Answering Questions: Part VI – Erin Edition

When do you think this country will elect a woman president?

I honestly thought there would probably be a woman president before there was an African American one, so I’m not doing so hot in measuring this. But, at any rate, I think the country is to a point that electing a woman president is a realistic possibility now, though it’s hard to estimate exactly when it will actually happen. My best guess is that it will still be several elections down the road and 20 years from now seems as good as estimate as any. And considering that Sarah Palin is probably currently the most likely option, maybe waiting a while isn’t such a bad idea.

How do you feel about the health reform bill passing in the House tonight?

The health care debate is a tough one for me, because I am a libertarian and am generally always against huge government managed things and having public health care is certainly a huge government managed thing. However, any economist will tell you that, as great as free markets are, there are certain sectors that a free market does not work particularly well in and I believe that health care is one area where it does not.

So, I believe that having a form of public health care that insures that every American gets at least minimal health care is a good idea, though I don’t think it is as easy of a choice as most liberals do who are for it (or most conservatives do who are against it). I actually think the health care in our country is a lot better than studies are going to tend to show, because I believe the reason we’re so unhealthy isn’t our health care per se, it’s that we live in a unhealthy culture and that fast food diets are probably more to blame for our poor standing relative to other countries than our health care system is. I also think a big problem is that it’s incredibly easy to throw frivolous lawsuits at doctors and succeed and that this drives up health care costs a lot. No one talks about this much and I wish they would.

Of course, the bill that passed the House isn’t granting a single-payer public health care system anyway, but I do like some of the things that it does. I am for the public option and also requiring that every person be insured, because I believe having every person insured will drive down the cost of insurance due to eliminating the “free rider” problem (the problem that people who most need insurance also most want it and insurance companies know this, so they end up needing to charge the average person more to account for it). Having a weird hybrid system of public and private insurance strikes me as not the best idea, but it seems to have been the system that has worked the best in other countries so maybe we can carry that over to here too.

There are things in the rhetoric of the health care debate that bother me a lot though, such as when people say they are for “free health care” when really there is no such option. Having public health insurance doesn’t make it free it just means there is a reallocation of who is paying and how. It may or may not ultimately be cheaper (evidence suggests that it will be), but it certainly won’t be FREE.

Oh, and seriously, there are no death panels. How does anyone take Sarah Palin seriously anymore? Or do they?

You get to punch anyone’s lights out with no consequences. Who do you pick?

My professor for Business Statistics when I was a junior in college. I hate professors who have that authoritative tone where they look down on you and are simultaneously totally full of themselves and he was definitely one of them. Ironically, he was one of the few professors who took a liking to me and would shout “Mattison!” every time he called on me in class. Go figure.

Through an elaborate plan, you will be stranded on a desert island for, well, you know, forever. What two books will you take with you?

Honestly, I would probably pick some mammoth compilations just because it would give me the most reading material to work with, but I don’t think that is in the spirit of the question. So, I’ll  say Murakami’s Norwegian Wood and Ozick’s Trust

<p class="MsoNormal” style=”line-height: normal;”>If you could have any talent, what would it be?

Honestly, my first thought is that I would like to be extroverted and have an ability to easily interact with people, but I don’t think that is a talent in the sense that you mean it. So, I’d say that I’d choose having writing talent over most others, because it seems more useful and suiting of me than say acting or singing talent.

If you were a writer, what genre would you write?

If I were a writer, I think I’d avoid writing genre fiction. If there’s any genre I could write though, it’d probably be comedic novels.

If you were an artist, what medium would you work with?

I think I would paint. Not abstractly. That is unless writing qualifies as an art form for this question. Then I would write.

In what situation could you see yourself killing another human being?

Well, just the situations that most people probably could – if I was scared and felt that I was threatened or that someone close to me was threatened. I think I would have a hard time fighting and killing in war. Maybe if I really fully believed we were fighting for a totally just cost and even then it would be very hard for me.

You have just stumbled across one million dollars. To what charity do you donate the entire sum?

In all honesty, I think it’s something that I would research a lot and I can’t honestly answer the question without doing so. I think I’d like to give to a cause that helped people in 3rd world countries, though again this would be dependent on finding a charity I felt I could rely on.

Based on your family medical history, how do you think you will die?

Heart problems, definitely. My grandfather died of a heart attack in his early 50’s, an uncle had a heart attack in his 40’s, another grandfather had a heart attack in his 80’s, both of my grandmothers had open heart surgery. Heart problems run in my family.

Should I donate my eggs to earn money?

I’m not sure of all the potential ramifications of it (i.e. how safe it is), but assuming that it was, then why not?

The system currently in place for sperm donation is, if you’ll excuse the pun, pretty fucked, but would you ever consider donating your sperm?

It’s interesting, biologically the most efficient way to reproduce now is to become a sperm donor. That’s one thing evolution hasn’t caught up to yet – my body keeps telling me it wants to have sex with girls when really it’d be more efficient to have an insatiable drive for a sperm clinic. Anyway, yeah, as I said above, assuming that there were no safety issues (which I believe there are fewer for men), then it’s something I would consider.

Where would you want to get married, if you did?

Well, I’m a male, how my wedding day unfolds isn’t much of a life priority for me. I’ve never given much thought to it and probably wouldn’t much care, to be honest. I’d like to keep the expenses reasonable and not have anything too extravagant – I want a celebration of my love, not a gaudy party. I think it’d be neat to have it outside, maybe at the beach if it worked out right.

<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Ve

rdana","sans-serif";”>What is your morning beverage of choice?

Usually orange juice or milk. I don’t really drink coffee.

Why aren’t you doing NoJoMo?

Because I don’t have time to write entries every day. Except I’ve been writing them every day to answer these questions. Hmm. Damn you, you’ve tricked me into doing NoJoMo!

 What enriches your life?

Writing in this diary is one thing that enriches my life, in the way that it allows me to share my experiences and opinions. It’s strange how the expression itself adds a certain richness to my life experiences. There are a lot more answers I could write here, but if I wrote about all the things that enriched my life I’d never move on to another question.

And I will be moving on to other questions, in the next entry, where someone besides Erin will get their questions answered!