[MD] Down the road of mediocrity

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Platt]
So the manufacture, production and distribution of goods and services 
can be done by retards...

[Arlo]
I'm sorry, where exactly in Pirsig does he say social activity is 
basically the level of retardation? Commerce is a social activity, 
calculus is an intellectual activity. You could say that football 
requires "intellect" to play, but its still a social level activity. 
Organized religion requires "intellect" to operate (write sermons, 
organize events, collect tithes, play music on the organ...), but its 
still a social level activity.

[Platt]
A soldier not only fights for his family's freedom but for his own. I 
don't know where you get this "greater good" from.

[Arlo]
So you're saying soldier's only fight for their own freedom, that 
they do not sacrifice for the greater good (freedom for everyone)? 
But you still haven't answered the question. Is a soldier more moral 
than a fireman? Is a soldier more moral than your local grocery 
clerk? Is a grocery clerk more moral than a librarian? I really don't 
see any rubric to your proposal that some people are more moral than 
others. So far its only been:

Those who fight for intellectual freedom from social repression are 
more moral than those who fight for threatening biological freedoms 
from social repression.

Or to reword this....

Non-criminals are more moral than criminals.

Whatever, but what does this have to do with who does and does not 
receive health care?

[Arlo]
if we let the economic market determine who does and who does not 
receive medical care, then we are tying the value of human life to 
that person's ability to generate wealth.

[Platt]
To a person's ability to pay for services rendered, yes. Without 
wealth there would be no doctors, no medicines, no life saving equipment.

[Arlo]
And here is the new capistocracy. The life of the rich is more 
valuable than the life of the poor. A human life is worth only what 
wealth s/he generates. A sad state of affairs we have descended into.

[Platt]
Stale? Most people don't even realize that's the only thing that 
gives government its power.

[Arlo]
No. What gives government its power is its people (in a democracy).

[Platt]
Insurance is a voluntary association of people for mutual protection.

[Arlo]
Which does not change the fact that _I_ subsidize _YOUR_ expenses 
when your claims outweigh your contributions. I don't _want_ my 
premiums to go up, but every time someone takes more out than they 
put in, I get the bill. Once again, you're welcome.

[Platt]
There's nothing voluntary about paying taxes to support wasteful 
government programs and fat bureaucrats.

[Arlo]
There's nothing voluntary about supporting our armed services either, 
is there? But I gladly do it...