Compassion by Compulsion

Allow me to interject some religious philosophy for a moment.

All you hear about in the news these last few weeks is the hubbub over the Democratic plan to socialize health care. The arguments against it are many and valid: debilitating cost to the taxpayer, loss of control of one's own health decisions, degraded quality of rationed medical care, the overall negative economic impact. The list goes on and on.

But there's an underlying violation dealt by socialized health care (and all types of government handouts, for that matter) that offends the very essence of what it means to be human: Agency.

Agency is the one thing that makes mankind unique in the universe. Self-directed thought, combined with the ability to act on that thought to a degree, is why we can rightly consider ourselves special.

Agency was a key concept in the movie The Matrix, illustrated when the computer program/virus Mr. Smith cannot comprehend the human hero's motivation to keep fighting regardless of his inevitable demise.

Agent Smith: Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more that your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Yes? No? Could it be for love? ...You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?

Neo: Because I choose to.

Back to health care.

The proposed health care legislation is yet another giant step in the ongoing slide into what is portrayed as a "compassionate" society. Every government program that gives out something for nothing is created in the name of compassion. But is it really compassion? Compassion by whom? The lawmakers?

What good is compassion when it's mandated by another person? It even defies its own definition. Compassion comes about only through a personal choice to sacrifice for someone else. Compassion is the result of acting on one's own agency to help another.

Social programs, like the proposed health care legislation, invalidate any human choice in the matter. It takes away one's freedom to choose compassion. If I have $10 to give to a cause, the government would prefer to distribute it rather allow me the opportunity to give it of my own accord--thereby diminishing my agency and the core of my very humanity.

Giant social handouts are not programs of compassion. They're programs of compulsion. And when we become a society of compulsion, we have truly lost our freedom.

Public Healthcare? The Doctors Say NO

President Obama's rhetoric often anchors itself on meaningless rhetoric and twisted half-truths. But now there's one talking point he can't make any more – that most doctors favor government-run healthcare.

According to the New York Times:

the American Medical Association is letting Congress know that it will oppose creation of a government-sponsored insurance plan, which President Obama and many other Democrats see as an essential element of legislation to remake the health care system.

Not being a doctor, I'm very unversed in the intricacies of medicine, economics and politics, but the A.M.A.'s position makes logical sense:

“The A.M.A. does not believe that creating a public health insurance option for non-disabled individuals under age 65 is the best way to expand health insurance coverage and lower costs. The introduction of a new public plan threatens to restrict patient choice by driving out private insurers, which currently provide coverage for nearly 70 percent of Americans.”If private insurers are pushed out of the market, the group said, “the corresponding surge in public plan participation would likely lead to an explosion of costs that would need to be absorbed by taxpayers.”

It will be interesting to see if Obama's gift of salesmanship can overpower the nation's most powerful and respected voice in medicine. It will be tragic if it can.

Another Socialized Medicine Success Story

Do we really want socialized medicine? Really? You might want to get the opinion of Britain's Leslie Fletcher, who is being denied a drug – routinely given to others – to save her sight because she lives in the wrong area.

Economically, the cost of treating the bleeding under her eye is much less than the cost of putting her on disability – which is what will happen if she goes blind.

A National Health Service spokesman responded:

“Our Individual Case Panel makes decisions about whether to fund treatments for conditions which fall outside guidance issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence and are therefore not routinely commissioned by the NHS.”

Behold the power of stupidity of socialized healthcare by committee. By all means, let's follow Britain's example.

Yay for Universal Healthcare: Scratched by a Rat = Death

Here's a fun story from Britain's Daily Express reporting on how a woman got scratched by a rat, contracting a disease in the process, resulting in her death six days later.

But here's my favorite part:

Mrs Colburn heard the rat screaming in her back garden in Brighton and immediately went out to try to rescue it. She developed flu-like symptoms and Mr Colburn called their GP.

Two days later he rang the doctor again after her skin turned yellow.

A statement read to the court said: “When the doctor arrived she was cold and clammy and jaundiced. He called 999 immediately.”

So it looks like in England, if you get sick you call your doctor, who presumably says, "Tell me if it gets any better in a couple days." When it doesn't, the doc calls 911 for you so you can be rushed to the hospital, there to die. What a great medical system! Can we have some socialized medicine, too? Please?

Teeth: Another Casualty of Socialized Medicine

I stumbled upon this article about the dreadful state of dentistry in the U.K. It's no secret that Brits are stereotyped with nightmarish choppers - and it's likely due to a shortage of qualified dentists and exorbitant costs for the who aren't poor enough to be covered. The result?

Almost a fifth (19%) of those questioned said they had missed out on dental work because of the cost.

The research found 6% had even resorted to treating themselves because they could not find a dentist.

The 5,000-plus patients who were interviewed also spoke of taking out their own teeth or fixing broken crowns with glue.

The dentists say it's the fault of a faulty system:

Almost three fifths (58%) of dentists blamed new contracts brought in by the Government last year.

Four out of 10 (41%) felt they had an "excessive" workload with 29% saying they had problems recruiting or retaining dentists.

Welcome to the world of U.S. healthcare should we elect a Democrat to the presidency.

Is Socialized Medicine Without Morals?

The economic and political pitfalls of socialized medicine have been examined at great length for decades. But what about the moral implications? In an increasingly secular country, will government-run healthcare erode accepted moral standards in the medical community? That appears to be the case.

In Great Britain, for instance, the General Medical Council has adopted new guidelines that forbid doctors from telling the parents of minors as young as 13 about their sexual activity, birth control and even impending abortions.

This goes far beyond the issue of children's rights to make their own decisions. It amounts to state-sponsored dispatching of families' right to adopt moral and ethical standards according to their own beliefs.

Conclusion: Socialized medicine is another contributor to the disintegration of the nuclear family--the building block of civilization.