A War of (twisted) Words

20 July 2009

I’m going to tell you something that you probably already know. The problem isn’t whether or not you already know it, though. The problem is that you have been deliberately misled as to what it actually is. I’m going to magnanimously correct that for you. Prepare yourself; sit down and take a deep breath.

There is no health care crisis in America.

If you are already fuming over this statement, then you are exactly the reason I have written this. Read the words again, and think about what has been said. It doesn’t say what you think it says. More to the point, it doesn’t say what you’ve been deliberately misled into thinking it says. Most of the words in that sentence are pretty straight forward. The problem lies in just three of those words; health care crisis.

The United States of America offers the best health care of any society this planet has ever known. It’s not perfect by any means, but it is still far superior to the care one can get anywhere else...at this or any other time in human existence. We have the best research facilities, the best researchers, the most financing of research, the best manufacturing of equipment and pharmaceuticals, the best distribution systems, the best hospitals and care facilities, the best physicians and nurses, and the widest variety of insurance coverage options. No other country comes close to what we can provide. That’s why everyone comes here when they need serious health care.

So...where’s the crisis?

There isn’t one. How could there possibly be?

What has happened is a deliberate twisting and misuse of words. There are some people in our society who believe that they can twist words and misuse them in order to achieve their goals. They believe this because they have done so successfully in the past. I offer as evidence the twisted and distorted meaning of the phrase “assault weapon.” This was so well executed that an entire society believed that any firearm that had a menacing physical appearance was one, regardless of the fact that we already had laws that specifically defined that term. People who have an aversion to the rights given us in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution successfully convinced the general population that these guns needed to be banned. I’ll not get into the “sporting purpose” argument here, as that is not my point. My point is that an “assault weapon” is distinctly defined as a selective-fire weapon, which can fire in either semi-automatic or fully-automatic modes. Those types of weapons have been tightly regulated since the 1920s. Some people, though, decided to re-invent that phrase and assign it to semi-automatic only rifles in an effort to demonize them in the public eye. It worked. Who could possibly need one of those, right?

The same thing is occurring with this health care crisis argument. There is no crisis because anyone who needs health care can walk into a hospital anywhere in the United States and get it. If health care is not available, or is only available on a limited basis, THAT is a potential crisis. That is not what we face, though. The same kind of people who misled the public about guns – and many other issues as well – are now attempting to misled us about health care.

The real issue is health care coverage. There are indeed people in this country who, for a variety of reasons, do not have health care insurance. This does not occur because it is unavailable to them. It occurs because it is not being bought. Health care insurance is available to anyone who wishes to purchase it, in the same manner that homeowners or renters insurance is available to those who wish to purchase it. If someone does not have it, it is because they have chosen not to buy it.

If you have a job that does not offer this coverage as a benefit, you can simply buy it yourself. Yes, it is rather expensive. Anyone who has ever had to buy it on their own or pay through a COBRA plan knows this. This is the point where you weigh the option of paying the premiums for the coverage, or risking the incredibly expensive bills associated with a catastrophic illness or accident.

If you cannot afford this, then you still have several options available to you: you can get a better-paying job which will allow you to purchase the necessary policy, you can get a job that offers insurance as a benefit (which you will still likely have to pay a small part of the premium), or you can just do without insurance and hope nothing grave happens to you and your loved ones.

I certainly don’t want to solicit any whining about not being able to get better jobs, blah, blah, blah. I am a college dropout long-haired rock musician in my forties. If I can find a job with benefits, anyone can.

Why, then, do you suppose that there are people so bent on imposing some new draconian government-run health care system on us, and why must they mislead us in the process? The answer seems pretty obvious. If they told us their true intentions, we would never agree to it. This is not about doctor visits for everyone every time they sneeze, or the elderly having to choose between food and medication, or skyrocketing medical bills, or anything that has to do with health care. It’s all about power and control. These people want to control every aspect of our lives. If they are perceived as taking care of everyone from the cradle to the grave, they insure their continued support and re-elections, thus retaining their coveted political power.

There’s a problem with this doctrine, though, and it is one word: Freedom. Under this proposed system, you will lose your freedom to choose your doctor (government will do that for you), the freedom to live your life as you choose (because it will be a financial burden on the system if you engage in something they deem unhealthy), and, eventually, virtually any other freedom you can imagine. With the government controlling every aspect of your life, the word freedom will become a quaint entry in the dictionaries.

This always reminds me of my favorite Benjamin Franklin quote: “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”

This doesn’t even begin to address how a government that is three trillion dollars in debt can possible pay for this.

Is this what you really want, America?

I don’t. Unfortunately, until I take over and squash all the ridiculous little ideas like this one, we have to deal with the powers that be. The best way to do that is to call and write to your elected officials...your two US Senators, your US Representative, and the President. Voice your disapproval of this plan. If they ignore your opinion and choose not to represent you, remember that when you next walk into a voting booth.