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Universal Healthcare Supporters: Ignorant, Lazy, or Megalomaniacal
By jbcobb | January 15, 2010
I’ve thought about this, and there is no other way to sum it up. Any supporter of a socialized medical plan, such as is being considered by our government, can be described as ignorant, lazy, or megalomaniacal, but can be placed in more than one of these categories. This sounds harsh, but it is true.
First of all, there are the lazy ones. Now, whether you are too soft-hearted to think that such a person exists or have been brainwashed to think that everyone is in possession of morally equivalent value systems, there are people who would prefer to live off the sweat and labor of other human beings. There are some people who have been socialized to believe that a certain standing in life is a guaranteed right, not something to be attained by hard work. There are people who believe that everybody with more wealth than themselves have attained that wealth by luck or by a “system” which was constructed to benefit some at the expense of others. The “puritan work ethic” which served America so well for centuries is a thing of the past for most. People now feel state lottos and welfare benefits are as fair and as equitable as ambition and hard work. This particular sector of society grows by the day, and has been fostered by skewed value systems taught in public school and preached by race-baiters and socialism hucksters.
Many supporters of socialized medicine are megalomaniacal. This is the smallest, but most influential group of the health-care crisis crowd. Most politicians and most members of partisan groups supporting “reform” of our medical system fall into this group. A non-existent crisis has been trumpeted by these people to the ignorant or sycophantic media to create this inertia for change. Politicians understand that once the vast resources of medicine are taken over by the government they will have enormous power to use these resources to buy votes, demonize their political opponents, and lionize their political supporters. In the not-so-distant past, politicians were able to buy votes with whiskey, beer, or food, or promises of a new road or access to more limited public funds. But, healthcare provides politicians with a different magnitude of power to redistribute wealth. Fully one-sixth of our national wealth will be available to unscrupulous megalomaniacs who will be able to remain in power as long as they wish because they will hold the perceived power of life and death over their constituents.
Lastly, we must address the largest group of supporters, the ignorant masses. Most, even the vast majority, of supporters of socialized healthcare have no idea of the ramifications of the program which they support. Do they realize that healthcare is not free, no matter how you name it? Money for these programs come from the government, they realize that. But, do they realize that average Americans, their neighbors will have to pay many more taxes to fund such a monumental program? Not really. Healthcare is a costly costly enterprise, and to fund it to a level that would give Americans the opportunity to access it at the level most Americans have now would be extremely expensive. Many Americans think that every possible test, examination, and consultation would be available to them at their whim. How can that be? The number of medical visits and exams would skyrocket when the immediate demand for cash is taken away. No longer would anyone need to decide whether or not it is necessary to have any procedure, but whether or not they feel like it on a certain day. Doctors provide such services because they are paid well to perform them. IF physicians’ salaries are capped, as that will be necessary to keep costs down, will they provide as much care as is requested by the public, even if it means their own quality of life is impacted? Of course not. Can the government double the amount of machines and instruments we now have to give services as demanded? Without double the amount of wealth going into the system, I think not. Therefore, people will have to wait for services which they could have paid to have done in the past. If you need any examples of this, please visit a Veterans’ Administration facility, or take a short trip to a place like Canada or the United Kingdom. In these places, there is a need to ration services to those most in need, those first in line, or those who have a special position in our society. It is simply impossible to provide everything to everyone who is “entitled” to these services. This is not scare-mongering by me or anyone else, but a simple economic reality.
The National Health Service in the United Kingdom is continually underfunded, because the rate of taxes paid by British citizens is already high and draining resources from the job-creating private sector, and politicians realize that to adequately fund the NHS to a level that would satisfy everyone would drain every penny from private citizens’ pockets and bring businesses to a hault because they would be bankrupted. The only alternative is to ration care to bring about the least amount of dissatisfaction from the public, and to propagandize and spin the awful state of the NHS to the sheepish public in such a way that they come to realize that “free” healthcare is a right, but one which cannot provide everything to everybody. Of course, the “everything” which cannot be provided includes many drugs to terminally ill patients, which we take for granted, quality of life procedures for everyone, including the elderly, which we take for granted, diagnostic tests, which we take for granted, etc. There are simply not enough taxpayers and businesses to soak the trillions of dollars needed. Only a system which provides a profit incentive will be able to provide everything requested, because doctors and hospitals will provide anything for which they can make a profit.
The bottom line is that once you get past the lazy and megalomaniacal minority, as influential as they are, there is an ignorance about economic reality which is the fault of our educational system and mass media outlets. Until Americans understand how our economy works and services are provided, we are doomed to tread the path of a European-style socialism which will ultimately destroy our country. The bedrock ideals of individualism, liberty, and property rights which our forefathers died will be banished for the old and tired despotic system of governmental control of every aspect of our lives. An understanding of economics and history are just that important.
JB
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