Decius wrote:
] Dolemite wrote:
] ] Well, I'm trying to figure out where the link between
] ] Bredesen, a Democrat, and the Republicans is.
]
] See Zell Miller. Southern Democrat is no longer what it used
] to be. Many of them are switching party affiliation or walking
] as far right as possible without doing so, in order to retain
] support from the south which is now very much influenced by
] right wing talk radio. The election did create a shift in
] power that allowed him to take more radical actions. This went
] down just after the election for a reason.

Sure, Zell is a whack job all to himself. Bredesen is simply a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. That means he'll support all of the social initiatives that he can afford.

] The two questions worth asking are:
] A. While I agree that there is no excuse for the number of
] drugs people are on to be, on average, higher then in the rest
] of the country, its obvious that the general problem here is
] the massive recent increase in general healthcare costs and
] not these specifics. All healthcare programs are getting more
] expensive.

As Bredesen was quoted earlier saying, "I don't see why some people would rather have no loaf than half a loaf [of bread when they are freakin' starving]." We can't afford unlimited health insurance for everybody that falls into that category of uninsurable, but we certainly did try to soften the fall, so to speak.

] B. Tennessee is the only state in the nation with a sales tax
] and no supplemental source of income (like income tax, oil, or
] gambling.) Its not going to be sustainable no matter what they
] do. They can slice programs until they are blue in the face
] and they are going to remain bankrupt. You are the only state
] that does things that way for a reason, and its not because
] you know something no one else does. Now, ask me what I think
] of the national "fair tax" proposal.

Tennessee is also the only state that has made a real effort at socialized healthcare coverage. That's why people who don't even know anybody in Tennessee have been looking closely at it. Even if we did have a tax beyond the sales tax and Halls tax, I and most other fiscally conservative Tennesseeans wouldn't want an uncapped, out of control healthcare system funded by it. This ain't a Vegas buffet, it's the closest we can get to a fair distribution of what amounts to a helping hand. The lawsuits against TennCare are brought on by those who want more than a fair share. Period.

So, what *do* you think about a national "fair tax" proposal?

RE: YEAH FU@#$ING REPUBLICANS!!@!@!@!#$