Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Why public health care is philosophically wrong

Michael Prell
American Thinker

Forget all the scare stories about waiting lines and denied services. I live in Canada, and I have a million such stories to tell. Like my mother wanting to commit suicide due to her excruciating pain -- even though she wore a morphine patch the size of her back -- all because she had to wait three long years for a simple disc operation.

These horror stories are everywhere. But they are not the most horrific consequences of a public health care system. If you focus on scare stories of public health care systems gone wrong (and they all go wrong), you will fall into the leftists' trap of arguing over the most effective way to publicly manage health.

No.

You should manage your health. You should have the power to choose whichever option serves you best. The power over your health -- your very self -- should be in your hands.

If you allow yourself to be dragged into discussions about effectiveness, or the lack thereof, of various public options -- you have fallen into the trap of having a discussion about how best to "fix" the "system."

No.

You do not want a health care "system." If the "system" is broken, you do not want to fix it or tinker with it. You do not want to give away the argument to your opponents that a system -- albeit a better-operating system -- is what we all desire.

No.

What we desire is liberty. The freedom to choose. Domain over our own bodies. Our selves.

That is what America stands for. That is what the first Americans fought and died for. It is the very essence of the American character. And it is what these people will destroy if they bring in public health care.

Look no further than the north. A few years ago, Canada's national broadcaster (yes, they have a national broadcaster to go with their national health care system) held a contest to determine "The Greatest Canadian." More than 1 in 3 Canadians cast their vote for the greatest Canadian who ever lived. Was it John A. Macdonald, Canada's George Washington? No. Was it Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone? No. Was it even Wayne Gretzky, "the great one," in a hockey-obsessed country? No.

"The Greatest Canadian," according to Canadians themselves, was Tommy Douglas: the socialist who created socialized health care. Canadians from coast to coast regularly wait up to 36 weeks for an MRI. The average emergency room visit is 6 hours -- just to be seen. Stretchers pile up in hospital hallways. People wait years to get family doctors. And my mother's three year ordeal with pain was so dehumanizing she almost killed herself.

These are the people who voted for their slavemaster as The Greatest to ever walk among them. That is what public health care will do to you. It won't just make you a prisoner of the system. It won't just destroy the great American spirit of self-reliance. It will weaken you to the point where you look upon those who enslave you as your heroes.

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/07/why_public_health_care_is_phil.html at July 29, 2009 - 10:53:00 AM EDT

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