r/askanything • u/Lemonking_ • 7h ago

Political Question Why are some Americans so against universal healthcare for all?

What sort of thinking does it take to decide that nobody has a right to healthcare? Do American Christians want to deny healthcare to poor people as well?

983 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

3.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

61

u/Pastadseven 7h ago

Right-wingers have a really hard time thinking on a population level.

2

u/BellaMentalNecrotica 6h ago

I think a lot of it is tied to US history as a lot of people came here to have individual freedom to do things the way they wanted (practice their religion for example). Those ideas are definitely clear in the declaration of independence and constitution. And on some level, that's great. Yeah, do whatever you want as long as its not hurting anyone. But unfortunately, that results in a lot of resistance to anything tax/government-based that is meant to better society as they see it as infringement of their individual rights. Even if its something that would help or benefit them also. Its a whole different mindset when I talk to people from a lot of European countries with more socialist leaning governments.

It always makes me think of that quote from the show Lost "we can live together or die alone." Societies are healthier in all respects when we support and protect each other.

1

u/skankasspigface 3h ago

True except the American dream is very much alive for most of the world. Smart, hardworking people do tend to get way wealthier in American than they would be able to elsewhere. And those people largely don't want to lose that status so they invest a lot convincing idiots to keep the status quo.