Rights protect people, not provide for them.

Famousone is correct in why healthcare cannot be a right.
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A right has to be something that cannot infringe on itself or other rights. They have to be fundamentally true. Services don't qualify, I'll give you an example:
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Imagine if everyone in healthcare decided to quit. How does someone's supposed right to healthcare work now? Should the government force people to become doctors against their will so that you can make use of your right to have someone take care of you?
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If healthcare is a right, shouldn't a safe warm space to live be a right too? How about food? Should farmers and construction workers be public survents? Where does it end?
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A right is an guaranteed opportunity that you can take if you choose to. It cannot be a guaranteed gift or transfer of goods or services as that would infringe on other peoples opportunities.

I agree that the stigma is indeed part of why there are more men in politics. My beef is that there seems be a belief that this stigma is actively promoted by men. That there are somehow secret meetings where powerful men get together and talk about ways to keep women and minorities out of powerful positions. To me, that would be absurd.

Maybe enforce was the wrong word, but making an effort to specifically add women is a better way to state it.

Requiring all people to have the same insurance would almost guarantee it would become good?
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So you're suggesting that paying out of pocket for better care would have to be stopped entirely?

I'm white, male, and worked my way into the upper middle class.
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When people talk about unequal outcomes (like equal representation in politics) i constantly get the impression that they believe it's somehow my fault and that they are even angry at me for it. I don't understand why.
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On a related note, are they sure that forcing equal gender representation for congress is a good idea?

Scatmandingo, Your post made me think. Thank you!
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I'd save the child without hesitation. But that doesn't make freeloading on good people's compassion any more acceptable.
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It's not a matter of will, it's a matter of principal.

@bethorien, i think the phone lock is an inaccurate analogy. It's not right vs wrong in general, it's right vs wrong for a specific instance. Should a parent in 2019 Yemen not encourage their starving child to finish their plate because some fat American blames his obesity on his parents?
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What if an American boomer's child was homeless, hungry, and a parent. Should that parent follow their parents advice and encourage their starving child to eat as much as possible while they have the rare opportunity to eat? Or does it boil down to perspective?

I think the core problem is differentiating between those who truly need assistance and those who are just unwilling.

Could anyone help me understand why there is so much passion (or even aggression) attached to the idea that a social construct is limiting female representation in congress?

Fair enough. It could be luck or it could be effort, every situation is different, and answer can never really be solved.....
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Given the options, I will choose to believe that success is a result of effort. Every time. The reason is that its the only option that I have control over.
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I'd much rather take my power back and choose my future vs give up my power and complain about all the things my unlucky life handed me.

I disagree. I think the very reason people stay below the line is they believe it's all luck.
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There is some luck involved in everything but financial gain has much more to do with decision making and work ethic.

I'm in the same boat. But we have to understand where that generation came from. We live in a world where overeating is a danger. The boomers grew up in a world where the danger came from not having enough food to live. This isn't a right vs wrong discussion. It's simply a matter of perspective.

@scatmandingo,
I dont defend the wealthy, i defend a system that provides opportunity, and reward for success.

For what it's worth, all I saw was "buy our coats, they're good quality and we've been making them for a long time". And "It's laughable because exploration of cold climates was clearly not that glamorous."
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I had no thoughts about Inuit/Eskimo culture.

I agree ^

Wouldn't the conditions that caused the desert to spread also cause the new trees to die? I assume there is a reason that it wouldn't?