Subject:
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Re: Rights to free goods? (was Re: What happened?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 2 Jul 1999 00:31:04 GMT
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Viewed:
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1354 times
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Well, we really have a quite a little mutual admiration
society going here, don't we. All this macho, I've-got-
10-jobs back-slapping is touching, but let me offer a little
unsolicited advice: Don't get sick, especially with a long-term,
chronic disease. If you do, you'd better have some deep pockets.
I'd like to tell you all a true story. I know, Larry, you're
sick and tired of hearing about this kind of thing, but, I
apologize in advance. It's true. It's not theory.
This is a story about my mother. She went to work in the local
textile mill when she was 14, didn't get her high-school equivalency
degree until she was 50. (I went to her graduation.) She has been
a self-employed "hair-dresser" for all of her professional life.
When she and my step father retired in the early eighties they had a
pretty good (I thought) situation. Between them, they owned 3 houses,
had a fairly decent savings account, and were living fairly well off
the rental income, but in 1985 or so she was diagnosed with Parkinson's.
This along with a number of other health problems eventually (after
day care, home nursing, etc.) landed her in a nursing home. To make
a long story short, eventually the maw of the nursing home consumed
all of her savings plus the 3 houses, believe it or not. The nursing
home said, either pay up or you have to leave.
Including prescription drugs, her monthly bill was around $3500.
Could you afford to pay that? Maybe you could. She couldn't;
the money was gone. I couldn't. I couldn't afford home nursing
care. I couldn't take care of her myself.
If the Libertarian Party does not have a clear, unambiguous
response to this situation (that doesn't involve throwing
people out on the streets to die or involve some theoretical
pie-in-the-sky charity) then the majority of clear-headed Americans
are *never* going to go for it. Never.
John C.
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