What Is a Right?

[Roy Pitchford]

What Is a Right?

In the continually harsh public discourse over the President’s proposals for federally-managed healthcare, the Big Government progressives in both the Democratic and the Republican parties have been trying to trick us. These folks, who really want the government to care for us from cradle to grave, have been promoting the idea that health care is a right. In promoting that false premise, they have succeeded in moving the debate from WHETHER the feds should micro-manage health care to HOW the feds should micro-manage health care. This is a false premise, and we should reject it. Health care is not a right; it is a good, like food, like shelter, and like clothing.

What is a right? A right is a gift from God that extends from our humanity. Thinkers from St. Thomas Aquinas, to Thomas Jefferson, to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to Pope John Paul II have all argued that our rights are a natural part of our humanity. We own our bodies, thus we own the gifts that emanate from our bodies. So, our right to life, our right to develop our personalities, our right to think as we wish, to say what we think, to publish what we say, our right to worship or not worship, our right to travel, to defend ourselves, to use our own property as we see fit, our right to due process -- fairness -- from the government, and our right to be left alone, are all rights that stem from our humanity. These are natural rights that we are born with. The government doesn’t give them to us and the government doesn’t pay for them and the government can’t take them away, unless a jury finds that we have violated someone else’s rights.

What is a good? A good is something we want or need. In a sense, it is the opposite of a right. We have our rights from birth, but we need our parents when we are children and we need ourselves as adults to purchase the goods we require for existence. So, food is a good, shelter is a good, clothing is a good, education is a good, a car is a good, legal representation is a good, working out at a gym is a good, and access to health care is a good. Does the government give us goods? Well, sometimes it takes money from some of us and gives that money to others. You can call that taxation or you can call it theft; but you cannot call it a right.

A right stems from our humanity. A good is something you buy or someone else buys for you.

Now, when you look at health care for what it is, when you look at the US Constitution, when you look at the history of human freedom, when you accept the American value of the primacy of the individual over the fleeting wishes of the government, it becomes apparent that those who claim that healthcare is a right simply want to extend a form of government welfare.

When I make this argument to my Big Government friends, they come back at me with...well, if people don’t have health insurance, they will just go to hospitals and we will end up paying for them anyway. Why should that be? We don’t let people steal food from a supermarket or an apartment from a landlord or clothing from a local shop. Why do we let them take healthcare from a hospital without paying for it? Well, my Big Government friends contend, that’s charity.

They are wrong again. It is impossible to be charitable with someone else’s money. Charity comes from your own heart, not from the government spending your money. When we pay our taxes to the government and it gives that money away, that’s not charity, that’s welfare. When the government takes more from us than it needs to secure our freedoms, so it can have money to give away, that’s not charity, that’s theft. And when the government forces hospitals to provide free health care to those who can’t or won’t care for themselves, that’s not charity, that’s slavery. That’s why we now have constitutional chaos, because the government steals and enslaves, and we outlawed that a long time ago.

[J Hrlec]

Most people I know don't care if it is a right, a good, or whatever, they just don't want to pay bucketloads of money for basic care. Just my 2 cents...

[Danielle Masters]

I think it's right to not live in a country where people lose sleep at night worrying about their lack of access to health care. I think it's right that people who are sick should be able to go to the doctor without fear of destroying their credit and/or losing their homes. I think it's right that all people have access to affordable health care, that all people can afford to get prescriptions filled and take those prescriptions as prescribed. I think it's right that people shouldn't be near death before they finally decide they have no choice but to risk the expense of going to a doctor or the hospital. I think it's right that a child should never have to hear their parent say "I know I am sick but I don't have healthcare and I can't afford to go to the doctor". In other words I think it's right that all people are treated as humans. Living without access to health insurance and affordable health care is not feeling human and that is not right.

[Jim DeVito]

A right is relative.

In a country with no access to clean water it should be viewed as a right to have access to clean water.

In Iran where free speech is oppressed it should be viewed as a right to speak your mind with fear of harm.

In a country that is the richest nation on the planet it should be viewed as a right to have basic health needs looked after.

I am not a god fearing man, however in the end those that are will be judged on their compassion for there fellow man.

[Stephen Eisel]

A bill that will help the people and not create endless bureaucracies.....

[Danielle Masters]

Honestly I don't give a crap about bureaucracies. Sorry but all I want is an answer. I deserve access to affordable care. I get blood clots in my legs but because I have had them before I figure I'll be okay. I know that if I went to the ER they would insist on doing a bunch of tests that I know I could never pay for so I take the gamble. I can't go to Northcoast because we make too much. I don't want to have to be at the mercy of people. I would gladly pay for health insurance but I can't afford the over $15,000 a year it would be because of my preexisting conditions. My husband is self employed, he pays for his insurance, yes my kids have medicaid and it is AMAZING coverage. We are lower middle class so we are too "wealthy" to get healthcare for me, you have to make 90% of the poverty level and we are too poor to pay for me. So I the mom, the one who can't afford to get sick is the one without care. Tell me the answer please. Stop this blah blah blah about this and do something. Sorry but this is personal to me. It's my life. I get bills daily from my last hospital stay. Should I suffer because I am ill? Should I suffer because my husband works hard and we make too much money? Should we suffer because my husband's occupation requires him to be self employed? This is the best damn country in the world and our disastrous healthcare system and who has access to it is a shame. We can do better. We must do better.

[Stephen Eisel]

I give a crap about bureaucracies. Bureaucracy means less money going to help the people (towards actual healthcare) and more money going to support government jobs. Bureaucracy drives up cost and make things less efficient. We all deserve access to affordable healthcare. We do not deserve a plan that will not help the majority of us and penalize people who cannot afford "proper healthcare insurance" (as deemed by the government).

[Danielle Masters]

Stephen unfortunately no one in DC gives a crap and the vast majority of regular people don't care about people like me because they shrug and say better you than me. It's sad. We make sure every child in this nation has access to schooling but we don't do the same for healthcare. But nothing will ever change because blah blah blah no one is willing to budge and people like me will continue to suffer and die. And so many people claim this country is founded on Christian principles. BULL CRAP!!!

[Danielle Masters]

Our insurance companies are the bureaucracies, they are deciding who lives and dies. It's okay for them to line their pockets while people suffer. Totally unacceptable, IT'S NOT RIGHT!! But I know most of you are fine and I am happy for that, just be grateful because one day you could be in my boat and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

[Stephen Eisel]

Exactly, no one in DC gives crap about the People... Trillions of dollars for the banks and a healtchare plan that Congress and the Senate will not use...hmmmm That is a big red flag for me. I sincerely hope that this bill will ease some of your family's suffering.

[Danielle Masters]

Thanks Stephen. The whole thing is frustrating. Sadly Mike and I have even looked at jobs in other countries because of this healthcare fiasco. It is a daily struggle for me and I see no end to it anytime soon. All politicians share blame in this, the people that are struggling are being ignored while politics goes on as normal and it is because people like me are nothing that important.

[Will Brown]

[quote="Danielle Masters"]Honestly I don't give a crap about bureaucracies. Sorry but all I want is an answer. I deserve access to affordable care. I get blood clots in my legs but because I have had them before I figure I'll be okay. I know that if I went to the ER they would insist on doing a bunch of tests that I know I could never pay for so I take the gamble. I can't go to Northcoast because we make too much. I don't want to have to be at the mercy of people. I would gladly pay for health insurance but I can't afford the over $15,000 a year it would be because of my preexisting conditions. My husband is self employed, he pays for his insurance, yes my kids have medicaid and it is AMAZING coverage. We are lower middle class so we are too "wealthy" to get healthcare for me, you have to make 90% of the poverty level and we are too poor to pay for me. So I the mom, the one who can't afford to get sick is the one without care. Tell me the answer please. Stop this blah blah blah about this and do something. Sorry but this is personal to me. It's my life. I get bills daily from my last hospital stay. Should I suffer because I am ill? Should I suffer because my husband works hard and we make too much money? Should we suffer because my husband's occupation requires him to be self employed? This is the best damn country in the world and our disastrous healthcare system and who has access to it is a shame. We can do better. We must do better.[/quote]

Well, for most of us our current health care system is perfectly adequate, but certainly some improvement is always possible.

Perhaps the bill that the Senate is reported as being about to pass will make a lot of changes, but it doesn't appear to address some of the real problems with our medical care, only to give more people insurance of some sort, and drive the costs for everyone up. I read an interesting article about the pork included in this bill, almost always anonymously, that was used to bribe some Senators into promising to vote for the bill, so it is hardly a model of equal treatment. I'm sure our Senators from Ohio will pop their heads out of their customany position and vote Yea. They do not appear to have been alert enough to get any of the pork for Ohio; myself, I've always dreamed of subsidizing the people of Nevada, Pennsylvania, Maryland (the list is almost endless) and now I'll have my chance.

I think you should change your attitude about bureaucracies, since you already have half your family on welfare, and will no doubt want to join them yourself. You will do a lot better with a bureaucracy than you would do seeking assistance from people who would be spending their own money, and might ask questions and make demands of you that would be, shall we say, uncomfortable. Medicaid, for example, has never been successful in dealing with what many view as cheating. Many old people have to go into nursing homes, and their children are unwilling to support them, and in fact want to preserve as much of their parents' estate as possible for their own inheritance, so they set up a scheme to reduce the value of their parent's estate (naturally by giving it to the non-supportive children) to the least amount allowed by Medicaid so what is left of the estate will be depleted by nursing home costs in a certain number of months and Medicaid will pick up the tab thereafter. Lawyers take classes on this to keep abreast of changes in Medicaid rules so they can keep the scheme going. Its foolish to think that this is the only way people scheme to beat bureaucratic programs, and its foolish to posit that a bureaucracy will ever be adept enough to stop such schemes. Yet the Congress vows to hold the cost of this latest scheme down by reducing waste and fraud in the current programs, a promise they have made over and over and over, but have never kept.

When you say our healthcare system is disastrous, but say your childrens' care under Medicaid is fantastic you aren't making sense. I think what you are really saying is that medical care is quite good, and it is fantastic that someone else is paying for it for you, and that it is disastrous that you are unwilling to make the financial sacrifices necessary to pay for it, and your own care, yourself.

[Danielle Masters]

Will I am disabled. I would and have worked through my entire life. I can no longer work. I wish I could. And I have two children who are disabled and they can also not get coverage except through the government. My husband works 60+ hours a week. He has healthcare and if we could get affordable care for our entire family for under $20,000 a year I would. I stay home with my children and do what I can. We live within our means and I am sure their are tons of people here who will vouch for my character. Thanks for the insults and the judgments and merry christmas to you. I wish health upon your family and I hope that no one you know ever has to suffer from health conditions, no one should have to worry about getting ill or have to be hospitalized and losing everything.

And Will and people like him who have no compassion for those less fortunate than them are what makes me sad about this country. Walk a mile in my shoes Will. Should I die because I am sick? Should I die because I can't work? Should I suffer because I was not blessed with good health? Should I suffer because I can no longer work as I used to?

I am a human being, lets try not to forget this. I am not some welfare scum. I am an educated married women, I did everything "right". Went to college, got married, had children, eventually bought a home after years of long work... what did I do wrong? I got sick. I had two children with autism spectrum disorders. I try and because of my bad luck I struggle. I guess my bad luck makes me a bad person and all I have given to means nothing. Sad sad sad.

[sharon kinsella]

Will - You are horrible to say something like that. I think it's disgusting that the haves think it's all find and dandy because they have their but don't want their money touched for those poor slobs who are unable to work because of their disability.

You know Will, you could be the next poor slob, you and every other american who isn't a billionaire, are just one incurable disease away from poverty and no healthcare coverage.

No one expects this to be done out of the goodness of your heart, we'd be waiting forever for that obviously, but because it is the right thing to do. How dare you talk to Dannielle like that.

A pox on you and I hope you have the holiday you deserve.

Amen.

[Will Brown]

Why am I not surprised that the two of you responded in the way you did? One of the cancers eating at our country is that too many people think entitlements are the answer; in other words everyone, except your family, owes you something, and you will whine until you get it, or die crying. It is possibly a surprise to you, but many people who are disabled do manage to work. Many of us choose to help support the elderly people in our families, rather than throwing them to the mercies of the government.

I have a vague recollection that one of you spoke joyfully when gas prices fell below $3 because you could now afford to fill up your SUV. I recall wondering why anyone who lived in Lakewood would even need an expensive gas guzzling SUV. Perhaps I don't accurately recall who posted that, but if it was you I would ask why you have such a vehicle when you can't afford to take care of your family? That is a bad economic decision.

I think your representation of me as being uncaring and without compassion is as accurate as any of your postings. You don't know me at all. I may very well be the most compassionate person around and not choose to broadcast it. I have never called anyone welfare scum; that term came from one of you. I've never cast a pox on someone, especially in the holiday season, as one of you did. I think you should seek counseling to deal with your anger, because it isn't hurting me, but is eating away
at you.

I just think that most people are selfish and lazy, and we have to do everything to prevent that type of behaviour from succeeding. The growth of entitlements in our country threatens to remove any incentive to be productive, and the more people who are subsidized by entitlements, the more expensive it becomes, and that threatens to destroy whatever caring and compassionate feelings those few who are productive have.

Have a good holiday.