Why I believe the US doesn't have free health care and free higher education...

reply to post by charles1952


You can use the Declaration, and I very well expected you to (which I should have given you the opportunity to if I was actually looking for a debate, and I apologize) but my statement stands. Nature's God is not the same as Abraham's God, David's God, or Jesus's God.

One need look no further than the authors of any of our country's founding documents actual religious beliefs. They're not exactly modern-day Jerry Falwells. Deists for the most part, Quakers for the least, neither of which wishing to impost their beliefs on the whole of the country.

Reading any writing by our founding fathers about religion is an easy way to get a slightly less opaque view of the religious situation of the time.

Jeez, look up high recidivism rates.

U.S. Prisons Overcrowded and Violent, Recidivism High
Confronting Confinement, a June 2006 U.S. prison study by the bipartisan Commission on Safety and Abuse in America's Prisons, reports than on any given day more than 2 million people are incarcerated in the United States, and that over the course of a year, 13.5 million spend time in prison or jail. African Americans are imprisoned at a rate roughly seven times higher than whites, and Hispanics at a rate three times higher than whites. Within three years of their release, 67% of former prisoners are rearrested and 52% are re-incarcerated, a recidivism rate that calls into question the effectiveness of America's corrections system, which costs taxpayers $60 billion a year. Violence, overcrowding, poor medical and mental health care, and numerous other failings plague America's 5,000 prisons and jails. The study indicates that even small improvements in medical care could significantly reduce recidivism. “What happens inside jails and prisons does not stay inside jails and prisons,” the commission concludes, since 95% of inmates are eventually released back into society, ill-equipped to lead productive lives. Given the dramatic rise in incarceration over the past decade, public safety is threatened unless the corrections system does in fact “correct” rather than simply punish



Read more: U.S. Prisons Overcrowded and Violent, Recidivism High — Infoplease.com www.infoplease.com...

Why is the recidivism rate among felons so high? Because society punishes ex-convicts for life. Devah Pager and Jeff Manza explain:
And why can't people wrap their heads around the fact that we are taking care of these people and others?

reply to post by Anonymous404

Dear Anonymous404,

Thanks again, I'm enjoying this. Yet another question? I don't mind one way or the other, but are we drifting off the subject? I don't want to distract you from other points you may have wanted to make about health care and education. Of course, it's perfectly acceptable to say, "Sure we are, but so what?' In which case I'd be happy to continue.

With respect,
Charles1952

reply to post by charles1952


We are, and I would like to get back on topic, but there is a thread going about the direction we've headed. www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by Gridrebel


Why is the recidivism rate among felons so high? Because society punishes ex-convicts for life.

We actually agree on this statement. It's difficult for ex-cons to find work, pay for probation, find free transportation to court ordered parole officer meetings, drug tests, et al.

But hey, healthcare is the topic.

Originally posted by Anonymous404

Originally posted by Gridrebel


Why is the recidivism rate among felons so high? Because society punishes ex-convicts for life.

We actually agree on this statement. It's difficult for ex-cons to find work, pay for probation, find free transportation to court ordered parole officer meetings, drug tests, et al.

But hey, healthcare is the topic.

Then what is your point? We all take care of business and our SO, what are U saying

Why am I to have to edit this post?

reply to post by Gridrebel



I'm saying that if we placed more emphasis on assimilating convicts to society with MORE degree programs and job-placement opportunities then we would have better luck with recidivism rates. See Norway for example.
thinkprogress.org...

reply to post by CoolerAbdullah786


Not that I disagree with your theory, but if feeding the war machine necessarily a bad thing? War is a bad thing. But I've come to believe that alot of adolecent males are better off being professionally trained to kill until they go to school as mid to late 20 somethings than being on the streets with their hormones, etc, with little hope. I think the machines of war can still be useful without wars.

reply to post by buster2010


Not a valid excuse when we pump billions into defense and stealth projects every year.

See people? Cut the defense spending and re-invest it where it's really needed: infrastructure!

Health care doesn't need to be free but it does need to be universal...
...health care should be available only on the basis of need never means.

Originally posted by buster2010
The reason why the US doesn't have those things are simple. Money and lots of it. Just look at how much the prices of those things has skyrocketed in the last decade.

Absolutely hate when people use this excuse. We DO have the money to fund these things, we had trillions for war right? War that our citizens don't even support anymore, however are still being forced to pay for.