A Father Daughter Talk

This is for all my friends (and everyone else) who is thinking about voting for Obama or Clinton in the upcoming U.S. Presidential Election.

*****

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and among other liberal ideals, she was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth. She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican - a feeling she openly expressed.

Based on the lectures she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his. One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs.

The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school. Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, 'How is your friend Audrey doing?' She replied, 'Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over.'

Her wise father asked his daughter, 'Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.'

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, 'That's a crazy idea, and how would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!'

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, 'Welcome to the Republican party.'

*****

If anyone has a better explanation of the difference between Republican and Democrat I'm all ears.

There's no question we have issues to deal with in the U.S.A. There's no question we need more focus on social programs, but not by rewarding people for their lack of motivation to become self-supporting (i.e. off welfare). The Democrat's socialized healthcare program funded by governement subsidy won't work. or let me rephrase that... it will be a failure in quality.

Canada and countries in Europe and Asia already have government provided healthcare. I've been there, and I and friends and family have been through them. The quality of care is low, the ability to access care is low, the motivation of the government funded staff to provide good care and customer service is almost non-existant.

A friend in Canada with cancer needed an MRI, his local government subsidized doctor scheduled him for the first available appointment at the closest government funded hospital. He had to wait 7 months for his appointment!!! He got himself an appointment at a facility in the USA, had it done within 2 weeks, found out the cancer was stage 3, and then had to fight a legal battle with the Canadian healthcare beauracracy to get him into treatment immediately without a Canadian MRI.

I have a cousin in Thailand with a birth-defect in his heart - a hole between the two atrium's. He was scheduled for surgery 5 months into the future. On the day of the surgery, he and his parents sat in the lobby waiting to be admitted from 0600 until 1300. The surgery had been scheduled for 0830. In a normal hospital, invasive heart surgery would require an overnight stay the night before for preparation. Government funded hospitals are so overworked, overcrowded and underfunded they have to bypass certain types of procedures.

I have a friend who was traveling in Europe when his wife broke her arm. They went to the Emergency Room at the local international hospital. They both said it was like walking into a scene from the 1950's - just like Thailand they sat and sat and sat. When finally treated they wanted to insert a metal plate and screws and keep her in the hospital for a full week. They needed to be back in the USA in 4 days. So she got a shoulder to wrist cast put on, got back to the USA, had outpatient surgery the next day at a regular hospital, paid for by her HMO, and was back at work the following week.

Without even getting into talking about how Democrats would pay for it... subsidized health care doesn't work. It's inefficient, and unmotivated. It creates beauracy just like the civil service, and in many cases it endangers patients with that inefficiency!