As Rush Limbaugh was in Hawaii singing the praises of a union hospital in a universal health care system, this week’s wanna-be, Mark Styne, was busily being brilliant at the mic today. He responded enthusiastically to a caller who was talking about the Amish way of paying for medical care: they have a common pool which they use to fund medical costs for individual families as needed. And they pay cash, so they get to negotiate with the providers. And according to Styne, this is brilliant and how we should be doing it instead of all this socialist stuff.
Missing me?
Where to begin? He is wrong on so many levels. First – what the Amish are doing sounds exactly like self-insurance, a once common practice among private companies ( less and less so as costs have escalated). And second, what they are doing appears to be re-distributing their wealth, according to need. Reminds me of something – perhaps Mark Styne can illuminate it for me in one of his more insightful moments.
Don’t tell him, though. He was so so proud of himself.
The dittoheads are in safe reliable hands.
You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy. But you cannot have both.
Whatever Works 
First – what the Amish are doing sounds exactly like self-insurance
In many ways it is.
And second, what they are doing appears to be re-distributing their wealth, according to need.
They are. Voluntarily. And at THE most local level possible.
Further, if one of those families began to contribute less than the other families felt was reasonable, they would be removed from the “circle”.
In other words, THIS is the type of “social reform” we need. Me, helping my neighbor out of the goodness of my voluntary heart.
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How about applying that reasoning to defense? They’re both about protecting the populace.
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How about applying that reasoning to defense?
I’m hooked. Explain for me how neighborhoods can effectively institute a defense structure that would protect them from foreign armies.
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The Amish are a ‘culture’, like a tribe. I don’t think they could be defined geographically (neighborhood). And that is what they’d be protecting.
As for foreign armies, if we had local defense, our enemies would likely be neighboring states. Foreign armies don’t attack Delaware.
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The Amish are a ‘culture’, like a tribe. I don’t think they could be defined geographically (neighborhood).
Fair enough. What tribe do you belong to? I, personally, live in a neighborhood in Raleigh. I don’t belong to any tribe.
Foreign armies don’t attack Delaware.
They most certainly would if the Amish were responsible for defending Delaware.
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Dammit, you’re making me laugh! Not fair – I was hoping to hold on to my black mood for the rest of the day! And I will never get that picture out of my mind – the Amish fighting Mexico(?) with pitchforks.
As for tribes – I assume I belong to the same tribe as you. Unless you belong to a cult or religion that lives apart from the larger society.
Does that make us bestest friends?
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