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Supporters of a federal government mandate requiring everyone in the United States to buy health insurance often point to state laws that require everyone to purchase liability insurance before they can legally register a vehicle.
The comparison fails.
No one is forced to buy a car.
You would be forced to buy health insurance.
No one must drive a car (and many do not).
You must live (at least the alternative is rather drastic).
Vehicle liability insurance protects OTHERS against your negligence.
Health insurance protects YOU, not others.
Many Colorado Republicans are against nationalized health care because they “don’t want the government coming between a patient and his doctor.”
But many of these same Colorado Republicans want MORE government regulation of medical marijuana to prevent doctors from prescribing that specific remedy.
It must be hard to keep principles straight when you really do not have any.
I just attempted to call the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services, Child Support Enforcement Services, on behalf of a client.
He had received a letter regarding child support he owed and a problem with his wage garnishment to pay that support. I was calling to discuss the issue.
The letter had a name and a number. I called the number and got a long recording telling me I could get the fax number, the address, information on a new $25 fee being assessed, information on the week’s court docket, and how to invest in foreclosures and get rich. (Just joking about the last one).
Finally, I got an option to push 5 if I wanted to talk to a person. I pushed 5.
I got several minutes of elevator music. Then I got another option, telling me I could push 1 if I wanted to leave a voice mail. I was assured I would receive a call back.
I pushed 1. I then got a recording telling me “sorry, English voice mail is not available at this time.” The next sound I heard was a “click.” I had been disconnected by the government.
And some people can’t understand why some of us don’t want the government running health care.
Those who think politics are boring have never watched a presidential address at a bar with a bunch of freedom-minded activists. I joined Liberty on the Rocks recently to watch Barack Obama’s speech on health reform. NPR reporter Jeff Brady joined us and contributed to a report broadcast nationally. A brief comment I made to [...]
Those that control the language control the debate.
“Turning CoverColorado into a true public option would require changes in state law and, most likely, a major infusion of federal dollars.”
What are “federal dollars?” “Federal dollars” are taxes.
The sentence should read “turning CoverColorado into a true public option would require … a major infusion of tax money.”
The first sentence is Orwellian. The second sentence is true.
The idea might not be quite as popular once it is made clear that taxes are required to fund the program, and not just magical “federal dollars.”
Amanda Teresi (from the famous “Final Stimulus Package” video) has an excellent article in the Colorado Springs Gazette concerning free market health care reform, “Return to free market best hope for health insurance reform.”
The comment section contains the usual pro-government, anti-freedom rants. It also contains an all too common misconception of Christianity.
A commenter wrote: “Even though many [free market believers] are Christians, and have read the Sermon on the Mount, and have read the parable of the Good Samaritan, THEY DO NOT CARE!!!”
As you might imagine, I responded thus:
I am a Christian. I am not trying to be a smart aleck, but didn’t the Good Samaritan help the injured person himself? The Samaritan didn’t lobby the ruling Roman government to force others to help the injured person.
There is moral value in one individual helping another. There is no moral value in forcing a third person to help the injured person.
Jesus told US to love our neighbor. He didn’t say make your NEIGHBOR love your neighbor.
Too many of us Christians mistake government force for Christian charity. If we spent more time ministering to the needy and less time at Congress lobbying for the forcible imposition of Christianity (which of course makes no sense), the world would have far more Christians.
God is love. Government is force. Any attempt to use force to spread love is doomed to failure.
According to this CBS4 report, the federal government is insisting the owners of a local shop license their dog because he likes to sleep in the storefront window. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal Welfare Division says the dog “is an exhibit, like zoo or circus animals.”
The dog’s owner, and small businessperson, says, “I’m upset that our government resources are being wasted in this way.”
We all are, sir, we all are.
Just wait until these soulless functionaries get to decide how to spend health care resources.
Once again, the incompetent bureaucracy of the government at all levels is demonstrated.
The article states that “Denver won federal funds to buy foreclosed houses a year ago but to no avail.”
It continues:
Housing experts who have studied the $6 billion Neighborhood Stabilization Program, meant to shore up American communities hit hardest by the recession, say similar problems in other cities show a dense bureaucracy delaying a good idea.
Even if one buys the premise that the program is “a good idea,” it is impossible to separate the “good idea” from the bureaucracy.
If government takes over healthcare, we can look forward to the this same level of service from the soulless functionaries put in charge.
In her Sunday Denver Post column, “Uncool to ticket a dead man,” Susan Greene bemoans the “soulless functionaries” in the bureaucracy that have harassed a widow over her deceased husband’s failure to renew his car registration. Ms. Greene is absolutely correct to bemoan the state’s conduct.
The “soulless functionaries” of the state are not supposed to think critically. They follow the rules. They enforce the regulations. They shuffle the paper. They are not required to think about it. Indeed, they are discouraged from thinking about it. If they thought about their conduct, they would apply the rules one way under one set of circumstances and another way under a different set. They would have discretion.
“Soulless functionaries” with discretion would result in disparate treatment. For instance, a dead man’s widow would be treated differently than a scofflaw deliberately ignoring the requirement to keep his car registration current. The state can not have that. It requires thinking.
Greene’s “soulless functionaries” are not limited to just one area of government. They permeate it. Many, however, fail to understand this.
Those that believe the government should take over health care fail to make the connection that it is these same “soulless functionaries” that will be shuffling the paper for your medical needs. They will have no discretion. They will not be allowed to think.
They will follow the rules. They will enforce the regulations. They will shuffle the paper. They will function without souls. And they will do it in triplicate.
Does it not defy logic to think that these “soulless functionaries” will be kept out of the health care bureauracy? That somehow benevolent angels will replace them? Where will these angels come from and why are not they already in government?
How is it that some have the ability to recognize that the inherent culture of government necessarily creates soulless functionaries, but somehow think it possible that the culture will be different in a separate wing of the same government building?
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