The Healthcare Elephants

The Healthcare wars are heating up again as Obamacare costs start to sink in. By now the battle lines are drawn, and no one is going to change his or her mind until Obamacare either works or shows that is it a flaming pile of poo. But why does the debate have to be so rancorous? Why do we shout at each other? What are we missing in this debate?

The elephants in the room are (1) "Is healthcare a right?", similar to "is housing a right?" If you think it is, you'll never be happy until a government-run single-payer system is in place. If not, you want a chance for the market to provide what people want. Both have big problems. Single-payer inevitably leads to shortages or what some call "death panels" - the rationing of expensive treatments that society cannot afford for all. On the other side, the market has serious issues dealing with genetics, pre-existing conditions, and ageism.

(2) What role does freedom play in the healthcare wars? Can I be free to ignore my future and my retirement income, bungee jump, snort drugs, live on skid row, or have unprotected sex if I want? If you say yes, then logic takes you quickly to the point where you can't really tell people to take care of their health or require the government to insure them. If you say no, you logically conclude that "the Public Good" gives government the mandate to compel you to lose weight, stop taking drugs, stop drinking large sugary drinks, etc.

Me? I want to be free to live my life the way I see fit. I want to earn and save money to buy things I want, including a health maintenance contract (some call it "insurance") similar to an extended mileage warranty for a car. I want to be free to choose how much I spend on that contract based on its perceived value to me and what other things I want to do with my money, like buy a house. I view this contract that I can purchase as a "luxury good" as defined by economists.

To take the other side leads logically and inevitably to socialism. I am not a socialist. I am an American, born and bred in the land of the free, free to choose how I live my life.

Prof. Stephen Clark writes:

"Over time, I’ve read opinion pieces in which the writer ponders the question of why Obama persists in pushing gun-control legislation: Is he sincere and actually believe his own BS, or is it simply to gin up his base? Well, probably both. But the real issue continues to be that guns have taken center stage in an ongoing cultural war. In particular, any legislation passed will be something to defend against the depredations of the cultural other. Look at the distorting effects of Roe v Wade over the years. In how many venues have supporters of abortion rights amplified criticism of the decision into a general assault to be resisted at all costs.

"From this point forward, criticism of any control legislation will be demagogued; the critic painted as one indifferent to the murder of children.

"The best reason for unyielding opposition to any of the legislation being contemplated is that the legislation is terrible on its face – even failing to address the advertised concerns of those supporting it. However, running a close second to that reason is this: Nothing is to be gained and much is to be lost by appeasing those who simply dislike you. They will continue to dislike you, and all that they think you represent, regardless."

And so it is: Gun Control is about marginalizing and demonizing a culture that Modern Liberal Statists don't like and are scared of. Red-necks with big pick-up trucks with knobby tires scare you. Admit it, and learn to be tolerant. In the meantime, we will fight you tooth and nail.

The Real Explanation

The real explanation for the current gun debate is as follows. One segment of our country trusts our government. The complementary segment does not. The two are at war.

The former has successfully expanded its rolls and marginalized the latter in the past 50 years, until now we have the polemic of "Flyover State", while the U.C. System unashamedly teaches progressive dogma and quashes critical debate.

Now the former has seized upon a convenient tragedy to carve off another chunk of liberty and power from its enemy. People who trust the government are scared of those who do not, and want them mocked, disarmed, and controlled. It's that simple.

Perhaps the Time Has Come

Well, it's depressing and a total cop-out when I should be fighting for the America I love, but perhaps it's come to this. "...How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Obama-Bomb".

Get drunk, stop working, file for unemployment, and let the good times roll!

Enjoy The Decline!

Unfortunately, I don't think that's what God wants me to do... Shucks.

The Real Reason For Gun Control

I am sick and tired of the all-out assault on our liberty, using poor shot up kindergarteners as ammunition (pun intended).

I'm sick of you nanny-state whiny liberals with your "more government, more programs, more controls, less freedom" answers. And I'm sick of your underhanded and conniving president and his administration, bent on neutering this great country, using convenient tragedies to seize more government control and power.

Face it: the reason you, personally, want to "control" guns is because guns scare you. And the people who own guns scare you. The guy tailgating you in the giant pickup with the truck nuts hanging from the hitch, he scares the hell out of you in your Prius. All those red-state people scare you. You'd ban them too, if you had a president with any balls, because they're unafraid and tough and mean and self-sufficient and ... and ... and they're different than you.

Quoting Thomas Sowell: "Guns are not the problem. People are the problem — including people who are determined to push gun control laws, either in ignorance of the facts or in defiance of the facts."

Quoting Mark Trapscott, Executive Editor of the Washington Examiner

» Violent crimes, including those involving guns, have declined by half in the past two decades. This decline has occurred even as gun ownership rates have [grown] in virtually every state.

» There is no discernible trend in the frequency of mass shootings like those that most shocked us in recent years. In fact, the year with the highest number of such shootings was 1929.

» Schools are getting safer, with the number of violent crimes plummeting from 53 per 1,000 students in 1992 to 14 in 2010.

» The prevalence of guns in America increased to 88.8 for every 100 people in 2007, from 84 in 2001. With an estimated 300 million privately owned firearms, America has nearly one for every man, woman and child.

» Remember the much-heralded "assault rifle ban" during the 1990s? It had no discernible effect on gun crime. Its restoration would likely accomplish nothing, except to enable professional politicians to pretend they are "doing something."

These are extremely relevant facts - and extremely inconvenient for the modern liberal statist. If you continue to push for tighter controls for law-abiding citizens, you need to come clean to yourself and to your countrymen about your true motives.

Here's a start:

You are scared of guns. Your fear and ignorance makes you a bigot who wants to control people who are not scared of guns. You are no different than the bigots who want to ban gay marriage.

Sources:
Thomas Sowell: Invincible Ignorance
Reason Magazine: 5 Facts About Guns, Schools, And Violence

Do Guns Scare You? Children Scare Me

So let me get this straight. "I don't like guns. I don't own a gun. I think you should not own a gun either. Guns can be used to do horrible things."

"I don't like children. I don't have children. I don't think you should have children either. Children can grow up to become crazy people who do horrible things in Oklahoma City, through the Post Office, or sometimes with guns."

Is there a difference? Of course there is. But there is also an awful similarity. The former assumes guns are the essential problem in a small fraction of events, and seeks to eliminate them and any positive use for them to prevent those events. The latter trade-off does the same with human spawn, but would never be acceptable, even though we could have eliminated some pretty evil people in the process.

The previous reductio ad absurdum was brought to you by someone who has a real distaste for pat thinking and closed minds.

==================

Everyone should read Thomas Sowell's excellent analysis of the current "gun debate", Invincible Ignorance, which deconstructs the irrationality of gun control, complete with statistics.

But, there's more to it than that. One needs to ask why a certain segment of our society insists that this is the logical course of action when it clearly isn't. Why do some people instinctively turn to this? What drives them?

The answer is not new. It's the same reason we have bigots and ill-informed debates about fluoride and vaccinations.

Ignorance and the fear it begets.