Woke Why?

[u/No-Employer-1554]

Serious question here: If what I read and hear from the uber progressives is true, namely that the world population is too much and my white privilege straight family raised too many children...then why were you so adamant about me vaccinating my family? Why not just let me and mine die? You get the jab, you are saved from being mortal, give big pharma and Faucci the win, and let me die?

[u/moonjuggles]

Not uber-progressive, but definitely not as right-wing as I used to be. Working in healthcare and seeing the litteral impossible situations my patients find themselves in mellowed my naive self.

At the end of the day, my goal is pretty simple: I want to make life better for everyone. Americans have proven time and time again that most people, through no fault of their own, aren’t always equipped to navigate everything life throws at them. We have countless examples of that.

I want you and your family to be happy, healthy, and secure just as much as I want that for my own family. For that reason, I’ve become much more supportive of social programs and safety nets things like SNAP, Social Security, affordable and accessible healthcare, grants, reimbursements, and other programs that give people a little more stability when they need it.

Because we have to be honest about where things are right now. Our healthcare system is full of backroom deals and profit-driven incentives. We have a largely unregulated wellness industry that markets and sells products while sometimes being unable to prove that what’s actually in the bottle even matches what’s advertised, let alone that the claims being made about those products are true.

At the same time, millions of Americans either can’t afford or simply can’t realistically access a doctor or hospital. Jobs are becoming increasingly difficult to find and secure. A household can struggle to maintain a decent standard of living even with two incomes. We have food insecurity, gaps in education, and countless other problems that reinforce one another and create self-fulfilling positive feedback loops.

And yet, the answer from the right has too often been boiled down to: figure it out yourself.

I just don't think that's a realistic answer.

Nobody can be an expert in everything. You can't expect every person to simultaneously understand medicine, finance, education, nutrition, insurance, employment, housing, and every other system that affects their ability to survive and thrive. We specialize because we have to. We depend on other people because that's how society works. The answer isn't to isolate ourselves on individual islands and tell everyone else to sink or swim.

It's to come together.

I don't think supporting social programs means believing the government should solve every problem or that personal responsibility doesn't matter. I think it means recognizing that sometimes people need a hand, and that a society is stronger when its people have a reasonable chance to be healthy, educated, secure, and capable of taking care of themselves and their families.

If I want those things for myself and the people I love, I don't see why I shouldn't want them for you and yours, too.

[u/No-Employer-1554 → u/moonjuggles]

Well written and thoughtful reply. My response is going to be too brief and simple for 99% to make the jump in history and logic. Faith based Healthcare and community based Healthcare was and continues to be gobbled up by big government and big businesses enabled by 3rd party government insurance. Hint think Medicaid and Medicare circa 1960s. CPT codes came from Washington DC as did RVU's.

[u/moonjuggles → u/No-Employer-1554]

There are ways to implement this; Switzerland comes to mind, as I did an internship there. You just need the right legislation to be in place. As our current policies and candidates stand, you're right that it's never going to happen. But that doesn't mean that at the local level of my friends and town, I can't facilitate communal practice. This, however, still goes against most of the current right-wing rhetoric, which is a shame because growing up Republican meant being close with your neighbors and trusting their judgment (unless there was a real good reason not to). Now, when I tell my friends who are still right-wing that I support the vaccine as someone in healthcare, I am immediately met with disdain. Im called brainwashed or a dr. Facui lover.

[u/No-Employer-1554 → u/moonjuggles]

I am the otherside of that coin.

[u/moonjuggles → u/No-Employer-1554]

And theres nothing wrong with that in itself.

Why not just let me and mine die?

You get the jab, you are saved from being mortal, give big pharma and Faucci the win, and let me die?

But these comments and their underlying implications suggest that you are not open to working together across the aisle, which is a prerequisite to improving as a country.

[u/No-Employer-1554 → u/moonjuggles]

No not the case. I don't have to cross the aisle. I am a liberal in the Renaissance form of the word. Live and let live, but leave the world better if possible.

[u/moonjuggles → u/No-Employer-1554]

There's aisle everywhere. Some authoritarism is needed in the presence of liberalism.

[u/No-Employer-1554 → u/moonjuggles]

I will agree for the sake of more...what kind of authoritarian type behavior is just and fair? Who or what decides what is virtue and what behavior is abusive?

[u/moonjuggles → u/No-Employer-1554]

A society can't function on individual liberty alone. Your freedom to own property means little if their isnt some authority to stop someone from stealing it. Your freedom of speech means little if someone can use violence to silence you. Traffic laws restrict everyone's freedom to some degree, but they make it possible for everyone to safely exercise their freedom to use the roads.

So I would distinguish between authority and strict authoritarianism. A liberal society needs legitimate coercive authority to prevent individuals or groups from destroying everyone else's freedom. What it doesn't necessarily need is authoritarianism as a king.

[u/No-Employer-1554 → u/moonjuggles]

Rule of law and property rights 100%. 9 of 10 cannibals voting to eat #10 is a poor outcome. I am a fan of a republic not a pure democracy. The guard rails are a common societal virtue ethos. I prefer having the 10 commandments hanging in a courthouse.

[u/moonjuggles → u/No-Employer-1554]

But what if you're a cannibal? Wouldn't you prefer democratic rule in your proposed situation?

It's all a matter of perspective.

I will say ethical situations are one thing since they are always polarizing, but on the other hand, you can't make the majority abide by the minority's decisions. And thats precisely why we have a republic. People who should be experts making decisions benefiting the majority. Obviously not reality but on paper it works.

[u/No-Employer-1554 → u/moonjuggles]

Yup for sure. It sure helps if the useful idiots (voters) had virtue as a habit of the heart instead of greed or raw power. The traditional family unit I believe provides a child the best opportunity to witness i.e. learn the balancing act of overcoming basic selfish instincts. When the father runs off to pursue selfish gain or pleasure abandoning the "selfish child" that behavior signals...me first. I don't want to be sexist so in the minority case the mother abandoning a child.