Churchill said it best.....

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Actually that was originally said by John Adams.
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/3235.html


That's really the crux of the problem. America was founded on the idea that all individuals are free to choose their own destiny, without interference from anyone else, especially the government. It's true that people should never be allowed to starve, or to go without health care; but it's also true that nothing is ever free. If someone recieves "free" health care, someone else has to pay for it. While it's a good idea on the face of it, I don't see it as truly being a "right". I have the right to do what I want, not to make other people do what I want. I'm not actually arguing that point so much as stating it, because I see the need and the correctness of both sides of the issue, just as I do for most.

The problem is that the more power is given to the government to accomplish things, the less America becomes America. Is that a good thing? I don't think so, but that's my opinion.

Understandable, and I see where you're coming from, certainly our NHS has eaten large portions of the British budget over the years, however I would suspect that there would be as great a protest here if the NHS was turned from free to paying as there is in America at this time, if not more so.
I think it is something that I, and most people in Europe, will not be able to grasp easily because we do not have the same history or spirit that America does, we do not see eye to eye on a great many things, and yet we do on others, that is how things are, how they always will be.
Either which way, I do find it concerning the measures which are being used to get this bill through Congress, however the US government is not alone in this kind of endeavor, the British government is forever ramming things through through one technicality or another, but no matter who is voted in, they'll be just as bad as the last one. It might sound defeatist but when Tony Blair ousted the Tories in 1997 many people hoped for real change, it was the promise of a new era, I recall the word 'Cool Britannia' being thrown around, but at the end of the day, not a great deal changed, about the only positive thing to come out of the Blair years was the minimum wage. The Conservatives will be in next (most likely) and they'll cut a load of things which will probably make the rich richer and the poor poorer, and the great circle begins again.