I'm not sure that I want the states to control my life, education, or health insurance -- EITHER! The states can't run our lives any better than the federal gov't, and we have to remember that we are a UNION; therefore, each state is part of a union and NOT an island onto itself. Although, for the last ten years or so, Tennessee has acted like it isn't part of a union that is about 'prosperity for all', as it has practiced slave labor and underemployment for the low-income uneducated and low-income educated person, respectively, and has reserved the best paying jobs for the status quo and their family members, forging into place an economic caste system.
We all have rights, and originally, the tenth amendment has more to do with segregation than actual equality and freedom for all, i.e., "The last major Tenth Amendment battle took place as the result of 1960s civil rights legislation, which attempted to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment against Southern states that continued to impose second-class citizenship on black residents. Subsequently, most references to 'state's rights' in the common political vernacular are actually veiled references to segregation--unfortunate, given that the question of federal vs. state's rights is a legitimate issue that the Supreme Court has been attempting to resolve for two centuries."
The states can't do any better with education than the federal government since each state has it's own 'master plan' when it comes to education. The 'master plan' explains accountability and curriculum and funding, but nonetheless, when it's all said and done, it's not doing anything useful for students. Instead, it's firing teachers. The funding the Department of Education received in 2010 from the Federal Government in an attempt to restore the economy by pumping money into it and the Department of Transportation, hasn't trickled down to the teachers or the students. It stopped somewhere in the pockets of administrators or where we don't know. What the public does know is that in 2011, teachers across the nation are getting pink slips and finding jobs overseas. So, why should 'we the people' trust the states to fairly disperse opportunity when we can't trust them to disperse Federal monies properly? If anything, the Federal Government and the people of each state should demand a detailed itemization of where each dollar the state has spent the money (stashed the loot).
And why should we entrust the state to make sure insurance is affordable to all its citizens? They've had all this time to try and they haven't tried very hard in convincing the private insurance agencies to reduce premiums. The state of Tennessee has TennCare to insure children and some adults who are medically needy; but when TennCare was first developed it covered more than those on the role now. In 2006 the state dropped many from the TennCare roles and left many to fend for themselves. Some of which were near death.
So for people to depend on their state to ensure health insurance for its people is a far cry from the national health care reform President Obama has implemented for all. America doesn't need 50 different public insurance programs, just like it doesn't need 50 different social security programs. One program for all will make the scrutiny more managable. Can you imagine moving from one state to the next and having to get used to a different health coverage all over again? Which brings another point about private insurance company constantly changing their policies and physicians just as non-chalantly as the grocery stores relocate their products so the customer has to work harder at finding things that they want, which hammers into our time and energy translating in loss of efficiency and effectiveness, and increasing frustration.
When Dr. Ron Paul gets on stage and talks about freedom and the audience applauds, it is easy to get caught up in the emotion--but we have to think about what we are getting if we settle for less and not more. Literally, we will be getting less and less and less.
After Thursday's debate hosted by Fox News and Google, Dr. Paul, Perry, and Romney are leading the pack for the GOP presidential candidates.
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