CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Representative Ron Paul what we should do if a 30-year-old man who chose not to purchase health insurance suddenly found himself in need of six months of intensive care. Mr. Paul replied, “That’s what freedom is all about — taking your own risks.” Mr. Blitzer pressed him again, asking whether “society should just let him die.”
And the crowd erupted with cheers and shouts of “Yeah!”
Krugman's take is that evil Conservatism causes these deaths; implying that if only we could give these dying people more care, they wouldn't die.
Is that a fact, Paul Krugman? Is Liberalism just a modern incarnation of Ponce de León's failed search for the Fountain of Youth? Do you think LeftLibProgg policies, if properly funded by some impossible economic engine, will helpfully extend and enhance the lifespans of every citizen? Should the power of Government be turned to making sure every person contained within in our borders, legally or illegally, and those we just know about in other countries, lives a life free of want and disease, and succeed to your defined level of achievement and outcome no matter what?
That engine is as mythical as Galt's motor or Rearden metal. What we've had is an economic system that works well enough to keep people who work well enough off. To try to get everyone to that level, as Krugman and others of LeftLibProgg persuasion desire, is practically impossible. But they have to try; it's the trying that's destroyed this Republic.
Yes, destroyed, for all intent and purpose. Sure, there's some semblance of normalcy as people whiz about and go about their daily routines. But the edges are decaying, it's becoming a bit more transparent, as economic numbers continue to fall.
Krugman...
Given the agreed-upon desirability of protecting citizens against the worst, the question then became one of costs and benefits — and health care was one of those areas where even conservatives used to be willing to accept government intervention in the name of compassion, given the clear evidence that covering the uninsured would not, in fact, cost very much money. As many observers have pointed out, the Obama health care plan was largely based on past Republican plans, and is virtually identical to Mitt Romney’s health reform in Massachusetts.
Now, however, compassion is out of fashion — indeed, lack of compassion has become a matter of principle, at least among the G.O.P.’s base.
And what this means is that modern conservatism is actually a deeply radical movement, one that is hostile to the kind of society we’ve had for the past three generations — that is, a society that, acting through the government, tries to mitigate some of the “common hazards of life” through such programs as Social Security, unemployment insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.
Are voters ready to embrace such a radical rejection of the kind of America we’ve all grown up in? I guess we’ll find out next year.
The past three generations, Krugman? That's back to LBJ, and the 'Great Society'. As I've remarked before, I consider the July 20 1969 moon landing the pinnacle of U.S. achievement. Since then, since the nearly-concurrent implementation of LBJ's far-Left social program, we've had continuing decline in America's moral systems: families now rely more on Government to care for their parents and children, eschewing the tight-knit social networks that kept the US out of debt for hundreds of years. As we've become more dependent on a powerful central government, we've become less caring about 'people'. LBJ and government policies after provided detachment from personal responsibility to others, even to family members, so as Americans could enjoy their prosperity and newly-found, unimaginable to prior generations of harder-working Americans, lifestyles.
Now, we're in a downturn of massive proportions, with no end and no bottom in sight. Even if we 'turned around' today or in November 2012, we would still face a crushing debt load that defies an average person's ability to comprehend it. And, interest on that.
I'm beginning to wonder: if even we continue to succeed in our repudiations of Barack Hussein Obama and all that he represents in election after election, even to the point of succeeding beyond our wildest hopes and desires (a Republican House, Senate and White House), would that 'success' make much difference at all, given where we're at now? The debt is baked into the cake already; we have a population of Americans with me-first GIMME! expectations, a population comprised of morally weak and soft and the most spoiled EVAH! ever to live in this Republic.
It's obvious: there's not much we can do. Nevermind. This is all dying, all of it.
Oh, speaking of the dead: twenty years ago today, in 'Grunge' ruled Seattle, Nirvana, fronted by the long-dead Kurt Cobain, released their seminal album "Nevermind". That's apropos I'm thinking.
No comments:
Post a Comment