Lightfiend
Member
- Jun 17, 2009
- 96
- 14
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I wrote this today regarding the current health care issues:
Just last night I got a newsletter update from Campaign for Liberty, one of the forerunners of the current shift in American conscious back towards individual liberty, the free market principle, and constitutional government.
As I gather from recent news, government bureaucrats are now trying to convince the people that socialized medicine is in the best interests of the public. As if modern day progressive thought hasnt polluted our intellect enough already, we now steer further away from free markets with the belief that government can again save us from our selves. Progressive has become nothing more than a propaganda word for increasing the size of government, which is hardly a progressive idea at all.
Just when exactly did we decide to give up on freedom for the security that our benevolent politicians will take care of us? Have we forgotten the peace and prosperity that freedom brings to society? Do we not believe that man is most noble, most creative, and most happy when under the rule of no mind but his own?
It is no secret by now that I am no supporter of government-run health care, or really, any involvement government has in our healthcare system that undermines the intelligence of the individual to make his or her health decisions based on his or her own good judgment and discretion.
Right now what President Obama is suggesting is a government-sponsored health care insurance plan, something akin to Canadas single-payer health care system. By itself, this idea sounds reasonable. The U.S. government would have the power to provide at least some level of health care for everyone at the expense of tax payer dollars. Lower income families will of course pay less taxes and thus will be able to receive sufficient health care without having to worry about managing their financial situation in a way that undercuts their standard of living. This seems logical and is perhaps the biggest reason why so many Americans support a universal health care system.
The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not provide universal health care for its citizens. For this reason, many citizens are up in arms claiming it is about time the United States gets with the program.
But popular consensus is not a measure of truth, and despite the shortcomings of our current health care system we need to understand that this is not a product of the free market, but a product of the markets we have been dealing with for the last century corporate, crony capitalism.
The government already spends approximately 45% of all health care spending done in the U.S so we cannot pretend that the government does not already have its dirty hands in our free market, capitalistic health care system (a better title would be corporate health care which is not, contrary to popular belief, a product of the free market). The Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 required employers with 25 or more employees to offer federally certified HMO options, otherwise known as employer-based health insurance. Of course the immediate no-brainer issue is how do these people keep their health care once they lose a job with their company?
We always hear how United States health care is too expensive, but we have never really questioned why. Instead, we chalk it up to profit-driven doctors, the greed of capitalism, and the ability for people to take advantage of the free market for their own selfish benefit. There is some legitimacy to these claims, but they are not the root of the problem. Historian Thomas Woods recently stated in his best-selling book Meltdown that Blaming our economic problems on greed is like blaming gravity for an airplane crash. The fact of the matter is greed is an inherit trait in all humans, we cannot expect the private citizen to operate with any less or more greed than a politician would (and just because a politician is democratically elected does not mean he cannot go against his contract and promises he made to the people who elected him he is not accountable at all, unlike those who make contracts in a free market).
We pay more than any other country for health care just how did it get so darn expensive? Why is such a free and prosperous country having trouble keeping its people healthy? How can we fix this?
While the cries from the media seem to call for a more nationalized health care system, those of us from the libertarian thought understand the power of free markets is almost always greater in meeting the needs of the people then our so-though omnipotent government.
What if we took another approach for once and asked no told our government to get its hand out of our business? If we dont learn to say no now who knows what we might be agreeing to next year and the year after that. Where do we draw the line? The government has already bailed out financial institutions like AIG and then felt justified to tell them how to run their business, what would then stop government, as one-payer insurer, to then go in and tell hospital and other health care facilities how they should run their company?
What about those who already are happy with their insurance and health care plan? Obama says we can keep these no one is going to be forced to change their health plan coverage. But we all know this is a clever trick governments do: they dont nationalize an industry, they just have government-sponsored companies to increase competition. But can you imagine how difficult it is for a private company to compete with a state-run company (who has a virtually infinite amount of resources to draw from both from tax revenue and the Feds manipulation of our monetary supply). Do not fall for the government claim that it is only trying to increase competition for any industry this is a flat out lie they are only pulling the wool over your eyes and then take the industry over. This is an inevitable path towards socialized medicine, towards a socialized nation. The great economist and philosopher Ludwig von Mises warned us that there is no middle-of-the-road system between a capitalist and socialist state but merely the realization of socialism by installments. Can we please realize it now before it is too late?
Please sign this Petition To Congress put together by the fine folks over at Campaign for Liberty!
P.S. - If you want the actual link to the petition you're going to need to go to my website in my signature. I normally wouldn't send you there, but I am a new user and thus can't share links yet in my post.
Just last night I got a newsletter update from Campaign for Liberty, one of the forerunners of the current shift in American conscious back towards individual liberty, the free market principle, and constitutional government.
As I gather from recent news, government bureaucrats are now trying to convince the people that socialized medicine is in the best interests of the public. As if modern day progressive thought hasnt polluted our intellect enough already, we now steer further away from free markets with the belief that government can again save us from our selves. Progressive has become nothing more than a propaganda word for increasing the size of government, which is hardly a progressive idea at all.
Just when exactly did we decide to give up on freedom for the security that our benevolent politicians will take care of us? Have we forgotten the peace and prosperity that freedom brings to society? Do we not believe that man is most noble, most creative, and most happy when under the rule of no mind but his own?
It is no secret by now that I am no supporter of government-run health care, or really, any involvement government has in our healthcare system that undermines the intelligence of the individual to make his or her health decisions based on his or her own good judgment and discretion.
Right now what President Obama is suggesting is a government-sponsored health care insurance plan, something akin to Canadas single-payer health care system. By itself, this idea sounds reasonable. The U.S. government would have the power to provide at least some level of health care for everyone at the expense of tax payer dollars. Lower income families will of course pay less taxes and thus will be able to receive sufficient health care without having to worry about managing their financial situation in a way that undercuts their standard of living. This seems logical and is perhaps the biggest reason why so many Americans support a universal health care system.
The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not provide universal health care for its citizens. For this reason, many citizens are up in arms claiming it is about time the United States gets with the program.
But popular consensus is not a measure of truth, and despite the shortcomings of our current health care system we need to understand that this is not a product of the free market, but a product of the markets we have been dealing with for the last century corporate, crony capitalism.
The government already spends approximately 45% of all health care spending done in the U.S so we cannot pretend that the government does not already have its dirty hands in our free market, capitalistic health care system (a better title would be corporate health care which is not, contrary to popular belief, a product of the free market). The Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973 required employers with 25 or more employees to offer federally certified HMO options, otherwise known as employer-based health insurance. Of course the immediate no-brainer issue is how do these people keep their health care once they lose a job with their company?
We always hear how United States health care is too expensive, but we have never really questioned why. Instead, we chalk it up to profit-driven doctors, the greed of capitalism, and the ability for people to take advantage of the free market for their own selfish benefit. There is some legitimacy to these claims, but they are not the root of the problem. Historian Thomas Woods recently stated in his best-selling book Meltdown that Blaming our economic problems on greed is like blaming gravity for an airplane crash. The fact of the matter is greed is an inherit trait in all humans, we cannot expect the private citizen to operate with any less or more greed than a politician would (and just because a politician is democratically elected does not mean he cannot go against his contract and promises he made to the people who elected him he is not accountable at all, unlike those who make contracts in a free market).
We pay more than any other country for health care just how did it get so darn expensive? Why is such a free and prosperous country having trouble keeping its people healthy? How can we fix this?
While the cries from the media seem to call for a more nationalized health care system, those of us from the libertarian thought understand the power of free markets is almost always greater in meeting the needs of the people then our so-though omnipotent government.
What if we took another approach for once and asked no told our government to get its hand out of our business? If we dont learn to say no now who knows what we might be agreeing to next year and the year after that. Where do we draw the line? The government has already bailed out financial institutions like AIG and then felt justified to tell them how to run their business, what would then stop government, as one-payer insurer, to then go in and tell hospital and other health care facilities how they should run their company?
What about those who already are happy with their insurance and health care plan? Obama says we can keep these no one is going to be forced to change their health plan coverage. But we all know this is a clever trick governments do: they dont nationalize an industry, they just have government-sponsored companies to increase competition. But can you imagine how difficult it is for a private company to compete with a state-run company (who has a virtually infinite amount of resources to draw from both from tax revenue and the Feds manipulation of our monetary supply). Do not fall for the government claim that it is only trying to increase competition for any industry this is a flat out lie they are only pulling the wool over your eyes and then take the industry over. This is an inevitable path towards socialized medicine, towards a socialized nation. The great economist and philosopher Ludwig von Mises warned us that there is no middle-of-the-road system between a capitalist and socialist state but merely the realization of socialism by installments. Can we please realize it now before it is too late?
Please sign this Petition To Congress put together by the fine folks over at Campaign for Liberty!
P.S. - If you want the actual link to the petition you're going to need to go to my website in my signature. I normally wouldn't send you there, but I am a new user and thus can't share links yet in my post.
