Re: Medicare Means Test

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Bettina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Herman Rubin) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
>> Gretchen Evans  <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> >On 12 Nov 2003 13:39:11 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Herman
>> >Rubin) wrote:

>> >>In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
>> >>George Conklin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>> >>>"Herman Rubin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
>> >>>news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> >>>>> And what would have been the effect if the ones who founded
>> >>>> this country behaved like that?  They would still be slaves
>> >>>> in Europe.

                        ....................

>> >Funny, I certainly don't feel 'enslaved' by the government.. Disgusted
>> >by their actions, yes; apprehensive about the so-called leader, yes;
>> >concerned about the nitwits in Congress who prefer argument and
>> >stone-walling to progress.... but certainly not 'enslaved'

>> I suggest you see what Shakespeare said about this topic;
>> it is in _Hamlet_.  Hamlet says that Denmark is a prison;
>> further, the whole world is, and Denmark is one of the cells.
>> The courtier states that he does not feel he is in prison,
>> to which Hamlet remarks that then he (the courtier) is not.

>Hamlet saw the world and his nation as a prison. And Hamlet was very
>weird and prone to ruminating at length about such peculiar topics as
>whether to be or not to be.  I think Hamlet was the first libertarian!

No, Shakespeare (Hamlet is his character) was NOT the first
libertarian.  Quite a few in England, Scotland, and Italy,
and also in the Netherlands and elsewhere, were at least
leaning to libertarianism.  As far as I can tell, the idea
of individual rights started in Italy, and progressed.  By
Shakespeare's time, there were lots of religious dissenters
in various parts of Europe, although it was not until they
saw that the practical right to their viewpoint required
granting that to others.


-- 
This address is for information only.  I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
[EMAIL PROTECTED]         Phone: (765)494-6054   FAX: (765)494-0558