Government Healthcare does not LIFT the Standard
By Eric M. Wallace, PhD
On Wednesday June 24th the administration began its full court press to push its government run healthcare plan down our throats. If they don’t sway enough support they will use what I call the ‘Chicago way’ to get what they want. The Chicago way is either bullying their opponents or going around them. Just take a look at the way Rod Blagojevich ran the state and the way Richard Daley runs Chicago. The current administration is full of individuals who have been indoctrinated into the Chicago way of advancing their agenda. But I suggest before we accept their legislation we exam the product they are trying to sell to the public.
Let me begin by asking if the government take over of the healthcare system measures up to the LIFT principles. The LIFT principles are the standard by which we should judge all policy that comes out of Washington to see if it passes constitutional muster. LIFT stands for Limited Government, Individual Freedom and Responsibility, Free Enterprise and Traditional Family values.
Limited Government.
Right of the bat this principle is challenged because the administration has suggested that the government get involved in the healthcare business. Even though its running of Medicaid and Medicare are going bankrupt, not to mention social security we want to add 47 million more people to the government run and controlled healthcare system? The same government that also runs the post office, the DMV and the IRS is telling us that it can run a cost efficient healthcare system where millions of lives hang in the balance while some government bureaucrat decides who should get what procedure?
This is not only ludicrous but also unconstitutional. There is nothing in our constitution that allows or encourages the government to manage people’s healthcare. Thomas Jefferson warned when he said, “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” He also said, “[m]y reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. The administrations takeover of the healthcare system, along with AIG and the auto industry will grow the Federal Government by leaps and bounds beyond its constitutional limits and plummet our society into an abyss of debt from which we may never recover.
Individual Responsibility
This element of the LIFT principles is challenged by the fact that the government program begins to decide for us whether we even want healthcare. Can the government make me purchase a health insurance program? A large segment of the 47 million figure includes people who can afford healthcare insurance but choose not too. Therefore whose responsibility is it to make sure everyone has health insurance? Should it be the government or the individual? Who will decide what kind of healthcare insurance plan and whether it is comprehensive enough?
Read more click here
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment