culture of busybody statists.  The idea of a draft, which gives a pick of happy hippy work or military is not a form of involuntary servitude.  It is just compulsory volunteer service.  

I actually read an article which explained Stewart's plan as different than the old fashioned draft because you could do public service things as dictated by the bureau in charge of such things.  It said everyone would be "required to do volunteer service' for the public good, or some such noble cause.

The meaning of the word "rights" was clouded, diluted and obliterated some time ago.  Now we see the word slave and volunteer being interchanged.

Really Small Minded Power Thing

That is my view.

I remember when the news had big things on raising the driving age to 18 in FL, back in my Miami youth.  They always had student government slime from whatever high school to speak in support of raising the age.  They were seniors, either already 18 or soon to be.  What kiss-up sell-outs.

Just like Jon Stewart, wanting to place obligations, from which he is exempt, on others.  He did not have such intrusion of the state controlling his choices at 18.  That sort of hypocrisy is typical of almost anything political in this country and maybe world.  I am certainly not one of those who believes our system is inferior to the more state heavy systems of much of the world.  Our laws have been broken by those sworn to uphold them.  The siren call of alleged pragmatists often overrides farsighted moral considerations.

Government hijacked by thugs long ago.  No telling how far back it goes.  But it is a crime syndicate sort of outfit.

That bit of "everyone ought to have to (do this or that)", never set well with me.  People should not owe their lives to the state to do with it as it chooses--even if only for a year or two.  Maybe there won't be a bunch of people getting killed in a stupid excursion.  Everyone will robotically thank you for your service.  You will either feel wonderful to be thanked for being forced to serve the state, or you will grow to despise the empty unqualified nature of their gratitude.  How do they know what you did or if they are glad of it?

Yea, I guess I must be wrong.  Most have no idea what to do anyway, so a couple of years being the state's bitch can't hurt. Pays pocket change and room and board.  Maybe even exposure to gender variations new to the planet.

Drafting girls could be so cool.  Since most seem unaware of Vietnam, or much else, how about we draft for a cool war like that?  This could be absolutely wonderful.  Another psychotic generation can rebel against the other lunatics controlling them.  Maybe have a summer of love which is really lots of sex and being high in preparation for the decade of greed these same altruists created soon as they could.

Justy when I thought no one could be bigger idiots than baby boomers, a new crop has backed women into the draft-me-for-any-ridiculous war corner.  Can't say a damned thing. Out of their F'ing minds.  And unlike the old days, anything but straight will no longer get you out. Nothing gets you out.

Two Kinds of People...

There are those who always think in terms of what everyone should do, and how to force them.  They think this is the best way of things for everyone, because they know best.

And there are those who do not think in those terms.

I saw something which quoted Jon Stewart asserting that everyone of draft-able age should serve a year of military or community service or whatever kind of government thing.

Jon was not subjected to the draft.  He never had the government threatening to conscript him to fight a war which may have been conducted under false pretense.  Certainly most of America seemed confused about the situation.   The hawks were still thinking in terms of the clear cut goals which marked WWII.  So it was knee jerk patriotism to support the Vietnam war and draft.

The protestor side was blaming us for being awful people etc., as if we were the ones violating every war crime taboo in the book.  As a matter of course.  I am sure we did at times.  I probably would have either melted into a puddle or violated all those things in some manic state of hysteria.  Properly directed though, that kind of thing can win the day.

But, I was never there.  Just threatened, blackmailed, baffled and horrified by the draft.  I was horrified because I was under the belief that our country was much freer and less oppressive than others. Yet they could force me to meet their plans and goals, not mine.  And their goals are a bit gray in most skirmishes since WWII.

 I had been to Latin America as a kid and they had a different feel.  Bureaucratic abuse.  Lines.  Unnecessary delays, seemingly just to affirm to the citizen that he/she is a subject under power of the state.

Back then, that seemed a contrast.  Not so much anymore.  So, really, all you need do is hang around long enough in many parts of the USA, and old fashioned third world problems will come to you.  It is like a free vacation!   TB!  Lines!  Total absence of reason within public agencies.  Something for everyone.

It always gets me when someone makes these pronouncements upon groups of which they do not belong.  And in some cases, even if they do belong, by what right do they suggest all their fellow whatevers "serve" as they see fit?  Is it OK because everyone is or was young?  OK because that is the most powerless, but most physically fit age group.

When only men were drafted, I believed it was the result of a long history in which middle aged men found ways to get rid of young men so they could chase the younger women.  Now, I don't know.  I was probably right, but the stupid plan has now backfired big time.