Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Euthanasia by Default

A Government Health Care system means that everyone is paid for, seen and treated by the government. In such a system, there may be many different doctors, clinics and hospitals, but at bottom there is only one customer - the government. Ultimately it is the government's tune to which all dance.

Since health care is supposedly free, people will not choose whether they want to go to the doctor based on any number of reasons, one of which is cost. They will take advantage of the benefits since they are there to be used. With no apparent cost to them over which they have control, why not?

But nothing man must do to maintain his life is without cost. It is an enormous fantasy to think otherwise. Because in a nation the size of the United States there is infinite demand for these benefits, the government will soon see that the expenses far outrun their tax revenues. They will have no choice but to raise taxes and/or cut benefits.

Raising taxes has its limits. Taxes on the populace cut into their standard of living. As taxes rise and the standard of living lowers, people carp and complain. The health care people take the brunt of this because they are the leading edge of Government Health Care. But they will have their excuses. After all, they are not ultimately responsible. (With Government Health Care the health care people will suffer a huge loss of good will and trust from people. Who can trust someone who is ultimately powerless in the matter and is not hired by your own judgment?)

The Government will then be attacked. The rising cost of living will prevent the Government from calling for more taxes. They will try to hide them in everything, but to hold down taxes, they will cut benefits. There will always be those who say that all the waiting, forestalling, shoddy methods and reduced benefits are worth it. They will be wrong. It doesn't have to be this way.

As the benefits are downsized, it must come out of someone's hide. There must be priorities. Of course it only makes sense to favor the productive taxpayers over the unproductive tax users. And the latter are the handicapped, the mentally incapacitated, the elderly, to name a few obvious categories of people. They will be left to die. Not in so many words, of course. Maybe they will be given some palliatives, but nothing that can really make a difference and cost the system money it doesn't have. Call this euthanasia. This is what it is - by default.

Actually euthanasia means a gentle and easy death. But some of the suffering will not be eased. "I'm so sorry. That's just the way it is," they say, and besides, that costs money too.

The real crime is that it doesn't have to be this way. Just recently drug stores wanted to bring in nurses and medical practitioners of various kinds to look at people who needed some medical advice. Given their knowledge they could help those they could and if not, recommend to them someone with more advanced knowledge. This idea, a product of economic freedom, was fought tooth and nail by the doctors. They don't want the competition.

Of course the doctors went to the law makers. "Outlaw such a solution," they said. The problem is that the law makers should not have the right to limit competition and new ideas. Their job is to catch criminals who violate authentic rights, not the false "economic rights." This is where the current mess of the health system goes off the track. Instead of freeing people to come up with new ideas on how to deliver health care, they kill it. As a result they indirectly kill people.

I got an email letter this morning from John Lewis, my Congressional Representative. He says, "I believe health care is a right." He presents no argument. He just believes it. In the wacko ethics of our culture, he sounds like a good man. But he is not.

Nothing can be a right that has to be produced by some other men. What is Mr. Lewis going to do? Take their labor and their property and give it to you? In days past, the plantation owners did the same thing except they were honest. They had slaves for their purposes. Now we have "The Great Pretenders" who enslave others for your purposes, they say. John Lewis is one of "The Great Pretenders."

Slavery is the darkest, most evil kind of advocacy and John Lewis is advocating it. A is A no matter how you dress it.

What is the antidote to the great problem of health care? Freedom. Freedom to think, to come up with new ideas for treatment and care, and freedom to deliver goods and services to people - those willing to trade something for them.

Freedom! Let it ring! From the Stone Mountain of Georgia to the foothills of Santa Barbara.

Some say, "We have to do something about this health care mess." That's true. But let's get to the cause of the problem and not rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. We are in this mess because the industry is tied in a knot. Government regulation and control is ubiquitous. Free it. Let our people go.

The other reason we have this mess is because people like John Lewis are telling people that health care is a right. He has to poke out his own eyes to not see the slavery in this.

People want to solve these problems. Being bound hand and foot they only have narrow avenues for action. Slave masters are hounding them.

Government is not the answer. It is the problem. Some of you will lose your loved ones because euthanasia will be its result. Death is final.

Nothing was more graphic than a piece I saw on TV. In Canada the medical industry is government run. A human has to wait at least a month for an MRI no matter what his ailment. It could be serious and need quick attention or not. In Canada, on the other hand, veterinary medicine is practiced in a free market. An animal can get an MRI the next day.

Wake up!

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