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Right-Wing Fascist Wants to Throw People in Jail for Not Living Up to their Social Obligations

Submitted by chemjeff on Sat, 11/14/2009 - 20:25
in

Oh, did I say "right-wing"?  I meant "Nancy Pelosi".

I believe I have a moral obligation to help the less fortunate, but it is my decision on how I will meet that obligation.  I can help out family and friends.  I can donate money or volunteer my time.  I can work to improve myself, knowing that through self-improvement I'll be better able to serve my customers, coworkers, and bosses.  There's a limitless number of ways that I can decide to serve others.

Enter Nancy Pelosi & the Democrats.  They too believe that everyone has a moral obligation to help their fellow human beings, but they have decided to define what that obligation is for everyone.  To them, my obligation must include buying health insurance.  No exceptions.  Because my health insurance premiums will serve to lower the premiums of everyone else, thereby making health care more affordable.  (Maybe.)   

So why should I continue to serve my fellow man voluntarily?  The state is deciding for me how I must do so, under penalty of jail time.  Why should I spend my valuable free time helping the less fortunate?  Isn't that now what I do when I pay my taxes and, if Nancy has her way, buy health insurance?

The problem with the liberal welfare state is that it gradually turns its citizens into selfish bastards.  I no longer need to have charity in my heart; I can live the most self-centered life that I desire, and I can still have a clean conscience when I pay my tax bill.  Liberals blame excessive selfishness on capitalist consumerism, but that is merely a symptom, not a cause.  Why would a good person, with a big heart and a generous spirit, spend his hard-earned money on toys for himself instead of on the less fortunate?  He will, if he believes that his money isn't necessary, that the state is picking up the tab instead.  And that's what is happening as the state decides to become the nation's largest charity.  Slowly, those who are charitable in spirit lose that desire to help others through simple neglect of that part of their being,

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Comments

Nice job of grandiose

Submitted by John Smith on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 08:43.

Nice job of grandiose over-generalization. Did you do something similar with automobile insurance mandates came into place?

More importantly: Do you believe that there is a need for reform of our health care insurance system? If not, why, and if so, what form would you like it to take?

Here is my take, stated as simply as possible. 1) The current system is unsustainable, on four levels.

  • a) too many people cannot get health insurance (pre-existing conditions) or cannot afford it.
  • b) insurance company practices, like rescissions after years of paying premiums, are indefensible
  • c)insurance premiums are rising much faster than inflation or income, which means (a) is just going to get worse
  • d) our health care costs more than any other country, without producing commensurate increases in outcomes; without reform these costs are going to continue to rise

2) There is no free-market solution to this problem. Sound-bites like shopping across state lines and tort-reform are nonsensical non-answers.

3) Given that the private sector is failing, spectacularly, I'm happy to have the government intervene.

4) Currently, the ER, which cannot turn people away, is the primary care provider for million. If there is going to be reform, there are only two ways to fix this and to prevent free-riders: the mandate, or the wallet biopsy. I prefer the mandate, as I think the wallet biopsy is just too much to ask of medical professionals.

 

 

 

Congratulations!

Submitted by chemjeff on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 10:22.

Congratulations - you've completely ignored the premise of my article.  Well done.

I would be very interested in knowing your thoughts

Submitted by John Smith on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 10:27.

 about whether or not HCR is necessary and if not why, and if so how. My thoughts on this subject are supplied above.

interest

Submitted by chemjeff on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 10:44.

Fine - you make a blog entry specifically about health insurance reform and I'll post there.  But I would be very interested in your response to the main premise of my article.

OK

Submitted by John Smith on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 10:57.

You've gotten it completely wrong. HCR isn't about charity. It is about a huge economic problem that is sapping our economy. The solution is going to have to be an omlette - which means eggs must be broken.

I have posted a new blog entry wherein you can deposit your thoughts about the need for (or lack of need for) HCR.

missing the larger point

Submitted by chemjeff on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 11:53.

You miss the larger point.  I am not talking only about health insurance reform.  I am talking more generally about state-enforced "charity", that it tends to promote a more selfish population.

So can I take it that your glib comment about "eggs must be broken" means that you are okay with citizens going to jail for the only "crime" of not purchasing health insurance?

Well, since I am OK with people going to jail for

Submitted by John Smith on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 12:37.

not paying their taxes, and for not insuring their motor vehicles, yes.

coercion

Submitted by chemjeff on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 13:09.

Wow.  Really?

Let's use your car insurance analogy.  I am only required to purchase car insurance if (1) I have possession of a car and (2) I am a licensed driver on public roads.  So I can completely avoid the state's requirement to purchase car insurance by not doing either of those things.  Furthermore, even if I don't purchase car insurance, it is typically not a criminal offense.

With Nancy's plan for health insurance, there would be no way for me to avoid purchasing health insurance.  Even if I'm independently wealthy and self-insured.  Even if I'm young and healthy and it does not make economic sense for me to purchase health insurance.  Even if I'm hopelessly, terminally ill and the only thing left for me to do is die.  Even if I don't believe in modern Western medicine and I'd prefer to heal myself through prayer or herbs or magic rocks.  There's no way out.  I am coerced into buying something I may not need nor want.

I guess I am just discouraged in your apparent comfort in the state using this level of coercion on its citizens.  And hence the irony in the title of my blog entry.