My Political Bias

My political bias tends to create an internal conflict between wanting the government to err on the side of those who need assistance and freedom of the individual.  I feel in a civilized society various segments of the population should be protected, i.e. the very young and the very old.   I also feel that individuals in a free society should have the right to make poor choices and be responsible for those poor choices.   However, society should be protected from these poor choices if they have a negative impact on others.  For example a person should be able it ingest whatever substance he chooses but others should be protected from his diminished capacities such as in operating a vehicle.    A person should be free to choose to not wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle; however, in the case of a resulting severe head injury society should not bear the medical costs should he survive.

I feel government should ensure children have the basic needs,  food, safety, and shelter.  Education should be a basic right of everyone and everyone should have the opportunity to obtain at least a Bachelor's Degree or some technical equivalent.   Time should be spent in the educational system evaluating students and preparing them for appropriate directions for their future careers.  This requires guidance given to students as to their realistic abilities and how to best develop these.  One should be free to choose their path but they should be provided good information to aid them in their decisions.  I know during my education I had no guidance as to what options I should  consider.  

I feel medical care should be a basic right; however, it should be administered with some limitations.  Children should be given priority.   Beyond this there are some very difficult questions.  These involves one's rights in a free society.  If one chooses to overindulge in alcohol over a period of time, then this should be the responsibility of the individual rather than the society.   Society would not have the responsibility for the medical costs resulting from such activity.  The question of whose bears the cost is simple but the administration of such a policy would be very difficult.  How do you determine if the person drank too much or had some type of liver defect?  These would present many such problems and there is always danger in a free society with anyone having such decision making powers.

There is another very difficult question that we as a society will have to address at some point.  This relates to end of life issues.   Most people spent more on medical costs during the last six months than they do during the rest of the lives.    These procedures are very expensive and in most cases only serve to extend a poor quality of life a few months.    How should our society address such issues?   As for myself, in my present state of mind I prefer to let nature take its course.  However, if and when I have to address that issue I may indeed become very greedy and not care about the cost to society.  I may simply want to extend my life as long as possible.   However, at some point this issue will bankrupt our medical system.

My main complaint of our political system at this time is that politicians seem to have one major issue: reelection.  This seems to dominate both parties and I no longer care to listen to politicians speak.  Depending on their party, you already know what they are going to say because they always use the sound bytes of their particularly party.  It seems to be a sin for a politician to have an original thought.   Of course, this may have always been true but in the past there seemed to be more statesmen, more concerned about their country than their election results.