When you think the future is going to be the same as the present you are wrong.
Now some things will be the same, but enough things will change that plans will probably be ruined.
Take Social Security as an example. When it was created the country had experienced nothing but population growth through immigration and birth and the people at the time would have projected a similar future. As long as that continued we would have plenty of young workers to support the relatively short lived retirees covered by the benefit.
Well while population has grown it grew as much from people living longer than young people being born and the system has become financially unstable.
The people who designed it weren't poor planners, no one can plan for the unpredictable.
Breakthroughs in medical science have prolonged our lives. Women also have moved into the workforce and delayed having children and have fewer of them if any.
Similarly, many pension plans that depended on your workers paying in to maintain long term stability are faced with large numbers of retired workers with many fewer young workers to feed the fund.
The point is that things happen and they weren't predictable.
Moving forward requires the ability to respond to new situations, not try to undo the progress and events that are molding the present.
The Affordable Care Act was a step forward and those who wanted to undo it were envisioning a world that doesn't exist anymore. They see it as a step towards socialism and maybe in some ways it is. However socialism in medicine means every sick person gets treated and every healthy person gets preventive care.
What's wrong with that?
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