Americans. Which "right" would be more important to you?

Question

If you could only choose one:

The right to bear arms

or

The right of every man woman or child to be able to access medical treatment on demand when they need it, irrespective of their ability to pay.

I'm not talking about rights which already exist in your Constitution. But if you were faced with a stark choice - one or the other of those rights to become law, then which would you choose?

SadaamLied - Socialised healthcare does not automatically equal "bad" and as for "Top of the Range Healthcare at a a high cost" how does that help people who are ill but unable to raise the money to pay the high cost?

hethatdoesnotwantotbe . . - no country which implements socialised healthcare would institute compulsory euthanisia! Who told you that? Anyway, in the UK you have a choice of either socialised OR private healthcare so the rich can take their pick - don't like the NHS, don't use it!

Answer 1

Well, as a socialist, I think that BOTH are basic human rights.

As a worker who knows that the police, KKK, Nazis, New Federalists, antiabortion Christian terrorists, Islamic fundamentalists, and every drunken, sleazy off-duty cop who wants to prove he's a man ARE ARMED, I want labor, minorities, gays and women armed, too.

As a worker with limited income and several long-term health problems, I need medical care.

So I have two possible answers --

1. Take the medical care, and hide my guns.
2. Keep the guns and fight for medical care.

GRRR this is HARD.

You got me. I don't know which to pick. They're both pretty nasty alternatives.

Answer 2

Why does free medical care have to be a right. If if should, why not food. There are people that go hungry in America, so lets give everyone free food. The constitution does not cover free medical care. If you start picking away at the constitution by taking away the right top bear arms, where will end........the freedom of speech ...... the right to vote . So I must choose the right to bear arms .

Answer 3

Health care. Though not technically a right, I think it should be. You could stretch the life part of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to mean healthcare, though since it's in the Declaration of Independence it probably doesn't mean anything legally.

The right to bear arms is a silly anachronism we'll probably cling to for 200 more years until the King of England invades and defeats us with flower power. Guns actually don't bother me that much I'm just not into them. The only reason it upsets me is there are a lot of dangerous things that are illegal that I think should be legal if guns are. It's kind of a like an alcohol/marijuana thing. Logically, they should both be illegal or legal. (actually alcohol is far more dangerous but that's beside the point)

Answer 4

These two issues are not related and no where near mutually exclusive.

A better question would be do people prefer bad healthcare for free or top of the line healthcare at a high cost?

Answer 5

i'm an American and it isn't major to me. i like and understand range and trust anybody is intitled to stay their lives as they opt for. Assimilation is a lack of life warrant for any custom it quite is assimilated into yet another. the purely difficulty i can see is with verbal replace and that is often dealt with with detailed interpreters. So, what's the enormous deal? a similar human beings that ***** about someone not understanding English the following contained in the States will shuttle to different countries and assume for them to understand English. No ask your self they're nicely-known because the gruesome individuals. i have seen them in action down in old Mexico and it changed into embarrassing.

Answer 6

The right to be a man and not a sheep; the right to bear arms. Without this check on the power of government none of the other rights are worth the paper they are written on.

.

Answer 7

Since the first one is a freedom that everyone should have, and the second one is an entitlement, I am going with the first.
You are not entitled to anything.

Let me explain to those that don't think these things through. No one is saying you are entitled to a gun. If you want one, you should have the freedom to purchase one. It should not be given to you.

You are also free to purchase good health care. It should not be given to you. You do not have a right to anything accept your life and the product of your labor.

Answer 8

If you strip away right in exchange of entitlements, there will come a time when the entitlements will be altered in a way you do not like.

Could you imagine going for a medical treatment, and finding out the cure is euthanasia.

Answer 9

No rights should ever be taken away. But, I don't see how anyone could say anything besides: ''The right of every man woman or child to be able to access medical treatment on demand when they need it, irrespective of their ability to pay."

Choosing the right to bear arms over peoples health is a very typical individualistic belief. Care about themselves and screw everyone else. The republicans moto.

Answer 10

Health-care would be a double win!

We'd have less gun shot wounds to waste health-care dollars on and you'd have your more natural health-needs met.

Oh, and for the conservatives with "liberal" reading between the lines comprehension skills, there is no unqualfied right to bear arms in the Second Amendment (pay attention to the commas).