Over at RealClearPolitics.com, amidst the nearly unanimous battleground state polls, an inquisitive piece about McCain's "Strategery", and the other assorted columns about the presidential race, one story caught my eye: Health Care is a "Right"? by Bill Whittle at (ugh) the NRO.
In the article, he takes to the "slippery slope" argument like a skier at Whistler and where does he end up slipping to? Slavery! Socialized medicine will turn us into slaves!
Because there’s a word for someone who has their food, housing and care provided for them... for people who owe their existence to someone else.
And that word is "slaves."
Bill Whittle, I think everyone owes their existence to someone else. Someone writes you a check for these articles you write, don't they? Did you farm/slaughter your own breakfast this morning? Surely you depend on someone else. Are you a "slave" already?
Over the fold, I think out loud about how silly this argument is, and about how much further down the slippery slope socialized medicine actually is.
Whittle again:
During the presidential debate Tuesday night, Barack Obama was asked if he thought health care was a "right."
He said he thought it was a right. Well, if you accept that premise, I think you can ask some logical follow-up questions: Food is more important than health care. You die pretty quickly without food. Do we have a "right" to food in America? What about shelter? Do we have a "right" to housing?
First of all, one could argue that we already have these things here in America. We have the Food Stamp program, unemployment compensation, homeless shelters, soup kitchens... even the most downtrodden Americans have basic access to these "rights". Certainly that's not what Bill Whittle has in mind when he asks these questions. That's what's so silly about his arguments. No one's calling for socialized feeding and socialized housing!
Do we have a right to be safe? Do we have a right to be comfortable? Do we have a right to wide-screen televisions? Where does this end?
How long has it been since Bill Whittle took a civics course? We DO have a right to be safe. And oh no! It's socialized! We have socialized military, police, firefighters, air traffic controllers. Surely Bill Whittle doesn't propose that we should privatize these things... right?
The fundamental, bedrock function of Government is to protect its people. From threats from within (police, firefighters, etc.) and from the outside (the armed forces, coast guard, etc.). We also have socialized clean water, socialized sanitation services... Do we have a right to water, Bill Whittle? No? Should we privatize it? How would we even do that?
Our socialized tap water and waste management are age-old tenets of basic hygiene... hold-overs from the ROMANS. It's just another way the government protects its people. Only it's not from terrorists or the Russkies. It's protection from contracting Cholera and all sorts of other nasty illnesses. Socialized medicine is the same thing. Protecting citizens from illness, promoting their basic wellness.
Canada, the UK, France... they're not slave states are they? They look pretty "free" to me. And they have longer life expectancies than we do. And they have socialized medicine. Coincidence?
And when we have a right to be given stuff that previously we had to work for, then there is no reason — none — to go and work for them. The goody bag has no bottom, except bankruptcy and ruin.
How am I supposed to "work for" my healthcare if I sprain my ankle stocking shelves at Costco and can't work at all? Instead of working to be healthy enough to work more... how about working to enjoy the creature comforts? When my basic survival doesn't depend on staying healthy, when I don't have to worry about healthcare coverage, I'm free to work so I can enjoy my life... the dream of a middle-class.
If Barack Obama's healthcare plan is a slippery slope to middle-class "slavery", "chain" me up.