Hello Cynical Musings. I do agree that "The government is not there to solve every problem that society develops. That is an impossible job." And I agree that health care and the other things you mentioned are not fundamental human rights. But we do disagree on what government is for. Government is here to make our lives better. The first way to do that is to protect our safety and our rights to free speech and free movement (which I do believe are fundamental). But I don't know of any reason why those should be the only functions of government. Government does a lot to make our lives better and should, I think, keep doing those things. But I would also agree that government is a beast that has to be constantly watched.

Health care SHOULD be available to people who need it. I've been employed for my entire adult life, at jobs that are not minimum wage jobs and yet, I've not had health insurance for the past decade. If it HAS been offered where I am working, it was far too expensive (more than 1/3 of my salary). I am very fortunate to be in good health, but I know that even a minor but necessary surgery has the potential to financially cripple me. We need to find a way to have a better health care system, where people have access to healthcare without it being a huge financial burden.

Abortion services are a tiny portion of the services that Planned Parenthood provides. Education and contraception provided by Planned Parenthood prevents the necessity for abortions. If you take education, contraception and abortion services away from marginalized populations, it'll come back to bite you in the form of hundreds (thousands) of babies who will need to be fed and clothed and housed and to have health care. And asserting that people who can't afford babies shouldn't be doing what makes babies is ignoring basic human nature.

Should the government run healthcare? Maybe not. But pharmaceutical companies make BILLIONS in profits every year, as do insurance companies. They profit from people's misery. Free enterprise is one thing, making obscene profits by tacking 1000% margins onto your products is unconscionable.

Farming is expensive and there are so many factors that farmers have little control over that I think that in years where there is flooding or drought and the crops are ruined, you can either help the farmers or watch them have no choice but go out of business alltogether thus forcing the need to import more and more. In good years, there shouldn't be a need for the subsidies. I know that isn't how things work, but maybe it should be.

All of that being said, I agree with your initial two statements. But we need to get to the root of WHY we have these issues, solve the underlying problems and do away with the NEED for handouts.