Reading this editorial in today’s Baltimore Sun makes me realize that the world is full of people who believe in square circles, mighty hurricanes whose strongest winds are but gentle breezes, and (of course) cats that bark. I sent this letter in response:
You are right to decry the increasing politicization of health-care (“Medicine trumps politics,” Nov. 24).
But you are also unreasonable to do so. Yours is among the most strident voices in support of Obamacare. To demand more government-enforced and financed health-care arrangements and to decry the inevitable politics that arises in response to this government intervention is like demanding government-enforced and financed free love and decrying the inevitable resulting increase in unwanted pregnancies and STDs.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
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Of course healthcare will be politicized. They will use it just as they did the commerce clause. Once healthcare becomes a government domain anything that can be tied to health in any conceivable way will be subject to regulation.
Another argument, one that I don’t see much of, is the inevitability of government collapse. All governments eventually collapse. There has never been an exception. So what happens when a government that controls every aspect of our lives collapses? Better to keep government to a minimum, so that its end will not be catastophic.
I totally would have gone with the “getting two rabbits and not knowing what Fibonacci numbers are” metaphor.
That’s funny.
But you are also unreasonable to do so.
How about “hypocritical” to do so.?
Where to start???
“Others find treatment for breast cancer rationed by insurance company bureaucrats who scramble to increase profits by denying coverage, sometimes on the flimsiest of pretexts. And the extent to which private insurance companies now offer coverage for screening tests is often determined by state mandates that they do so.”
- Have insurance companies compete across state lines. As for denial of coverage… …Medicare carves the country into regions. Medicare hires a third party contractor to handle claims. I’d love to see the rules used by these contractors to review claims.
“The government isn’t run by bureaucrats but by politicians.”
- The fact that the government is run by politicians is supposed to make me feel better??? Bureaucrats are nothing more than apparatchiks.
“If anything, placing greater responsibility for health care in the hands of government is going to lead to more coverage than necessary, not less.”
- But think of the cost savings! After all, we’re reducing the deficit!
“…and (of course) cats that bark.”
Sand cats
“have a contact call which is a short, bark-like vocalization, a low-pitched miaow.”
I never imagined that Cafe Hayek would be my forum for showing off awareness of Felis margarita .