Government Healthcare: Unaffordable and Lethal
December 11, 2009
The idea of free universal healthcare is emotionally soothing and arguably quite Christian. On the surface, it seems like an ideal to which all wealthy and civilized countries should strive. It “feels” good. (So does heroin, apparently.) In truth, it is a stake in the heart of individual responsibility.
Here’s how it works: As countries (like families and individuals) get rich, they tend to lose their common sense. Like spoiled rich kids, they forget about virtues like hard work and personal responsibility—the attributes that got them rich in first place. These nations make ill-advised, indulgent, “feel good” decisions. Such decisions weaken countries over time and, after a generation or two, render them mere shadows of their former grandeur. This story is as old as time.
Let’s look at this through the lens of America in 2009. Imagine if an impartial observer were to examine our current situation. He or she would have to note that the greatest nation in the history of mankind is not currently in a particularly strong position. The U.S. is spending more than it takes in, importing more than it exports, and fighting wars in the global quicksand of empire. The global community is losing faith in our currency just as another great power on a breathtaking rise (China) salivates for the reins of power and is increasingly poised to snatch them from our hands.
At this very moment, our government deems it prudent to borrow yet more money to hook up a broad swath of the American public up to a vast new entitlement program designed to grow, as all entitlement programs do, like a weed.
Have we lost our minds? Handing vast new authorities to a government with an already peerless record of incompetence and lust for power is sheer madness. Forget the huge strain on the budget and the squelching of the free enterprise that made America great. Even more insidious is the effect of socialized medicine on the citizenry.
Such a system makes more people dependent on government. Dependence corrupts and transfers power from the individual to those who dispense the favors. Dependence is what happens to drug addicts. Our government wishes to be the biggest dealer on the planet, and, like any human organization, to grow.
Socializing healthcare is another great step forward for the misguided efforts of FDR in the 30’s, expanded with devastating effect by LBJ in the 60’s. This is the dream of the big government left: to hook up and buy the votes of the middle class—to turn them into a mushy, addled mass clamoring for mama government to come and give them a bit more mother’s milk.
This is a prospect for which all Americans should feel visceral revulsion.
The bureaucrats in Washington are seeking to extend their cold reach. We all know that nothing is produced in Washington, D.C. The Department of Energy has not made a kilowatt, the Department of Education teaches no children, and the Department of Agriculture (with more employees than farmers in America) has never grown a bushel of wheat!
America does need healthcare reform. Costs are out of control for many reasons, all of which stem from the distortions caused by government intervention.
We need freedom of choice, robust markets, faith in ourselves, and a level playing field. These are the pillars upon which American greatness rests.
This post is very misguided and down right wrong. A strong middle class is the foundation of America and the reason why the country is so great. FDR and LBJ helped America get to where we are today by laying the foundations for the growth of a strong middle class. While there are abuses of government entitlements and social programs, the idea that the existence of these programs is the reason for abuse is far to simplistic. A lack of interest in creating a world class public education system (another socialist concept) has as much to do with dependence on the government as anything else. While I agree that there is great cost attached to adopting healthcare reform, there is a greater cost for inaction. Health care is vital to the engines of the american economy as a healthier population is a more productive population. The free markets have done nothing to decrease costs of health insurance, and there is little reason to think that this course of action will ever decrease costs. The industry has already shown it is unwilling to decrease costs or treat people properly when they need care. As such, it is time for reform. If you want to say that is losing my common sense then by all means do so, but i think it is you who is losing your own common sense.
Well written and informative. However with price fixing and greed being the key elements that influence market outcomes perhaps the failure of this health care reform will actually expedite our doomed economy and finally allow a new currency to come into play. You said it your self this story has been repeated through out history
I do not disagree that a strong middle class is, and has always been, the ballast in the American ship of state, however, the current high cost of healthcare is not a failure of private enterprise, it is caused in fact by government involvement.
“admin on December 18th, 2009 5:03 pm
I do not disagree that a strong middle class is, and has always been, the ballast in the American ship of state, however, the current high cost of healthcare is not a failure of private enterprise, it is caused in fact by government involvement.”
What fact’s are we talking about here? it is all well and good to say that government intervention is the reason for high costs, but without evidence this is little more than an empty statement. Big business is always trying to avoid regulation, even when the regulations may be in their best interest. It is no coincidence that health insurance lobbies have spent record sums of money to ensure health care reform fails again. Much like the automobile industry spending lots of money to ensure that higher fuel efficiency standards are not mandated or the energy industry spending money to ensure the government does not regulate their ability to pollute our air, lobbies have spent good money to ensure they face as little regulation as possible.