Tell me what is "conservative" about Obamacare? Do you know what the word means? Just because someone calls themselves conservative doesn't make it so. I don't claim to be a conservative myself. More a libertarian or perhaps a classical liberal. But I know what conservatism is and Obamacare does not represent those values. The fact that it was largely created by the heritage foundation doesn't change that. Also, if it is so conservative, why on earth did liberals almost unanimously support it when they didn't have to? Forcing people to buy a product is not a conservative idea, period and the fact that an organization that claims to be conservative comes up with it doesn't change that fact.
I absolutely agree with you that there is not much difference between Democrats and Republicans and that both serve corporate interests. It's just that there is no conservatism there. Philosophically, conservatives are supposed to be for smaller government and less government spending and intrusion into your life. Conservatism isn't supposed to be about serving corporate interests (beyond simply leaving businesses alone anyway). If you really think that Obamacare, which increases government spending massively and causes government to intrude in our lives more and absurdly forces you to buy a product is conservative then you really have no idea what the conservative philosophy is about. The vast majority of Republican are by no means conservative.
And before the ACA, no you didn't have to buy a for profit healthcare plan and when you did you had more choices. You could buy no healthcare, buy for profit healthcare, or buy non-profit healthcare (you still can but again, less choice due to the ACA). In addition, the ACA has caused a massive increase in insurance costs, especially for those with employer based plans. Then there are the subsidies of course. None of those changes are "conservative" philosophically no matter who came up with the idea.
As someone with a somewhat libertarian philosophy, I certainly don't want government serving corporate interests. But I also don't want massive government programs. The problem is, any time you have massive government programs and massive government spending, you are going to be serving corporate interests unless you find a way to remove all corruption from government. Good luck with that. Smaller, more local government is the way to go, not massively centralized government. Whereas you seem to be a Bernie Sanders guy I'm more of a Ron Paul or Gary Johnson guy.
Ultimately with a massive central government with massive spending, whatever politicians are in power ultimately have control of it. How often do you have truly good politicians in power? Part of the problem is the corrupt lobbying system but part of it is also they type of people that want to be in control of a massive central government. The choices aren't always great to begin with. It's much better just to limit government power and government spending then you limit the damage they can do. The Constitution tried to do that but has failed.
I think the whole reason Trump was elected was because people were sick and tired of the establishment Republican and Democrat candidates. They were willing to overlook his obvious flaws because they felt the alternatives were worse. I didn't think he was different enough to matter. I've voted for a third party candidate in the last three election cycles and will probably continue to do so. When others stop with the "a third party can't win" mantra and join me there may be real change. Until then, expect more of the same...or worse.
Tell me what is "conservative" about Obamacare? Do you know what the word means? Just because someone calls themselves conservative doesn't make it so. I don't claim to be a conservative myself. More a libertarian or perhaps a classical liberal. But I know what conservatism is and Obamacare does not represent those values. The fact that it was largely created by the heritage foundation doesn't change that. Also, if it is so conservative, why on earth did liberals almost unanimously support it when they didn't have to? Forcing people to buy a product is not a conservative idea, period and the fact that an organization that claims to be conservative comes up with it doesn't change that fact.
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I absolutely agree with you that there is not much difference between Democrats and Republicans and that both serve corporate interests. It's just that there is no conservatism there. Philosophically, conservatives are supposed to be for smaller government and less government spending and intrusion into your life. Conservatism isn't supposed to be about serving corporate interests (beyond simply leaving businesses alone anyway). If you really think that Obamacare, which increases government spending massively and causes government to intrude in our lives more and absurdly forces you to buy a product is conservative then you really have no idea what the conservative philosophy is about. The vast majority of Republican are by no means conservative.
And before the ACA, no you didn't have to buy a for profit healthcare plan and when you did you had more choices. You could buy no healthcare, buy for profit healthcare, or buy non-profit healthcare (you still can but again, less choice due to the ACA). In addition, the ACA has caused a massive increase in insurance costs, especially for those with employer based plans. Then there are the subsidies of course. None of those changes are "conservative" philosophically no matter who came up with the idea.
As someone with a somewhat libertarian philosophy, I certainly don't want government serving corporate interests. But I also don't want massive government programs. The problem is, any time you have massive government programs and massive government spending, you are going to be serving corporate interests unless you find a way to remove all corruption from government. Good luck with that. Smaller, more local government is the way to go, not massively centralized government. Whereas you seem to be a Bernie Sanders guy I'm more of a Ron Paul or Gary Johnson guy.
Ultimately with a massive central government with massive spending, whatever politicians are in power ultimately have control of it. How often do you have truly good politicians in power? Part of the problem is the corrupt lobbying system but part of it is also they type of people that want to be in control of a massive central government. The choices aren't always great to begin with. It's much better just to limit government power and government spending then you limit the damage they can do. The Constitution tried to do that but has failed.
I think the whole reason Trump was elected was because people were sick and tired of the establishment Republican and Democrat candidates. They were willing to overlook his obvious flaws because they felt the alternatives were worse. I didn't think he was different enough to matter. I've voted for a third party candidate in the last three election cycles and will probably continue to do so. When others stop with the "a third party can't win" mantra and join me there may be real change. Until then, expect more of the same...or worse.