This blog is the closest thing I have to an influence on a culture and government that sometimes disgusts me. I write for my benefit. My mother might read this because she's subscribed, but I doubt anyone else will. If you've read this far, you know that I don't even write well, which compounds my problem. Like most people, many things about my life are dictated to me and I must accept them or be crushed.
I am at the mercy of forces too powerful for me to affect, defy, or ignore. Have you ever really pushed against a large boulder? It's heavy, hard and totally indifferent to the living consciousness seeking to influence it. If some other force were to set it in motion and you got in it's way, it would crush you. It would never know or care that a spark of life—which had thought itself important and unique—just became so much goo.
The immediate cause of these thoughts is that, due to a change of employer and not understanding that "open enrollment" means "the only time health insurance can be purchased," I don't currently have health insurance. This probably means I am stupid, but more importantly, I am young and healthy and likely to remain so. A couple of years ago, not buying insurance would have simply meant that I saved a few hundred dollars. Due to the Affordable Care Act, I am still uninsured but will be paying a fine. I am a student with a small income, and I won't get to keep that money.
I am experiencing a tiny sample of a life-crushing scenario faced by the truly poor. The "individual mandate" of the Affordable Care Act takes away the option to save money by not buying health insurance. Those who did not maintain insurance because they could not afford it are now worse off: they must now pay a fine with the money they risked their health to save. Some of the decisions made by my "representative" government offend me to my core.
I have a personal philosophy that I believe should rule my life. Instead, I will be ruled by other people's philosophies. Most of the people who will impose rules on my life will never hear me. They are a boulder.
I have a soul. How I feel about what happens to me should be regarded as an "end"—others should view it as a severe negative consequence that they have arranged my life circumstances to conflict with my values. I believe in cooperation by common consent and noninterference by unaffected parties. I have the moral right to make a choice regarding the cash value of my health, and it is no one's concern but mine if I choose to risk death for the sake of another resource. I do it every day by crossing the street, which is also none of their business.
That's what I would say if I had a voice.
I am at the mercy of forces too powerful for me to affect, defy, or ignore. Have you ever really pushed against a large boulder? It's heavy, hard and totally indifferent to the living consciousness seeking to influence it. If some other force were to set it in motion and you got in it's way, it would crush you. It would never know or care that a spark of life—which had thought itself important and unique—just became so much goo.
The immediate cause of these thoughts is that, due to a change of employer and not understanding that "open enrollment" means "the only time health insurance can be purchased," I don't currently have health insurance. This probably means I am stupid, but more importantly, I am young and healthy and likely to remain so. A couple of years ago, not buying insurance would have simply meant that I saved a few hundred dollars. Due to the Affordable Care Act, I am still uninsured but will be paying a fine. I am a student with a small income, and I won't get to keep that money.
I am experiencing a tiny sample of a life-crushing scenario faced by the truly poor. The "individual mandate" of the Affordable Care Act takes away the option to save money by not buying health insurance. Those who did not maintain insurance because they could not afford it are now worse off: they must now pay a fine with the money they risked their health to save. Some of the decisions made by my "representative" government offend me to my core.
I have a personal philosophy that I believe should rule my life. Instead, I will be ruled by other people's philosophies. Most of the people who will impose rules on my life will never hear me. They are a boulder.
I have a soul. How I feel about what happens to me should be regarded as an "end"—others should view it as a severe negative consequence that they have arranged my life circumstances to conflict with my values. I believe in cooperation by common consent and noninterference by unaffected parties. I have the moral right to make a choice regarding the cash value of my health, and it is no one's concern but mine if I choose to risk death for the sake of another resource. I do it every day by crossing the street, which is also none of their business.
That's what I would say if I had a voice.
