Can you really be free if states take away your bodily autonomy?

Can you really be free if you’re saddled with medical debt and have to pay outrageous health care costs?

Can you really be free if you have to choose between feeding your family and keeping the lights on?

@rbreich What's old is new again? The argument of economics inhibit or limit the disadvantaged's freedom. Alexander Hamilton made a similar argument, but in favor of oligarchy based on the elitist idea that oligarchs, or men of leisure, would be best able to objectively weigh political decisions and reach decisions without being influenced by personal gain because their wealth insulated them from the effects. Andrew Shankman - Original Intents.

Maybe rethinking the society and its ideals?

@donalddechert @rbreich except now we know that literally no amount of wealth is enough to make the rich (as a group) become altruistic. Not only do we have more than enough history to show us that, the present makes it exceedingly clear.
@rbreich because America is supposed to be a democracy, not an aristocracy.
@rbreich
Ich werde Ihnen meine persönliche Meinung sagen. Ich bin aus der Ukraine. Danke Deutschland, dass du mir Asyl gewährt hast. Aber die Gesundheitsversorgung hier in Deutschland ist SO, dass die Leute in der Ukraine ihn mit schmutzigen Lumpen schlagen würden.
Der Arzt ist für die ❗Kranken da, nicht die Kranken für den Arzt❗
@rbreich paid slavery. Employers are fully aware they are forcing employees into this by not meeting standard of living wages, they are quite happy to continue to take advantage.
@rbreich i really wish more people realized that the bodily autonomy thing won't stop at pregnant women. *all* of us have an interest in maintaining control over our body. even men!

@wagesj45 @rbreich

Agreed!

Teaching boys consent starts with not doing unnecessary surgery to their bodies as children.

@rbreich
I’m waiting to read about beheadings.
Let “them” eat cake!
Ricardo Harvin (@[email protected])

Anyway, Happy Independence Day!* *independence for who? independence from what? #IndependenceDay #FourthOfJuly

Mastodon 🐘

@rbreich
Can we really be free if we're ruled by a post-policy party that takes away the right to choose?

The right to take drugs you likely need?

The right for non-straight couples to wed?

For now, they say they only oppose these things. Well, based on what we've seen from numerous outlets, we can safely say that if we give 'em an inch, they'll go more than a mile.

@rbreich
Mr. Reich, they say comedy stops being funny when the comedy becomes reality. Therefore, I say you have seen this condition before. Please watch Mel Brooks' "History of the World, Part One." You will know the line when you hear Mel Brooks' character say it.

@rbreich The concept certainly starts to lose its flavor.

Could be something medical, but who can afford just a random doctor's visit whenever part of their body shuts down, eh?

@rbreich more people need to understand that anything required for survival and security (bottom two levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs) don't follow the law of Supply and Demand, and therefore can't be addressed using free market mechanics.
@rbreich after all, at what point does one rationally decide the price is too high to save the life of your child? To rationally decide to starve or be homeless? There's no downward pressure on prices for those things except for however much money people have, so suppliers will continue to extort money out of us until there's nobody left to pay.
@evohagan
That's a nice way of putting the problems of privatizing essential services
Urban Dictionary: Free-to-Pay

A game that is free to play yet cuts the player off at key moments to demand payment. This can occur after losing too many lives, completing a chapter, or forcing the player to make a purchase in order to fulfill an objective necessary to complete a larger objective.

Urban Dictionary
@rbreich George Carlin once said "It's not a right if it can be taken away." I hate that so much. He kind of has a point, but if that's true then there are no rights. More likely we have infinite rights, but lack the power to adequately defend ourselves from power hungry tyrants.
@rbreich Of course you can’t. The GOP/Nazi party does not want you free. They want you under their control. They want your body and your mind. You follow their religion or you die. That is who they are.
@rbreich How about doing something about it? Run for office?
@rbreich These days, “freedom” is just a marketing term.

@rbreich I would love a conversation about the similarities and differences between being enslaved and being a women in the U.S.

Women could not have their own bank accounts until 1974. My mother had to share a passport with my father. Protections for domestic violence are still paltry. And now, we don’t control our bodies.

Maternal mortality for Black and native women has *doubled* in the last decade.

Women are still treated like property way too often.

@rbreich are you really free if you have your money taken from you at gunpoint to give to someone else?
@rbreich Freedom is measured in USD, apparently
@rbreich it’s all about the money….
@rbreich in America, freedom is not a right, it's a luxury.
@rbreich Well you're certainly not equal.