[There’s a lot of room for conservative influence on the direction of America in that debate, but not if conservatives just say “work harder ‘cause everybody is getting what they deserve” in an economy where it’s increasingly hard for many hard-working families to get and stay ahead.]
I agree with some of the responses that have already been posted to this. Your point about the perception of opportunity Vs. result is interesting. However, if you believe in the idea that the government is responsible for opportunity given equally to all American's, then your thought is completely contradictory (IMO). Our constitution was pretty specific about the roles and responsibilities of our federal government with respect to the citizens of the USA. There was never promised free healthcare or education. This is not to say that our nation cannot afford to help citizens with the opportunity to get both. Unfortunately, the governements involvement in healthcare and education does more harm than good. There are a handful of citizens that may be able to captilize on opportunities afforded them by our federal government. But the expense to the rest of the citizens is so high to provide for the few, that many others are priced out of the equal opportunity. Let's face it, our federal government can only make war efficiently (and even that is up for debate). To level the playing field the federal government would have to get out of the way and let the private sector market to all citizens.
Not everybody can afford car insurance. Think about what would happen if the government started working with auto insurance companies to make sure that every driver in America was insured? I think we would all get to pay about 30% more and our employers would start partnering up with auto insurance companies to give big group rates.....
You get the point. Auto insurance would drastically increase.
Public Education should be controlled first at the state level and then at the private level. The federal guvmnt should be out of the picture completely. I believe that supply and demand market works to provide the most "equal" opportunity for all.
Many conservatives may want a program that appeals to to posters here, but what they need need is a program that appeals to a majority of voters - otherwise they might just as well stay home on election day.
And if one of those voters, or a friend, or someone in their family is (for example) a woman having to decide between bankruptcy and a course of radiation treatment after cancer surgery because after 25 year in the workforce she had been laid off and is uninsured, and you tell her:
It's simple: "The federal guvmnt should be out of the picture completely. I believe that supply and demand market works to provide the most "equal" opportunity for all."
You are going to get asked, "How, exactly, will that solve my problem?"
And if conservatives don't have a realistic proposal to do so, or at least a convincing argument about why any of the realistic alternatives are worse than her current situation, IMO they have little reason to complain if such voters prefer someone who does appear to have one.