In the mood...

I walked into Starbuck's around 9:15 or so this morning, and immediately wished for my laptop and Plato's "Republic". (or "Nichomachean Ethics")

It's amazing what a decorating style and music will do for a mood.

From the modernly old walls and soft jazz music, to the presence of prestigious newspapers and chairs that were simply made for reading in, the shop simply radiates scholastic thought. It's like someone hangs out a big sign that says "Enjoy a quiet visit with a friend or study HERE".


And now for one of my pet peeves.

"The doctors, however, they might huff and puff, would not have
anywhere else on earth to go were a system of socialized medicine established in
the US, since socialized medicine has been established in all rich countries and
there are only so many jobs open in Saudi Arabia and the few other rich
countries that don’t have socialized medicine. (Those jobs also are severely
restricted by religion, ethnicity and gender.) "

His basic argument is that everyone else simply has better socialism that the US. Since the US has the worst socialisistic system, we should upgrade.

He definitely has a point.

If we're going to do something halfway, it's not worth it at all.

What he fails to take into consideration, however, (and this is where my peeve comes in) is that the US IS NOT everyone else. 0_o Shocking I know. The United States system of government successfully limits government action and interference with what I (and others) would call the free market.

So we (the govt) stretch ourselves to the very limit in trying to offer medicare systems, and yet still try to maintain a limited balance.

I am reminded of the fable of the boy and father taking their donkey to market. They started out using the donkey right, with the boy riding and the father leading. But then, someone points out that the father should be riding and the boy leading.

And then someone else (who else but a liberal? ;-) ) points out that the donkey was old and sick and needed to be carried.

You simply can't please everyone and definitely can't stradle the fence. At least, not for long.

Either we adopt Mr. Markowitz's propostion wholeheartedly, or a complete rejection is in order.

And now, I'm off to Corpus Christi.

~Rachel