Christine Smith's Blog

Health Care/Health Insurance – None of the Government’s Business!

 Obama spoke in Grand Junction, Colorado on Saturday.  As expected, it was another speech of rhetoric meant to appeal to people’s fear of catastrophic illness while putting the blame on insurance companies for the current costs.  In my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. 

Of course, he threw in all his Colorado-themed remarks meant to convince Coloradoans how altruistic his policies (and taxpayer money) have been to our state…while I was thinking I wish he’d take himself and that federal money out of this state.  I never like it when presidents visit – all it causes is major inconvenience for others. 

Now if it were truly about hearing the citizenry, it would be different.  And if you believe that, well…  But no, these are merely expensive propaganda jaunts meant to form the illusion that Obama really listens and cares what we think (while he ridicules those who have opposed his agenda at such “town hall meetings” with his dismissive, “You know how TV loves a ruckus.”). 

Well, maybe “tempers have flared” as he said because of American citizens who have rationally looked at all this “reform” and are convinced that if Obama gets his way all of us will suffer far more than we already do.  It’s enough to cope with government interventionism and the high toll it already takes on families and individuals when it comes to medical costs.  But to be faced with the real prospect of the situation becoming much much worse, I’m sure “tempers” will continue to flare…and, yes, they do represent Americans across this country regardless of what some say. 

Knowledgeable Americans, and even those who haven’t researched it but think for themselves, realize that government healthcare or any form of government “insurance” is the antitheses of the free market; there’s absolutely no way private insurance can compete with a government plan for long.  The absurdity of such a notion is so easily understood by all (save for those who ignore facts and live lives based on believing what a demagogue tells them). 

Since many of us regard these so called “town hall meetings” with Obama as only for show (yet certainly providing a stage for pro-liberty protests nonetheless), is there any real debate going on at all?  Or is it a done deal – the American people be damned? 

Two libertarian friends of mine both expressed to me feelings of hopelessness over the pseudo-debates over health care “reform.”  It’s hard to call this a real debate when many care not about facts, but prefer fine-sounding promises of government “giving” them everything for “free.” 

It’s seems as if we’re talking to brick walls. As Sheldon Richman accurately described in his article The Overlooked Solution for Healthcare, “Discussing healthcare reform with an advocate of government control is frustrating.”  You can say that again!

For those of who reject government intrusion into what should be a personal and private area between patients and free-market healthcare, I share three of the very best articles I’ve read which may be useful on this topic:

When Will the Health-Care Debate Start?
by Sheldon Richman, Future of Freedom Foundation

A Four-Step Healthcare Solution
Mises Daily by Hans-Hermann Hoppe

The Overlooked Solution for Health Care
Breaking the debate barrier.
by Sheldon Richman, Foundation for Economic Education

In his talk in Grand Junction, Obama said, “And these struggles have always boiled down to a contest between hope and fear. That was true when Social Security was born. That was true when Medicare was created. It is true in this debate today…”

Yes, it sure is, but not in the way Obama would like Americans to see it.  Fear was chosen then and thus the unjust Social Security/Medicare was chosen. To use such failures to try and make his point (similar to his remarks about Fedex/UPS and the USPS) is just plain stupid.

For the hope is in the Americans who protest and rebuke Obama’s health “reform” strongly and who let their representatives know right now that a vote for Obama’s plan will mean a “No” vote against them no matter what office they may ever seek in the future…with fear being in those who want to desperately believe the words of a demagogue.