Losing the right to live

One of the current government proposals which scares me the most and really should scare everyone else is government run health care. Think about it for a moment, I mean really think about it. Our founders declared that we were "endowed by our creator" with the rights of "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness" and that these were "inalienable". Government run health care would essentially eliminate the most important of those three. Without life you cannot enjoy any of your other constitutionally guaranteed rights. When the government has ultimate say in which if any medical treatments and medications a person can receive and at what point an individual will cease to receive care can we really say we still have our right to life? Many right wing commentators have referred to "government death panels" and been accused of using "scare tactics" but what else do you call it? When the government has a panel of doctors (or more likely some computer program that runs cost-benefit calculations) decide whether or not the life of a person is worth the monetary amount it would cost to preserve it and that panel has the power to deny the individual the needed life saving care will we really still have our right to life? The current proposal has a provision banning insurance companies from writing new policies thereby eliminating the option for the individual to opt out and secure medical care for themselves and their families.

Where in the constitution does it say that the federal government even has the authority to implement such a program. I've read the constitution a few times and I've never seen the right to free medical care in there at all! We are given the freedom to make our own choices and it is up to each citizen to decide how best to care for themselves and their families medical needs. Whether they choose to purchase health insurance or pass on insurance and take their chances paying out of pocket is up to them. We are assured the government will establish and maintain armed forces to protect us from invasion and insurrection not that the federal government will establish programs to protect us from our own poor planning or stupidity. Why is it that adults who would be insulted if someone suggested they needed to be told how to get dressed or go to the bathroom seem more than willing to have some politician in Washington D.C. tell them how to live their lives?

The constitution places very specific limited power in the hands of the federal government but defines the rights of the states thus: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people" -the 10th amendment. This means that while the federal government does not have the authority to institute a national socialized health care system the state governments are free to do it. Why is it that none have? It is the beauty of our republic that if for example Ohio wanted to institute a "free" state run health care system they could and Montana's voters are free to decide not to go that same route and continue to leave health care mostly to the private sector. And if I think that any form of socialized health care is destined to lead to a drastically lower quality of care and life, which I do, then I am free to leave Ohio and move to Montana where the government is more in line with my views. We are an extremely diverse nation in what we believe but our Constitution allows for that!

The federal government needs to quit inventing for itself authority that it does not have under the Constitution and stay the heck out of my hospital room!