Demagoguery is a tactic from the left that many people fall for.
Because the Right
never engages in demagoguery...**cough**deathpanels**cough**
And you are correct in that it does not matter how good a system is, someone will indeed bitch about it. You don't need unanimous consent for things though, just a majority. Also, if our private healthcare system is so superior, then why (according to the
World Factbook) does the U.S. rank 50th in life expectancy? Behind such notable countries as Jordan and Bosnia. It boggles the mind that a system designed in the 18th century to protect against shipping losses should be the basis for one's healthcare. I also fail to see how people dying because they lack the money to pay in a private system is superior. Being poor shouldn't be a terminal condition.
I do not believe that any government ever has been or ever will be an all-knowing, wise, and benevolent organization. On the other hand I am not so blinded by ideology that I think that "all gubmint is bad, mmmmkay?"
The U.S. has a pretty lax emigration policy. If you hate the U.S. Government so much you are free to leave and go live somewhere else. Don't want to leave? Then try to convince a majority of your countrymen that your way is right and have them vote appropriately. Good luck with that. There is of course a 3rd option, and I honestly hope someone tries it, so that it can be put down with all that it deserves. Despite wet dreams to the contrary, the American people will not rise up in support, and it will fail badly. The average American cares about who is winning on
Idol this season, not grandiose schemes of Libertopia.
You
will render unto Caeser, or the IRS will take all that you own and imprison you. Cry all you want about it, it doesn't change anything. Or don't pay them. As I said above, I look forward to buying a lot of mining equipment at tax auctions next year.
First of all, I am Canadian, so there goes that point. There is a good reason most Canadians and Europeans talk loudly about how great their system is, and I will get to that.
Second, the American healthcare system is NOT a free market, it is distinctly corporatist in nature. Even Obamacare isn't actually socialism, it is a stronger taste of corporatism. The FDA, AMA, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, taxes, regulations, etc etc make it a VERY unfree market. A cartel of government sponsored corporations are allowed to make drugs and about 20,000 new doctors are accepted by the AMA every year for the past 60+ years (which is to say, the US population rises but the number of new doctors allowed in per year NEVER does). Despite this, it still manages to have SOME advantages over the Canadian system. First, in Canada, if you don't have a serious condition, you will have to wait first to be inspected by a nurse, then to be inspected by a doctor. I recall a friend who had appendicitis and went to the hospital to see what it was. He spent several hours waiting for a nurse to come see how "bad" his condition was, then was placed on a list forcing him to wait hours more. Eventually, he was allowed a brief inspection by the doctor, where the doctor spent maybe two minutes asking questions and then declared it was appendicitis and left. That was for what amounted to a checkup that could have been done in the US in a couple minutes. Don't get me started on actual surgery. Sometimes even people with serious problems are left to die on lists lasting months because Canada has a bit of a shortage of certain kinds of medical equipment (for example, CT scanners, of which the US state of Oregon has something like 5 times over what all of Canada has).
See, when people are shown a choice between a system like Canada, which is okay if you happen to have an issue which can be fixed easily and with no cost, and the US, where various government incentives have made prices insane outside of a handful of country doctors who refuse insurance payments, most people assume that those are the only two options (semi-private/public systems like the NHS can replace Canada if you prefer). If the US healthcare system was truly free (and it more or less was pre-1964) it would be much cheaper and much more efficient. Once those incentives for insurance and regulations began to pile up, prices began to go through the roof. Without them, it would be much more obvious how bad socialized medicine really is (just like how comparing Maoist China and Stalinist Russia might make you consider one to be better, but when you enter a half decent Western country in the mix they are clearly both terrible).
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"IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT YOU CAN GIT OUTTA HERE"
Except that would imply that I don't own my own property, which the government has no claim to. I don't give a damn about what the "majority" thinks, either. It isn't THEIR land. For a time, fleeing places like China, the USSR, etc wasn't especially difficult if you were willing to risk losing everything built up in your home country, but most people didn't. Actually, that is the case in many countries with brutal regimes in charge. "IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET MURDERED AND HAVE YOUR PROPERTY LOOTED YOU CAN GIT OUTTA HERE".
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Who cares if the average American doesn't "rise up"? That is unnecessary. The average American is unlikely to do anything unless the bread and circuses are interrupted, and with the US financial system that is a given. The state will, given time and a bit of a push, collapse in on itself. When that happens, you only need a small group of dedicated people to succeed. There were very few Bolsheviks compared to their opponents in Russia, but they were by far the most dedicated to their cause and it paid off in the end. Look at the Free State Project.
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The IRS is going to be hard pressed to find an excuse or a way to tax bitcoins besides when they are converted back to US dollars. If I am a clever American, I could take my US dollars, convert them to bitcoins, and leave them around to collect dust. What's the IRS gonna do, kick the door down and try to hack my computer? Even better, I could begin to phase out use of the US dollar. In the past that would be very hard, but with Silk Road expanding its market into furniture, food, etc and other businesses beginning to accept it that might become easier. Again, what can the IRS do with no banks, no wires, no credit cards, etc? If a person decides to stop playing with worthless monopoly money and begins to stop using it, or even starts getting paid with it, then the IRS will be hard pressed to crack down short of setting up proper police state surveillance, lots of new laws, and the suspension of the fourth Amendment (and if that happens, the US will already have ceased to have the ability to fund itself with inflation).
