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Comment by notaustinpowers | Hacker News Reader

Because America is hyper-individualistic and distrusting of government.

We don't trust the government to manage it appropriately and will instead use that money for vanity projects or to line the pockets of whoever is running that program.

Then for the people, we consider "failures" such as debt, homelessness, etc as moral failures, rather than failures of the system. The leading thought is "Why are MY tax dollars paying for someone else's knee surgery? They should have planned properly!"

Any change to this system will require a societal shift within America which isn't going to be happening anytime soon, if ever.

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> The leading thought is "Why are MY tax dollars paying for someone else's knee surgery? They should have planned properly!"

This one kills me. This is almost literally the definition of insurance.

Exactly! Private insurance is A-OK, government-ran "insurance" is too far for many people.

> "Why are MY tax dollars paying for someone else's knee surgery? They should have planned properly!"

This is a very bad faith take on what groups opposed are saying and I don't even agree with them. You don't need to do this to effectively argue against this stance.

It's really not. Plenty of people feel this way.

> Even on death’s doorstep, Trevor was not angry. In fact, he staunchly supported the stance promoted by his elected officials. “Ain’t no way I would ever support Obamacare or sign up for it,” he told me. “I would rather die.” When I asked him why he felt this way even as he faced severe illness, he explained: “We don’t need any more government in our lives. And in any case, no way I want my tax dollars paying for Mexicans or welfare queens.” [0]

[0]https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/jonathan-m-metzl-dying...

It is super-sad, yet quintessentially USA: literally dying, for a political class who don't care about you, over principles rooted in selfishness. Can you get any more American than that?

Heya! Generalizations and personal experiences are necessary for any quick and easily understandable point to be made. I'm not going to write a dissertation on the intricacies of anti-nationalized healthcare beliefs.

Tying into personal experience. When I paid for my mom's knee surgery which left her wheelchair-bound for 2 months afterward, I had many proudly conservative family members ask me why I would do that. The knee surgery was to help with damage done from obesity (which she had beat before the surgery and is now at a healthy weight). I was told that I was rewarding her "bad" behavior. That she needed to suffer the consequences of her actions. That her health is not my responsibility.

All of those statements reflect my earlier statement of American individualism and our belief that these issues are moral failings, rather than societal failings. This individualism runs so deep in our society that a son is chastised for helping his mother.

Everyone I know from anywhere on the political spectrum would consider it honorable to pay for your mom’s surgery in the way you described. I’m not doubting your experience, but I don’t think it represents most Americans or even most right-wing Americans.

I think the rest of your point, about Americans in general not trusting the government to do things efficiently or competently, is true though.

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