By
Monty Pelerin, posted December 24th, 2009 http://www.economicnoise.com/2009/12/24/obamacare-a-pallbearer-for-american-freedom/
“The essence of government is control, or the attempt to control.” Benjamin Tucker
There is no better way to describe the so-called health care plan
than Tucker’s quote. It is not about improving health care; it never
was. Oh there may be some dim bulbs in Congress that truly believe they
have improved the country and the health system with their latest
efforts. But sincerity is not an excuse for stupidity. Reality does not
give a damn about good intentions.
The majority in Congress knows exactly what this bill means for them
and medical care in this country. For them, it opens up the potential
for total control of the citizenry. For health care it means continued
deterioration in our health care system, but in a way that is “fairer”
than before. It provides for broader insurance coverage at the expense
of the quality of medical care. But for idealogues who worship at the
altar of equality, that is a reasonable trade-off. Winston Churchill
described socialism’s value thusly: “its inherent virtue is the equal
sharing of misery.”
For the rest of us, it means the continuing deterioration of health
care that commenced with government’s involvement in Medicare. For a
full discussion of this point, see Scott Gottlieb’s article in the New York Post on Obamacare.
Perhaps more important than the effects on the quality of health
care will be the effects on every aspect of our lives. Ayn Rand’s
warning long ago has finally come true under the Trojan Horse known as
health care reform: “We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate
inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it
pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the
stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by
brute force.”
The reach provided by health care “reform” is virtually unbounded.
Congress or its bureaucratic arms will begin invading not only every
aspect of traditional doctor-patient relationships, but every aspect of
individual freedom. Food content, diet requirements, exercise, living
style and much more will soon come under attack. There is no aspect of
human behavior that a motivated and imaginative mind cannot link to
health. The public nuisances and busybodies in government have more
than the requisite motivation to “improve” your life. Now they have a
set of tools that enables them to do so. They literally will be able to
invade every aspect of human behavior under the guise of improving your
health.
The concept of American individualism, freedom and greatness has Obamacare as its pallbearer.
This post originally appeared on American Thinker.