I am 100%
against abortion but this issue is constantly used as political leverage by
those in the Christian Right who pursue an overall agenda that I cannot agree
with. Ironically their activities have done much to undermine the integrity of
the legal system and in the end (I think) have harmed their greater cause.
As I've said
before the real problem here (at least on a practical level) is the notion of
Employer Based Health Care. The idea than an employer would somehow have
control over someone's access to health care should strike everyone as not only
odd but repugnant.
This is the
real issue. Focusing on abortifacients and particularities in the ethics of
birth control are not the legal issues. I don't want anyone including a
Christian employer telling me what I have to do medically. For that matter most
Christians aren't going to agree on many points ranging from fertility
treatments to mental health. And that's fine. It shouldn't be something that
comes into the Employer-Employee relationship.
I don't want
anyone telling me what to believe nor do I want to force my theological
positions on these issues on someone else.
Personally I
wish the Supreme Court would rule that Employer-based Health Care is a
violation of the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment and
outlaw it once and for all. Giving employers that kind of control over
someone's health and well-being should be denounced as a form of slavery and in
some cases it almost functions that way. There are many people who would not
remain in their present jobs if it wasn't for the fact that in leaving it they
would lose access to health care.
At that
point the entire health care system could be overhauled. The Obama project has
been a complete failure as many on the Left said it would be. It was not a
reform. It was merely an expansion of the existing model, and has proved a
disastrous failure both in substance and form and in the end will make the
problem worse.
This does
not mean that the Employer-based system is somehow vindicated. It is
impractical and immoral as is the multi-tiered industry which profits from it.
We have a
real problem when the health and well-being of people are tied to profit-making
interests. This is true Usury. We usually think of that word in terms of
excessive interest. Its older meaning refers to capitalizing on the pain and
suffering of others. This is at the heart of our system and quite a commentary
on our so-called moral and exceptional society.
While this
will certainly step on some toes I for one cannot in good conscience have
anything to do with these social sectors that are involved in these activities
which to me are nothing less than criminal and in many cases murderous.
Only by
ignoring what is happening can people retain their consciences and function
within the medical and insurance industries. They have become necessary evils
that we must turn to and interact with but I wouldn't be able to look at myself
in the mirror if I had to receive a paycheck from them.
Our provincially-funded health care system in Canada is not without its faults but speaking from my own experience, I've always received quality medical care in a timely fashion. Wait times are not the nightmare they're portrayed to be in American media. Doctors are well-compensated and no anonymous government bureaucrat tells them what to believe or how to behave. In fact, whatever problems have arisen in recent years is attributable to insufficient funding, not some alleged intrinsic weakness in the system.
ReplyDeleteOne obvious question to ask at this point is why does the US not pursue something similar? Why doesn't, for example, each state in the union have its own government-funded health insurance subsidized by taxes, federal transfer payments, etc.?
And the response is always the same: government intervention in economic affairs is tantamount to the erosion of personal freedom. At the heart of fallacious thinking such as this is something that - I believe - everyone intuitively knows but refuses to admit: that capitalism in the United States is a religion. The "invisible hand" of the free market is a god than which nothing greater can be conceived and the writings of Ayn Rand, Ludwig von Mises, Thomas Sowell and Milton Friedman are holy writ. You can't question any of it. If you do, the self-styled "champions of liberty" - stereotypical "true believers" in every sense of the word - will quickly descend upon you with all of the mouth-breathing rancor and hysteria typical of religious fanaticism.
Cheers,
Jim
The US is so terrified of 'socialism' and are convinced that if applied to medicine they will somehow end up with something substandard. The truth is a huge swathe of the population is already on some form of government health care. All of the seniors are on Medicare and everyone in the military, government employees, state university employees and many more are already on some form of government health care. It's the people like me who end up losing.
DeleteIronically in my case I live in a state with a governor who rejected the Medicaid expansion and I make too little to qualify for subsidies. I have an insurance agent telling me to lie and claim a bit more income so I can qualify for the subsidies. Lovely system.
I deal with this kind of stuff all the time with permits and building codes etc... If you're honest you are penalized. I guess everyone rationalizes their law-breaking by saying 'everybody is doing it'.
Well, almost everyone is doing it. If you refuse, you pay a price.
Freedom in the USA means autonomy. To Europeans and much of the rest of the world freedom means societal 'access' instead of hierarchical control where the only people that have real autonomy are those on the top of the pile.
Capitalism is a religion and what power it wields! It has millions of people convinced to vote against their own interests. At least Rand and von Mises were intelligent! Sowell is a moron and Friedman...well, he was pretty evil in my book.
Sorry venting a little. It probably didn't help that I was just reading some Sowell today.
Alas. I suppose part of the reason I'm all worked up is my wife is half blind and needs an operation. We really thought that maybe we could get this all accomplished with the passing of this legislation. Dream on I guess. We'll help to fund the building of stadiums and warplanes but forego basic health care. The ER will continue to serve as my Primary Care physician.
Thankfully in my case I couldn't care less what my credit score is. I live in an area where it doesn't matter too much.
I should have added that we already have a great deal of socialism and yet, 9 out of 10 Americans couldn't tell you what it is anyway. The most common definition is... oh, that's when the government owns everything.
DeleteRight. That's just what is happening in Canada, Germany, Italy, Britain etc...
I remember thinking of that as I drove on the Autobahn and kept getting passed by Porsche's and the occasional Ferrari. I hadn't see so many sports cars and such wealth since I had been in Southern California.
insightful commentary by all; you all give me such to think on! Capitalism is a religion here and woe to the heretic! It's actually defended with the Bible from pulpits as though it is godly. We will pray for your wife and your house Proto much love
ReplyDeleteThank you for your prayers and encouragement. Thankfully at this point it's not too debilitating, just irritating for the most part. Can't drive etc...
DeleteHopefully we can get it done before too long.
May I say both the commenters above were spot on. Capitialism is a religion and I wish I could hear it said among the people of God here, instead of being adored like the golden calf. Secondly, usury is a fitting definition of this nation's he alt insurance system; how can life saving technology be in the hands of and subject to for profit interests? Would we accept a for profit "pay to play" police or fire department? Or an emergency response rescue team that only rescues a person who has paid their monthly dues in full? How about a series of private armies who only defend areas where the people have paid them, or police who only "serve and protect" those who are current on their police protection bills? This is what happens when the market becomes the god of a nation; it blesses the wealthy with material prosperity in this life, often for their corrupt actions, curses the poor for their inability, while promising them ever tantalizingly far away blessings of financial gain and curses everyone to think money is a fruit of goodness.
ReplyDeleteWell said.
DeleteI think ultimately if you want to see Capitalism's next stage one only need to visit or observe the Third World.
In many cases you have the poor living in destitution, shanty towns etc... and the rich live in compounds with private security. If you have a break-in you don't call the police, you call a private agency.
Right now we live in a society where access to the judiciary and the political process are largely restricted to the moneyed class. Health care straddles the realms, the rich have it, some of the middle have it, and some of the poor have it. It only takes another evolutionary step and only the wealthy will have access to health care and then good roads and on it goes....
I wonder if the failed hybrid-system of Obama will ultimately lead to a collapse of the system and actually in the end...less people with health care? Who knows? There are many variables. The Insurance industry controlled the process but from what I can gather...it's not going well from their standpoint. Too many exemptions and exceptions. The law was just poorly done all the way around. The only way to do it was Single Payer and that would have been political suicide.
I have some friends from South Africa. They're Afrikaners. In the chaos that followed the morally necessary changes of 1994 they ended up being the Whites that didn't quite have enough money. They lived well but not big time. They couldn't afford the compound and security gig. That class of Whites ended up leaving. They didn't feel like the had security you know?
Many of the wealthy Whites stayed because they could afford to and though they lost political power they still have a lot of economic clout in the country. Obviously the rural Whites have suffered some pretty severe backlash.
I remember talking with them about hunting. This is just an example regarding the issue of access. In the US we have state game lands and areas where the public has access. In the RSA they never had that. If you wanted to hunt you had to pay a private rancher for permission to hunt on his land. Thus it was quite expensive. The poor had no access to hunting. Couldn't afford it.
Obviously I'm not taking about hunting per se, just simply what happens when the power is consolidated. Access disappears and only the elites have autonomous freedom. I think we'll just see more of that sort of thing if things continue as they are.