You don't even know what "Socialism" is or what it means. You have this fallacious idea of what socialism is, gleamed from talk radio or conservative television news channels. You have no idea what Socialism is.
You send your kid to a private school? How...exclusionary of you. But the fact of the matter is that you DO rely on government funded things like roads, infrastructure, police, fire, etc. How would you feel if all roads were tolled? Police and firefighters didn't come unless you could pay them? Schools kicked kids out who's parents cant pay for them?
That's not necessarily exclusionary. In many cases, the private schools provide a better education (and their teachers often get paid LESS than those in public schools).
As for the roads, police, fire dept, etc., you hardly need to hike up taxes the way Obama plans to do so, to take care of these items.
I'm sure you would support this, since you're an absolute idiot. But the fact is that society works on the basis of "cooperation". True cooperation, the kind where roads are built and police and fire fighters are maintained and schools constructed, rely totally on taxing the people and using that money for these things. No society could ever function today in this modern economy if it did not provide free education to all of its children, regardless of income. The children are who will carry the economy in the future, and if they are uneducated (even the one's who can't pay) then that harms the economy. It creates all sorts of problems. The same goes for roads, police, fire, etc.
Education ain't free. Somebody has to pay for it and the simple fact is that we have schools that SUCK, despite major money being spent (in excess of $10,000 per student in some places) on them.
The same ALSO goes for health care. No country can function properly if its people are unhealthy and can not get proper medical attention. Lack of productivity, lack of motivation, lost wages, lost hours, all of this hurts the economy and in turn hurts everyone living in that society. This is why it is required for a modern productive society to provide general healthcare for all of its population. The people are the investment, and if they are sick then it hurts everyone. This isn't a "every man for himself" scenario, because if my neighbor loses and gets sick and can't pay then in the long run it indirectly hurts me and everyone else.
No, it's not a requirement to provide general healthcare. Our society has been productive for decades, without it. To a degree, it is "every man for himself". You are responsible for yourself and your family, not me or Coach. The wise decisions you make will bless you and those under your care; and the foolish decisions you make will hurt you and yours.
As for people being healthy, too many people dig their graves with their knives and forks. That goes back to personal responsibility. There's a fine line between being your brother's keeper and propping up irresponsible people.
Obviously people need to make smart choices in living healthy, exercising and eating healthy...But this goes back to proper education (another filthy socialist idea).
Education is hardly a socialist idea. But education is WORTHLESS without wisdom that leads to smart and practical application. That is what is lacking in our society today. There's more knowledge available today than there has ever been, perhaps, in human history. Yet people are making the most BONE-HEADED decisions ever seen.
We have more gyms, informercials for fitness gadgets, and every "diet" under the sun. Yet, we're fatter than ever. We have the information superhighway; yet (as demonstrated time and time again on this forum), half the people here can barely spell or form a decent sentence.
We can communicate with anyone on the planet, using the phone that's smaller than a candy bar. Yet, we have little-to-no time for our families; hence you see kids acting a fool.
Without wisdom, knowledge simply makes it easier for a society to destroy itself.
