To begin: An excerpt from a discussion about National Health Care that frames my argument.
“Beyond the political and economic considerations in the debate regarding national health care are questions of whether citizens in the United States possess the right to such care. Few people question that Congress has the power, both under the Commerce Clause and Spending Clause of the Constitution, to enact national healthcare legislation, but some maintain that health is one of the basic Human Rights that the Constitution impliedly protects. Other commentators disagree strongly, noting that no citizen has the inherent right to health care and that health care providers deserve to be paid the market value for their services. Other critics add that the intervention required of the government in a national health-care system would make citizens too dependent upon the state, which could lead the government to take excessive control over its citizens’ lives.”
The cost of the proposals made by the Obama administrations for their healthcare solutions are so high they are almost beyond the comprehension of the average citizen, and “We The People” have gotten so involved in these numbers that we seem to have lost sight of the big picture — the Real Problem.
We have a President of the United States with a goal! He genuinely worries about certain aspects of life in the United States — one of which is healthcare — and he will do virtually anything to correct things that he feels need to be corrected.
What can a president of the United States do?
Many things! This president, however, apparently believes that the only answer to America’s problems is expanding the scope and power of the government; i.e., smothering perceived problems in a layer of bureaucratic control!
Consider the ramifications of that and then ask yourself: is that what YOU want? Do you want the U.S. Government to be able to dictate to individuals and private companies how they run their lives and businesses? Does that, in the context of the United States, even sound right?
Well, in the case of proposed healthcare legislation, that’s exactly what our government is attempting to do to citizens and to insurance companies (and what they are attempting to do to virtually every other business and industry with the proposed Cap and Trade legislation); and it looks like they will get away with it unless they are challenged.
Yes the people are starting to rise up at Town-Hall meetings all over the country; they are starting to ask questions and are getting very angry when all they get in return are scripted responses. There are, however, two types of people at these meetings: There are those who have accepted the premise and are only angry over the details (i.e., the what are you going to do for me mentality) and there are growing numbers who are angry about a president, a legislature and an administration that has displayed this much arrogance and this much contempt for its citizens and for private industry; these are the people who understand the Real Problem in the healthcare debate.
The Real Problem is not that Obama is willing to weaken our economy even more by adding billions per year to our already large debt (yesterday he spoke of the money as if it were ONLY $ ten billion per year) — that is a symptom or a possible result of the proposed solutions but that is not the Real Problem.
The Real Problem is threefold:
1) President Obama has a name for it: “crisis!” This is not just a debating trick this is the real Barack Obama — the community organizer from the Saul Alinski school of community organizing. Words are important and as a “crisis,” the healthcare situation appears to move up several notches in urgency and this gives the Obama administration an excuse to use the power of government to correct it. Obama is ‘selling’ this concept of healthcare being in a crisis mode and many Americans are ‘buying it.’
2) President Obama, and Liberal thinkers in general, as I said before, see more government as the ONLY solution to this (or any) problem;
3) President Obama does not seem to understand, on any level, that a primary cause of America’s healthcare problem (and many other social problems in this country) is TOO MUCH government — not too little. (A perfect example of this: One of the key factors that started our current economic recession was government ‘encouraging’ banks to make sub-prime home loans.)
Its time — way past time — for us to stop focusing on the details and the cost of the Obama administrations proposals and start challenging the very premise! The premise that government should be allowed to run roughshod over individuals and over the free-market.
The legislature has the power to make laws that give the government much more power than the Constitution allows and, if those laws go unchallenged, “We The People” becomes a meaningless phrase — a relic of what this country used to be because “We The People” will have lost our country to an ever expanding government.
Links:
American Thinker: Why the Mortgage Crisis Happened
The Legal Dictionary: National Health Care
Wikipedia: Saul Alinski
4 users commented in " Healthcare: It’s Time To Question The Premise! "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackGee, I wish you had a rating lower than “1 star.”
Here’s a news flash. WE have government-run health care in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans’ Administration–three organizations credited with saving and prolonging the lives of millions of Americans. Do you know what happens to poor people with no health insurance? When they get sick, they suffer and then they die.
Health care as practiced by the so-called free market is on its way to bankrupting our country. Americans pay more and live shorter lives than citizens of most of the other industrialed nations. We desperately NEED health care (yes, it really is two words) reform, and we need it this year.
We need more government oversight of the health care industry that denies 14,000 people DAILY of health insurance and raises health insurance premiums as much as 50% annually while posting 400% profits. Do you want some CEO earing $17Million telling your family what procedures they can have and determining whether they can leave their jobs without risking cancellation due to pre-existing conditions? Do you want health care rationing for profit? That’s the system we have now. The health insurance/provider industry has deployed 6 lobbyists for envery Congressman and Senator in an effort to preserve the status quo and their profit margin.
Support real health care reform and quit spreading lies!
DebraS -There is a rating below one star. It is NO stars! It’s a good thing to know when reading articles by Mr. “I am SO politically fanatical I can’t think (and I don’t want anyone else to either)” Whiner.
I couldn’t agree with the article more. Bravo, man. It’s not possible for the current healthcare system to bankrupt this country — maybe it can bankrupt individuals or healthcare companies, but not the federal government.
However, the proposed healthcare legislation CAN bankrupt this country — and given the rate of spending this year of the current congress and administration, it will if kept up at the same clip.
I agree that there’s a problem with healthcare — costs are too high, definitely. Why don’t we stop bitching about the insurance lobbies and start bitching about the trial lawyers’ lobby, which no one has the balls to even mention. Everyone knows liability insurance is a huge driver of medical prices. Just showing up in an ER will cost you $400 so make you wait somewhere for 45 minutes so they can say nothing is wrong.
Then, when we get the prices to a more rational in this department, then let’s talk about a public plan, for God’s sake. Is this not just rational?
BTW, I haven’t even received a single check from an insurance company or anything! I swear!
I feel so sorry for Americans. I lived in the U.S. for 6 years and although I had private coverage, there was no way my healthcare was as good or personal as the one I get in Australia, where we have universal coverage. Also, when you take into account heavy local taxes, etc., my taxes are actually no higher here in Australia; they’re just better directed.
It’s unlikely anything will ever change in the U.S. because, unfortunately, the majority of Americans are easily led astray by scaremongering. I do feel sorry for those who recognize the enormous benefits that universal healthcare brings. For the rest, I guess fantasy land can sustain you and your health.
Leave A Reply