President to Take Questions via YouTube

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Want to ask the president some questions? Well, if you watch his "State of the Union" speech on YouTube you’ll have the chance to submit questions that will be answered online next week. If you were selected, what would you ask?

"From our live webstream to a free iPhone app, the White House is using technology to make sure the president's State of the Union address reaches as many people as possible," Phillips said. "Now we are excited to announce how President Obama will also be using the Web to offer the public a direct and participatory way to communicate back to him," he said.
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Honest question here, not trying to start a flame war: Why are so many Americans (or at least appear to be based on what gets reported in Canadian media) reticent toward the adoption of a public health-care system? I'm not referring only to the current reform, but to the idea of a public health-care system in general.
 
magictoaster said:
Honest question here, not trying to start a flame war: Why are so many Americans (or at least appear to be based on what gets reported in Canadian media) reticent toward the adoption of a public health-care system? I'm not referring only to the current reform, but to the idea of a public health-care system in general.
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Very briefly. It's a violation of several rights.

1. Freedom. America has a history of liberty and freedom and many of us value this. A forced, mandatory system requiring us to pay into it with no choice goes against these values.

2. America has a history of trying to adopt a capitalist economic system. We have basically failed, as from the beginning there was government intervention and it has only grown since, however it is a nice goal to try and stay with. We have private individuals/businesses competing to offer goods/services already. Government would be an unfair, unprofit driven, institution that could destroy these businesses.

We also have a history of honoring private property rights, the above would damage private property.

Our government has a very bad track record of programs:
Cash for Clunkers ran out of money almost instantly.
Social Security is not going to last and bleeding us.
US postal service is bleeding us and uncompetitive.
US trying to regulate housing market in the late 90's resulted in the 2008 collapse.
Amtrak transportation is hardly used, bleeding us, non-competitive.

There are probably others.
 
magictoaster said:
Honest question here, not trying to start a flame war: Why are so many Americans (or at least appear to be based on what gets reported in Canadian media) reticent toward the adoption of a public health-care system? I'm not referring only to the current reform, but to the idea of a public health-care system in general.
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I don't know, why don't we ask Obama. He's the one being exempt, remember?
 
1. Freedom. America has a history of liberty and freedom and many of us value this. A forced, mandatory system requiring us to pay into it with no choice goes against these values
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Freedom and greed have become synonymous, it would appear.
 
How do these questions get to him? Are they filtered by his supporters? Will he get any hard questions, or will those get blocked?
 
magictoaster said:
Honest question here, not trying to start a flame war: Why are so many Americans (or at least appear to be based on what gets reported in Canadian media) reticent toward the adoption of a public health-care system? I'm not referring only to the current reform, but to the idea of a public health-care system in general.
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Because it would fix our problems just like communism fixed the problems in other countries.
 
Parmenides said:
How do these questions get to him? Are they filtered by his supporters? Will he get any hard questions, or will those get blocked?
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They will probably be blocked... Wouldn't want your average citizen to expose what a horrible leader he is.
 
I'm surprised that more people aren't complaining about is the iPhone app.

Comscore says that of Oct 09, there are ~8 million iPhone users in the US. The US Census says we have over 305 million people in the US.

Why on Earth did the White House have to spend taxpayer dollars on an iPhone app to reach fewer than 2.6% of all Americans, assuming every iPhone user will download and use the app?
 
the-one1 said:
I agree. But what about the previous leaders? Were they horrible too?
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Most of them, yeah.

Oh, and how are non-internet connected citizens supposed to submit questions? What options are they being given to interface with the executive branch? Why are those unfortunate souls being excluded from this opportunity?
 
Menelmarar said:
Very briefly. It's a violation of several rights.

1. Freedom. America has a history of liberty and freedom and many of us value this. A forced, mandatory system requiring us to pay into it with no choice goes against these values.

2. America has a history of trying to adopt a capitalist economic system. We have basically failed, as from the beginning there was government intervention and it has only grown since, however it is a nice goal to try and stay with. We have private individuals/businesses competing to offer goods/services already. Government would be an unfair, unprofit driven, institution that could destroy these businesses.

We also have a history of honoring private property rights, the above would damage private property.

Our government has a very bad track record of programs:
Cash for Clunkers ran out of money almost instantly.
Social Security is not going to last and bleeding us.
US postal service is bleeding us and uncompetitive.
US trying to regulate housing market in the late 90's resulted in the 2008 collapse.
Amtrak transportation is hardly used, bleeding us, non-competitive.

There are probably others.
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I love seeing the "It's not freedom!" argument tossed around so easily.

That same argument can be used against just about everything that the government does. You already have to pay for car insurance, taxes and all kinds of other crap, but for some reason buying into a healthcare system that would mean everyone gets coverage (theoretically) is somehow against freedom? Please.

I'm all for universal healthcare, I just think the way our political system is trying to set it up is wrong. Just tax it out of our tax dollars to pay for it instead of forcing the purchase of health insurance. Ream the hell out of the medical establishment that gets away with charging the price of a mansion for live saving treatments. They've been riding the "What would people pay to stay alive?" question for way too long.

Most of this all goes back to our nations crummy patent laws. Holding a monopoly on a live saving method of treatment should not be legal, regardless of who invented it.
 
I'd ask him about the 'new era of transparency in government' that he promised. Then I'd ask about everything else he promised but hasn't done. I'd conclude by asking him if this whole president thing is, in fact, harder than he thought.

Bush sucked too so don't start raging on me, lefties.
 
Parmenides said:
Because it would fix our problems just like communism fixed the problems in other countries.
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Are you retarded? (Yes.)

The question came from someone in Canada. You know, that big country just to the north of the US? The one that has a public health care system? I'm not sure what "communism" has to do with anything.

In actual answer to your question, macigtoaster, it's some combination of ignorance and economics. People have these ideas that somehow other countries (like Canada and those of Western Europe) are worse off than the US, mostly because they've never been there or looked at any actual economic data. The fact that (public health care) countries like Norway, Ireland and the UK all had higher per capita GDP growth over the last two decades would blow them away, since all of their assumptions are that government is so intrusive there that no one can make money. These lies are perpetrated ad nauseum by the right wing and the GOP who find it politically useful.

They also don't realize that the US government already spends multiples of what other countries spend on health care to get worse results, and that the effect of public health care would probably be to decrease overall spending on it, assuming we are as competent as Canadians or Europeans (big assumption). Instead we just hear screams about rationing, which is a great point except for the people whose care is already rationed out of existence by private companies due to preexisting conditions. In the end it just comes down to right-wing propaganda and ignorance stirring up people's fears, and 90% of them will happily go on government Medicare before they die.
 
I really don't understand the link between having public health-care and communism. Capitalism is alive and well in Canada, even with our numerous social policies. ;) Interestingly enough, many in Canadians are now asking for greater involvement from the private sector in the health-care system (through public-private partnership).
 
Bgrngod said:
I love seeing the "It's not freedom!" argument tossed around so easily.

That same argument can be used against just about everything that the government does. You already have to pay for car insurance, taxes and all kinds of other crap, but for some reason buying into a healthcare system that would mean everyone gets coverage (theoretically) is somehow against freedom? Please.

I'm all for universal healthcare, I just think the way our political system is trying to set it up is wrong. Just tax it out of our tax dollars to pay for it instead of forcing the purchase of health insurance. Ream the hell out of the medical establishment that gets away with charging the price of a mansion for live saving treatments. They've been riding the "What would people pay to stay alive?" question for way too long.

Most of this all goes back to our nations crummy patent laws. Holding a monopoly on a live saving method of treatment should not be legal, regardless of who invented it.
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Weak arguments. First, you aren't forced to have car insurance if you choose to not to drive a car. You can't choose to opt out of universal coverage and decide to just not have insurance. Second, universal health care does not guarantee insurance for loss of property, rather it's guaranteeing the services of other individuals and nothing more. Comparing it to taxation is completely absurd as taxation is paid to help support the infrastructure and services we utilize as a community. Now we know that the US government of 2010 uses taxes for individualized services, but in theory it should only be used for services that are designed to protect the community.

You need to distinguish between government and the individual. It's one thing to collect from the people to provide services for those people as a collective (military, police, fire, public works), and it's another thing (and a bad idea) to require the government to act as a funnel between me and my individualized service provider. If you want the latter, you might as well have a government food program a la food stamps where you are forced to pay the government taxes in return for food stamps rather than you going to the store and buying the food yourself. Or if you want to buy a house, you need to pay the government so they can pay the current owner rather than you going yourself. It's not a good idea.

Even if such universal care works and is way more efficient than the current system, I am completely against it for the control it gives the government over my life. Lemmings may not value freedom, but I do.
 
karoc said:
Are you retarded? (Yes.)

The question came from someone in Canada. You know, that big country just to the north of the US? The one that has a public health care system? I'm not sure what "communism" has to do with anything.
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I guess some Canadians like it. And I guess some Canadians don't mind the taxes either. Plenty of Communist citizens enjoyed their system too.

I KNOW of Canadians who hate the lines and the quality (lack thereof), and I also hear of Canadians crossing the border to buy American health care. Is there a "can't do X, Y, Z" panel in Canada much like Britain? Is there not a 6 months to a year wait before you get your surgery?

And one more thing... maybe Canada's Bureaucracy and government is financially efficient with their spending of taxpayer money, but America's is not.

I also don't recall Canada being the land of opportunity either.
 
magictoaster said:
I really don't understand the link between having public health-care and communism. Capitalism is alive and well in Canada, even with our numerous social policies. ;) Interestingly enough, many in Canadians are now asking for greater involvement from the private sector in the health-care system (through public-private partnership).
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The link is easy: Free market ---------> public health care ------------> socialism -----> communism. Elements of capitalism may be alive and well, but it's not a free market. The US doesn't have a true free market and really never has. Rather than add services that bring us closer to communism, we want to go the other way and be given more choice.
 
Parmenides said:
I guess some Canadians like it. And I guess some Canadians don't mind the taxes either. Plenty of Communist citizens enjoyed their system too.

I KNOW of Canadians who hate the lines and the quality (lack thereof), and I also hear of Canadians crossing the border to buy American health care. Is there a "can't do X, Y, Z" panel in Canada much like Britain? Is there not a 6 months to a year wait before you get your surgery?

And one more thing... maybe Canada's Bureaucracy and government is financially efficient with their spending of taxpayer money, but America's is not.

I also don't recall Canada being the land of opportunity either.
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You are confusing communism with socialism.

As to paying taxes, which go toward health care, we actually pay a significant amount less for care which is at least par with the current American system. An in-depth analysis of the two medical system, created by medical professionals from both Canada and the US can be found at the following link http://www.openmedicine.ca/article/view/8/1
 
For those of you who are against the public option, what do you suggest be done to prevent the private companies from abusive and exploiting practices? Do you claim the 'free market' will solve the problem? Do you claim there is no such problem? Perhaps its just unfortunate, but the best we can do?
 
It's really sad to see people in my own country vote against their own best interests. You expect the roads to be paved in your city, you expect the traffic lights to function, and you expect to be able to dial a number and have a truck come put water on your house if it catches on fire. You expect all these things for no other reason than self-righteous entitlement because you live in this fine country. So why on earth do these people not expect to have their leg repaired if they fall down a flight of stairs, or their tumor removed if they have the unfortunate luck of getting one? Why should your well-being, your life, your very existence of all things be summed up as nothing more than a commercial commodity open on the free market to the lowest bidder? We're talking about your LIFE here people, not some shiny building or fancy vehicle or other potential use of tax dollars.

The truth is, many people dont care about their health coverage even though they have it, because they have never had to rely upon it in a life and death manner. The moment their provider yanks their coverage, tries to claim pre-existing, or bankrupts them in deductibles and co-pays, they will be the first people screaming for a more fair system.

The motivating factor behind this ignorance comes down to nothing more than petty arrogance. You see, supporting an idea like public healthcare would be admitting defeat, or at least 'aggreeance' with a party whom you dislike. These people would rather go down in flames than ever say they supported a democratic ideal. They hate democrats and liberals so much that they simply cant side with any of their policies no matter how helpful. Otherwise what leg do they have left to stand on within their own party? The moment they start supporting the other side, their own cause is dead, theres no point to it anymore, they are officially a democrat.
 
So i live in Canada and am for the public health care system.

Everyone is entitled to health, not realated to habits such as smoking and over eating cuz thats a seperate problem.

However, if the US goverment cant be competive with healthcare then its all for nothing.

if the US government cant be competitive with health care or at least try and clear up some of the corruption then it will just be a money pitt and even more people will suffer...
 
I'd ask him why there are so many douche bag, neophyte, armchair Monday morning politicians going off topic on the [H]ard|Forum to run their ideological mouths and "not start flame wars." When you stand in the middle you have a nice clear view of what's going on to the far left and far right of you. You can then outstretch your arms, grab them by the head, pull in sharply and smash their heads together, leaving just one big mess to clean up instead of two little messes. Have a nice day.:D
 
when are you going to stop kicking down my door and throwing me in jail for smoking weed? thats all i want to know...
 
It's also disgusting to see people use terms like "freedom" (and obviously without a clue of what they're talking about) in defense of the healthcare industry's survival. Oh noes! The poor trillion dollar private healthcare industry might go out of business once people can pay for a cheaper alternative! All those billions of dollars in profits going to executive bonuses so they can fly their private planes around and take 3 month vacations on mammoth yachts will be over!

These guys would rather pay more in premiums to preserve a private industry which serves to work as hard against their interests and looks to find ways to deny them coverage at every opportunity. It's like watching a battered wife stay with her abusive husband, and keep coming back for more. It literally defies logic. They want to pay more for less. Fascinating how easily a group of society can be manipulated by a loudmouthed minority (think talk radio/fox news).
 
Finally, gotta LOVE the people who say "I know Canadians and they say they hate their system". About as laughable as the ole "I have black friends" line. Yet, time and time again we get people who actually LIVE in Canada, posting about how they are completely satisified with their system. I have started polls on numerous international forums, simply asking "if your country uses a public healthcare system, please rate its effectiveness". And EVERY time the poll goes 98% favorable, with 2% unfavorable, and I'll go ahead and give that a 2% margin of error for haters who falsify their results just to detract from the numbers.
 
How do Americans pay for education? Is there no public cost component, which presumably home-schoolers would not want to pay?

Just as with education, does more efficient health care for others not also benefit you? Pretty short-sighted to think it doesn't.
 
I will ask my question VIA YouTube.

the question will be one sentence and very simple

"President Obama, Will you please remove yourself from office, before America goes even more bankrupt then it is already"?

shouldn't be more then a 10 second video :cool:
 
From Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum says he will review the federal health care bill because he has “grave concerns” about whether it violates the federal and state constitution.
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“Such a ‘living tax’ is worrisome because it would be levied on a person who does nothing, a person who simply wishes not to be forced to buy health insurance coverage. Upon initial review, this appears to be contrary to the freedoms we, as Americans, have enjoyed for the past 233 years,” McCollum said.
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http://www.postonpolitics.com/2009/...ealth-care-reform-might-violate-constitution/

also note, this health care reform will also allow us Americans to be also paying for healthcare for illegal immigrants.

Why should my hard-earned money go towards paying for some border-jumper who has no intentions of being useful in my country?

anybody watch MMA, and hear about Brock Lesnar's medical issues?

He wasn’t excited about his Canadian medical care, comparing it to “a third world country” where he couldn’t get any treatment. Finally Lesnar’s wife, Rena, sprung him from the hospital, loaded him into a car and while Lesnar writhed in pain, drove “100 miles an hour” across the border and into North Dakota.
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http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dw-lesnar012010&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I fully agree that the healthcare system needs fixing, don't get me wrong.
It's costs are outrageous, and people getting denied claims is even more outrageous. It needs fixing, yes, but forced public healthcare in this country would not do any good.
 
Menelmarar said:
Very briefly. It's a violation of several rights.

1. Freedom. America has a history of liberty and freedom and many of us value this. A forced, mandatory system requiring us to pay into it with no choice goes against these values.


There are probably others.
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Um, the public option would be offered ALONG SIDE any private options. Sheesh, did anyone actually read the bill?
 
[X];1035240095 said:
I'd ask him why there are so many douche bag, neophyte, armchair Monday morning politicians going off topic on the [H]ard|Forum to run their ideological mouths and "not start flame wars." When you stand in the middle you have a nice clear view of what's going on to the far left and far right of you. You can then outstretch your arms, grab them by the head, pull in sharply and smash their heads together, leaving just one big mess to clean up instead of two little messes. Have a nice day.:D
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Couldn't have said it better.
 
I have a question for you Government Health Care supporters.

If this plan is such a great idea, why in the hell have the congress critters EXEMPTED THEMSELVES from it?

Why,if it's so 'great", did they have to cut a deal with the congress critter from Nebraska to exempt the people in that state?

Government health care is about one thing, and one thing only..GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF AS MUCH OF YOUR LIFE AS POSSIBLE.

Remember folks, anything that the government 'gives' you, they can also take away.
 
RAF_OldBuzzard said:
I have a question for you Government Health Care supporters.

If this plan is such a great idea, why in the hell have the congress critters EXEMPTED THEMSELVES from it?
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Doesn't congress already have FEHBP. Congress can chose from a wide range of plans, with no waiting period. Guess who pays for 75% of the coverage? Tax payers do.
 
RAF_OldBuzzard said:
If this plan is such a great idea, why in the hell have the congress critters EXEMPTED THEMSELVES from it?
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Exactly! If it's not good enough for them, then it's not good enough for us. I have an idea for reform...give us the same cadillac plan they have! While they're at it they can apply the same idea to retirement, etc. What's that, our economy can't support that sort of thing? Then let gov't live by the same rules we have to, i.e: no full salary for life after retirement, no massive bonuses for doing a fine job of squandering tax dollars, no cadillac heathcare plans, no limo (give unless it's say...a stretch Prius:D), chopper or private jet on call 24/7/365, the list goes on and on...let's have REAL reform, the kind that will have immediate results.
Parmenides said:
I KNOW of Canadians who hate the lines and the quality (lack thereof), and I also hear of Canadians crossing the border to buy American health care. Is there a "can't do X, Y, Z" panel in Canada much like Britain? Is there not a 6 months to a year wait before you get your surgery?
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I too know Canadians who tell me tha the health care system there isn't as wonderful as we in the US have always been led to believe. I'm not saying that there aren't pros & cons to both systems.

Our gov't can't run itself properly, let alone all the things under their control. They have enough trouble with the healthcare that they do run, so why add something as important as our wellbeing for them to screw up? Why give the irresponsible more responsibilities?
Tekara said:
In my opinion, the best way to improve health care is to tackle the legal side. Malpractice insurance for doctors is what is driving the cost of health care up through the roof and causing shortages of medical professionals. Start managing the frivolous lawsuits and stop lawsuits over doctors not being able to make miracles happen that even Jesus wouldn't provide and I would wager good money that surgery costs would start dropping.
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Sad thing is that it's hard to win a malpractice suit, so why is malpractice insurance so outrageous? My friend almost died due to a botched rooot canal punncturing the sinus & becoming seriously infected & swelled the side of her face like a melon, went to 3 different Drs before finding out she was near death (others blew it off). She ended up with a scar that ended her modelling career. You'd think malpractice $$$ right? NOPE! No lawyer would touch it because it's too difficult to win because you have to prove malicious intent! Seems to me there's no great need for malpractice insurance.

I think that all medical procedures should have a waranty so to speak. What incentive do Drs have to do a proper job, after all if they screw it up they have a good chance of getting paid to fix it. I say make it so that if they screw up they have to pay the Dr of your choice to fix it...out of their own pocket. I bet the number of botched procedures/misdiagnosis would plummet. I'd call that a nice bit of healthcare reform.
 
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