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Re:Larry Page "providing free flu shots to all San Francisco... by unalone on Friday December 07, 2012 @12:44PM (#4888089)
It's not about being a better person. Charity is not about being a better person. It's about helping people. And the purpose of government is to put systems in place that can give help to all the people who need it, as close to all the time as possible.

Larry Page is a fantastic man for doing this, OP is not disputing that. But it would be nice if children were guaranteed a flu shot regardless of whether a particular fantastic person decides they should get it. Charity is wonderful, but non-broken government is even better.

Re:Larry Page "providing free flu shots to all San Francisco... by TruthElixirX on Friday December 07, 2012 @05:40PM (#4889621)
>And the purpose of government is to put systems in place that can give help to all the people who need it, as close to all the time as possible.

That is a hefty thing to assert. If you ask some Afghan kid what the purpose of the U.S. government is I think you would get a different answer.