The Ur-Debate Over Health Care

[bhikkhu]

1. There is also the belief that "misery builds character and motivates work"

which is behind all the opposition to food programs as well, and the raising of the minimum wage. If people are basically lazy and dishonest, as republicans generally preach, then the primary way to get them to work at all is to assure that the basic condition of life is misery, which can only be alleviated (or at least people will try to alleviate it) by working hard.

If people have healthcare and food, the whole republican motivational strategy just becomes even more difficult, and societal collapse seems inevitable.