Chgo Sun-Times Says Healthcare is a Right

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Chgo Sun-Times Says Healthcare is a Right

Written By : Warner Todd Huston

It has come to this. A newspaper in one of America’s biggest cities has so sold out to extremists, left-wing ideology that it has throw logic, facts, and reality to the four winds in order to sell Obama’s socialist healthcare policies. In a recent editorial the Chicago Sun-Times has absurdly determined that healthcare is a “right.” Unfortunately for truth and reality, the Sun-Times is simply wrong.

As we all know, the Senate has been engaging in a debate on Obamacare. But back on June 16 before the lesser light of the Kennedy clan passed away, Senator Edward Kennedy included a bit of foolishness in a statement issued in his role as the Chairman of the Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, or the HELP committee.

In that statement we saw the assumption that is popular on the left and one the Sun-Times just echoed, but it is one that should give pause to any liberty loving American. (See pdf file)

“The Council’s report emphasizes the major economic benefit to the nation that will also be
achieved if we make health care a basic right for all. In the current economic crisis, more and more families are being forced to leave their preferred doctors, forgo medication they need, or are even losing their health insurance entirely because their employer can no longer afford a health plan. We can’t afford to miss this chance to give the American people, at long last, the health care they deserve.”

The Sun-Times assumed the same absurd “right” in its December 24 piece headlines, “Good Health Care is a Necessity, Not Luxury.” In that piece, the Sun-Times wrapped up its plaintive plea with this line: “It is a necessity, not a luxury, and should be a right for all Americans.”

Sure, it’s “compassionate” and all to say that healthcare is a “right.” But is it? Can it BE a right? And just what is a “right” anyway?

Simply defined, a right is something that an individual can exercise (as a sovereign individual) without asking anyone’s permission. It also carries the complementary notion that in exercising that right an individual cannot obligate anyone else to participate because to obligate others to act violates their own freedom of action (summarily eliminating their freedom to refuse to act, for instance).

So, how is health care a right? After all, to exercise the “right” to health care you are necessarily obligating a doctor or other health care professional to assist you with their time and training. Therefore to exercise health care as a “right” you are forcing other people to give you care. But, since your “right” to health care forces others to act on your behalf, you are basically violating their rights to refuse to participate.

Then we get to paying for it. If health care is a “right” then you are obligating government to pay for it and by obligating government to pay for it you are necessarily obligating taxpayers to pay for it, negating their right to refuse to participate.

This means that health care cannot be a right.

And this is just one of the many false assumptions that underlie the Democratic Party’s concepts of this health care debate. It is also just one more of the many reasons why conservatives and lovers of liberty and freedom should fight against it.

Finally, it is interesting to me that liberals that want socialized health care are obligating the taxpayers to pay for it, yet they use that same taxpayer’s obligation as a tool against other things. Liberals say, for instance, that schools should not be allowed to teach anything about religion because schools get federal money and taxpayers should not be forced to pay for any curriculum that might promulgate a religion they don’t agree with. On the other hand, liberals don’t want to give any taxpayers the option not to pay for someone else’s liposuction or transgendering operations. Ah, the pretzel logic of the left.

In the final analysis, healthcare just isn’t a right. By its very nature it cannot be. So, let’s stop saying it is.

Be sure and Visit my Home blog Publius’ Forum. It’s what’s happening NOW!

Mike_M

Health care is a service provided by trained professionals.

If the government makes that service a right of every American, they have also made it an obligation of other Americans to provide it.

We used to call that “slavery”. Now it’s the political position of the party holding legislative and executive power in this country.
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/ CavalierX

If it’s not specifically listed in the Constitution, the Federal government has no right or power to control it. Sorry, Commies.
http://Kingfisher Kingfisher

The problem is that healthcare is a need, not a right. Just like food, clothing and shelter healthcare is something that we need to live. However, that need does not justify abusing other people’s personal property.

If “big insurance” is so evil, then why aren’t liberals going after “big food,” “big clothes” or “big construction?” Each of these industries thrive on your needs as well.

If you really think about it, all of us are “gouging” off the needy by our very jobs. Each of us has jobs which benefit because of some type of need from someone else. If its wrong to profit off of one’s health then its wrong to profit off of one’s other basic need for survival. Doctors have families too.

The real answer is selfishness. Libs want free healthcare so they will have more disposable income for personal wants plus it gives them a chance to destroy other people’s lives as well.
tblrk2006

The real answer is selfishness. Libs want free healthcare so they will have more disposable income for personal wants plus it gives them a chance to destroy other people’s lives as well.
Posted by Kingfisher
2009-12-30 10:04:50

I think your correct on this point. It also gives them a opportunity to pretend that they care about others. What they don’t see are the mechanisms and economic realities that socialized healthcare imposes on people. In other words, its a “feel good” to them.
http://Kingfisher Kingfisher

In other words, its a “feel good” to them.
Posted by tblrk2006
2009-12-30 10:34:56

I’ve asked the following question to every person who bitches about the so-called “greed” of the health care industry: If your insurance has turned you down for treatment then why didn’t you opt for Medicaid? Medicaid is a government-run program designed to help those with low incomes.

Nobody on the left ever asks why when people are turned down for Medicaid.
Mike_M

“If its wrong to profit off of one’s health then its wrong to profit off of one’s other basic need for survival.”

A clear and concise explanation of why socialist regiemes inevitably produce famine through “agricultural reforms”.
Jack Schite

You’re out of step with the rest of the world but just keep heaping at straws.
http://PatriotPost.US bthewolf

You’re out of step with the rest of the world but just keep heaping at straws.
Posted by Jack Schite
2009-12-30 11:01:34

No they are out of step with ECONOMICS and REALITY, just like you.
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/ CavalierX

Libs want free healthcare so they will have more disposable income for personal wants plus it gives them a chance to destroy other people’s lives as well.

If you’re talking about the deluded morons who enthusiastically cheer any mention of government-run health care because they really think it’ll work as promised despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, maybe. But those in power, those forcing it on us against our will, they want it for the sheer power it will give them over every aspect of our lives from birth to death. Think about it. Every decision you make can be related to — and therefore regulated by — how it affects your health. If you take a job to which you will have to drive more than five miles, you increase the risk of a car accident, therefore the government can step in and bar you from taking that job. For that matter, you increase the risk you will be in an accident if you buy a sports car or motorcycle, so the government can prevent you from buying whatever vehicle you want. Do you smoke? Drink? Eat steak more than once a week? You’re going to have to give that all up; you’re wasting public money in increased health care costs. God (whoops, I should have said Obama) forbid you’re overweight. Do you regularly visit a gym (and do more than hit the hot tub)? Every decision you make, every habit you embrace, the government will control for you once they own your health care. And that’s why the Dems are willing to sacrifice their political careers to get it.
http://Kingfisher Kingfisher

Remember, the government will provide quality health care just as it has been providing qualified airline security.

Feel better now?
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/ CavalierX

You’re out of step with the rest of the world

Since the rest of the world is stepping off a cliff, that’s a good thing.
Bill_Dalasio

If the government makes that service a right of every American…

I know I must seem like I’m nitpicking, as I agree with the substance of your comment. However, I have to quibble with this bit. The government can’t make healthcare a right. A right is a moral concept. The moral concept is that it is immoral for others to compel you with regard to the protected thing. Free speech is a right because it is immoral to compel people to refrain from voicing their beliefs. The right to freedom of religion is a right because it is immoral to compel someone to profess a belief they don’t subscribe to or to prevent them from worshipping God as they see fit. The government cannot make healthcare, or anything else for that matter, a right. A right exists in and of itself. Morality does not depend on a government designation. A government that doesn’t acknowledge individual rights does not make those rights go away, it is simply acting immorally. And the designation of something as a right by the state does not make it a moral imperetive.
http://Kingfisher Kingfisher

But those in power, those forcing it on us against our will, they want it for the sheer power it will give them over every aspect of our lives from birth to death.

Exactly.

Rest assured, senior members of Congress will exempt themselves what will be required for the rest of the country.
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/ CavalierX

Rest assured, senior members of Congress will exempt themselves what will be required for the rest of the country.

Oh, of course. That’s already known to be part of the bill.
http://Kingfisher Kingfisher

Morality does not depend on a government designation.

The government once considered slavery and racial discrimination as moral.

Just because we’re in the 21st century instead of the 18th century doesn’t mean we’ve achieved some sort of enlightenment. Man is just as flawed now as he was a millennium ago and that includes the government. Despite the claims by some news media, Obama is NOT better than Jesus.
MediumHeadBoy

You’re out of step with the rest of the world but just keep heaping at straws.
Posted by Jack Off

Ok, I have no idea what “heaping at straws” is supposed to mean, but that aside, who says the rest of the world is correct? I thought you leftards were all about protecting the minority.
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/ CavalierX

I have no idea what “heaping at straws” is supposed to mean

No one does. Jackoff’s first language is clearly not English.
Bill_Dalasio

Posted by Kingfisher
2009-12-30 11:15:49

Absolutely correct. And in fact, the article doesn’t even pretend to make the claim that it is somehow or other moral to compel people to provide others with medical care.
TheBaud

We used to call that “slavery”. Now it’s the political position of the party holding legislative and executive power in this country.
Posted by Mike_M 2009-12-30 09:24:20

Well, that makes sense, seeing as how Slavery was the Democrat political position.
President_Friedman

I can’t wait to have my healthcare administered by a doctor who was forced at gunpoint to go into the medical field in order to meet my government guaranteed ‘right’ to healthcare.
I bet his bedside manner will be “to die for”.
http://Kingfisher Kingfisher

If health care is a “right” then why won’t this new health care law become effective for a few years?

The democrats claim that trillions of people are dying because of a lack of health insurance (slightly exaggerated) so it is only logical for this legislation to become effective as soon as possible.
CoolCzech

You’re out of step with the rest of the world but just keep heaping at straws.
Posted by Jack Schite
2009-12-30 11:01:34

Why the neurotic need to be “in step” with anyone, Jack?

Americans were not “in step” with the rest of the world way back in 1776, either. Thank God.
http://Kingfisher Kingfisher

I can’t wait to have my healthcare administered by a doctor…
Posted by President_Friedman
2009-12-30 12:47:11

You won’t need a doctor, P_F. The mighty obamassiah will stretch out his hand and cure all the ills of the world, just as he has caused the entire world to embrace peace and friendship!

(/major sarc)
Mike_M

“I can’t wait to have my healthcare administered by a doctor who was forced at gunpoint to go into the medical field in order to meet my government guaranteed ‘right’ to healthcare.”

Well with that attitude they’ll just deny you an appointment. There are plenty of grateful illegal immigrants who will take it for you.
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/ CavalierX

Liberals are perfectly willing to enter (and drag the rest of us) into slavery, just as long as the master promises to take care of all our needs and never, ever make us do anything we don’t want to do.
TheBaud

Liberals are perfectly willing to enter (and drag the rest of us) into slavery, just as long as the master promises to take care of all our needs and never, ever make us do anything we don’t want to do.
Posted by CavalierX 2009-12-30 13:27:03

But, as blacks discovered a few centuries ago, once you are enslaved, the salve has no recourse if the master goes back on his word.

Master: Turn your will and freedom over to us and we will take care of you.
Slave: Fine, here is is.
Master: Now, you must do THIS and you cannot do THAT.
Slave: But I don’t want to do THIS and I have to be able to do THAT. You said you would take care of me.
Master: I have your will and your freedom, and I do not care what you think or want. I am your master and this is the way it is.

How fitting that it is the Democrats leading us BACK into slavery!
tblrk2006

You’re out of step with the rest of the world but just keep heaping at straws.
Posted by Jack Schite
2009-12-30 11:01:34

Yes, being ahead of them is technically “out of step.”
http://Kingfisher Kingfisher

…We can’t afford to miss this chance to give the American people, at long last, the health care they deserve.”

I guess this means we all can buy insurance and send the bill to the Sun-Times.
http://guardian.blogdrive.com/ CavalierX

“We can’t afford to miss this chance to give the American people, at long last, the health care they deserve.”

Man, they must really hate Americans, to think we “deserve” this kind of health care:
http://www.liberty-page.com/issues/healthcare/socialized.html
TheBaud

“We can’t afford to miss this chance to give the American people, at long last, the health care they deserve.”

Posted by CavalierX 2009-12-30 17:19:21

Of course, they will get NOTHING until 2014. Gee, how important this bill must be that we have to pass it right now, even though nothing will take effect for four year!

Hey, Chicago Sun-Times, why don’t you do an article on how many people will die without healthcare waiting on the provisions of this bill to kick in. I mean, if healthcare is a ‘right’ and all.
Bill_Dalasio

We can’t afford to miss this chance to give the American people, at long last, the health care they deserve.

Yeah, good and hard.
CoolCzech

“heaping at straws”

Hmmm.

Is that like Grasping at Heaps?
GDR

“I believe that health care is a right”

Unless you believe in some form of indentured or involuntary servitude (prohibited by the U.S. Constitution), Health Care is not a “right” since human beings must construct hospitals, clinics, decide to go to medical school, etc. A right is something inherent in our existence as humans and is therefore unlimited and thus charged into the protection of governments to ensure it’s not infringed upon. See the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights for examples; you will not find the service of Health Care as being listed anywhere!

Calling Health Care a “right” implies all citizens’ should have unlimited and unregulated access to this service. This is not possible for any Government to provide or any Individual to have in the real world.

I say we need to work together to make Health Insurance more affordable and medical care more accessible to more Americans – this is a rational and achievable goal versus propagating an irrational and unachievable pursuit of universal health insurance coverage and unlimited health care.

If we acknowledge this reality, that Health Care is a service rendered by one group of citizens to another and is therefore subject to the laws of economics and supply and demand, we will all get much farther along in identifying workable solutions for specific problems in the current insurance and delivery systems.

Health Care insurance and delivery being not available in an unlimited quantity, the question before us becomes one of who will make the decisions on consumption and costs: the Federal Government or the Individual/Patient?

If you truly seek solutions to the problems you cite, I would argue that individual/patient empowerment and free markets would be the logical way to reform Health Care as they have been historically proven to work much better for the vast majority of citizens over centrally planned/government managed systems as you are proposing we enact.

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