Archive for November 8, 2009

It’s easy to view politics with a jaundiced eye, assuming little if anything done in Washington or elsewhere can possibly have that much effect on you and yours.

Which is the way we want it, really.

Most of us want to be left alone to live our lives. We know and understand how to conduct ourselves in society; the need for personal responsibility and taking care of ourselves.

Most of us.

There is an element in society that believes for whatever reason, usually past grievances against ancestors long since passed away, it is entitled to receive that for which they have not worked. The Scriptural edict laid down by God to Adam and all his descendants (“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return”) is dismissed as irrelevant. It believes it should have what others work for without working for these things itself.

A separate segment of society has seized upon this notion, feeding it through propaganda and posing not as the great emancipator but rather the great equalizer, a contemporary Robin Hood taking away ill-gotten gain from the evil rich and graciously bestowing it on the noble poor. Never mind this segment is itself wealthy; never mind this segment is manipulating those it pretends to assist. This takes place through the creation of a cycle of dependency in which handouts, given in lieu of genuine assistance toward betterment via working toward the improvement of the situation, is standard operational procedure. Neither challenge nor encouragement to work toward self-reliance is presented. The segment of society receiving such returns the favor by unhesitatingly keeping those who allow it to languish in a state of perpetual dependency in power, never once suspecting that while it mutters of mythical dark conspiracies perpetrated against it by “the man” a blatant genuine conspiracy is working to keep them in a state it blithefully embraces.

The health care bill passed by the House last night is the most extreme example yet of this in that the Democratic majority in Congress along with the President are working toward driving as many people as possible into subservience to a government-run program. Under the guise of helping combat the rising cost of health care while making it more available to all, the plan will drive the country even deeper into its already intolerable level of debt. It will force most everyone to take up the government-run plan as the punitive regulations in the bill with either force up the price of health coverage from private insurers to an unaffordable level or drive them out of business. Further, as part of the attempt to “pay” for the plan outside of levying additional taxes on individuals and business which will further depress an already staggering economy it will dramatically slash payment to the existing Medicare system.

Which makes it personal.

The left reacted with derision when Sarah Palin used the term “death panels” to describe how under the bill it would be boards of bureaucrats deciding when someone had received all the medical assistance they warranted and, with an eye on the budget, would receive no more. The fact is these boards will be created.

Which makes it personal.

My mother is in her mid-eighties. She has assorted health problems. Will the government be willing to pay for the treatment and medicine she needs?

My brother suffers from diabetic neuropathy and the onset of MS. Will the government be willing to pay for the treatment and medicine he needs?

Or will some faceless suit somewhere decide they’re not worth the cost?

And how will my own health coverage along with my wife’s be affected when we’re eventually forced into the public plan? Will we have any say in who our doctors will be? Will we have to fight to keep our assorted prescriptions? How much will it all cost, either directly or indirectly through taxes and fees?

So yeah, this one’s personal.

Damn straight this one’s personal.