Fair enough, I'll respond.
First of all, we do not have socialized healthcare. Even with the healthcare bill, we are nowhere near a Canadian style system. We don't have a single payer system, we don't even have a public option. We have a set of new regulations and rules, one that would be more easily compared to how the FAA regulates airlines, or FDA keeps your food safe. It isn't a government takeover, that just sounds really good as a sound byte on your designated partisan news source. The government does not provide healtcare, corporations still do. Do you really think they would have backed the bill as they did if it was a "government takeover"? Of course not, there's a reason why they were giving massive amounts of money to people like Senator Baucus. What the bill does do is make it slightly more difficult for insurance companies to drop coverage, refuse coverage, or hike rates astronomically for no apparent reason. In fact, CBO projections estimate that the bills will reduce the deficit by about 140 billion over the next decade.
http://www.cbo.gov/publications/collections/health.cfm
The Tea Party does not believe in limited government, and they certainly aren't a separate division from the rest of the Republican party. If they were, you would have seen them rallying just as ferociously when Bush past HIS stimulus. Only they were nowhere to be seen. They are simply a new way to display displeasure with the Democratic party. While they are certainly not an entirely racist organization, you would have to be blind not to see that there is certainly a race element involved.
Not sure where you were going with that immigration quip, you are going to have to elaborate if you want a response to that.
The final paragraph. Ah the wonderful word socialism. Please look up a definition of the word. In fact, look up several. While it sounds fantastic, it quite simply isn't true. The US is considerably closer to the laissez-faire side of things than even a nation such as Canada, which is certainly not a socialist country, not even close.
I have already addressed your misnomer of a "government takeover" of healthcare. Sounds good, simply isn't true.
The government taxes heavily? In fact, many tax rates now are LOWER than they were under the most beloved of conservatives, Ronald Reagan. Not to mention that a large portion of the ever hated stimulus was EXACTLY what conservatives clamor for, tax cuts. State taxes are a seperate issue, and certainly can't be blamed on Obama. I can't really comment on New York taxes, I don't know enough about them.
Cool, the income tax has only been around for about 100 years. The amount of infrastructure the government provides has also grown, and needs to be paid for. Roads, public education, medicare, social security, they all need to be paid for. And have fun getting elected if you want to mess with peoples medicare or social security. It needs reform, but its here to stay.
FDR did get us out of the Great Depression. Aside from a few partisan hacks who call themselves economists at USC(? I think it was, but i recall the study), the VAST majority of economists and historians agree that the economy had stabilized before we entered the war. While WWII certainly accelerated the economies growth, it had stabilized by 1939, 2 years before we entered the war.
Im not even going to address your anecdotal evidence about your "friend". We all conveniently seem to know someone whose experienced something that supports our cause.
If I missed something, please let me know.
