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The Daily Dose/March 23, 2010
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
DRY, TECHNICAL MATTER: Usually we don't like to lead off with dry, technical matter, but we're talking federal legislation here, specifically the law known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which is the formal title of the health care package President Obama has banked good portion of his presidency on.
The Senate passed the bill on Christmas Eve and the House passed it by 219-212 margin on Sunday. Later Sunday the House passed another bill that contains changes and additions that the Senate has yet to consider.
Back On Message: The bill President Obama will sign today is not too bad. It's not perfect, but it's the government we're talking about, so expectations should be kept low.
The process by which this bill came about stunk, of course. As usual, Democrats think every problem can be solved with a (expensive) government program.
The Republicans were no help in this either, choosing to stand in the way and say 'no' simply because this proposal was offered by someone else because all the GOP is nowadays is a monolithic institution that is making of a mockery of the Party of Lincoln and the national conversation because its leaders and adherents are merely zealots who are intolerant of any world view that is not in complete alignment with theirs.
Objection! Humans being humans people will nitpick individual provisions all day, and Americans being Americans people will sue, but one provision of this act should be objectionable to any thinking citizen: the provision that requires every citizen to purchase health insurance.
Oh baby, this is really bad. Requiring citizen participation in a private business is not the purpose of government. The purpose of government is to provide for the liberty of its citizens. Requiring everybody to purchase health insurance is not providing for our liberty, it's taking away our right to care for ourselves as we see fit because maybe I want to pay for doctor visits with cash, like I pay for any other professional service, like an oil change or the making of my dinner.
Disclaimer: I don't, of course. On the rare occasions I do require a doctor's visit I utilize insurance coverage provided by my employer, but I'm sure you see my point.
The Bottom Line: Congress has no more right to mandate we purchase health insurance than they have the right to mandate I purchase tater tots to accent my dinner.
FunFact: The fine for not purchasing insurance would be 2.5 percent of one's adjusted gross income. Illegal aliens would be exempted of course, though would still receive medical services in this country.
15 Minutes Could Save You Up To 15 Percent: Yeah, we know, auto insurance is required, but you don't have to drive a car.
The Best Health Insurance Policy Is A Healthy Body: In the really big picture none of this particularly matters because nothing in the this bill will prevent this entire country from collapsing when the 60 percent of this country that is really fat start needing the medical care attendant with their obesity in their declining years. The effects of this catastrophe-in-waiting will be wide-spread, profound and probably irrevocable.
Get Your Official Writer's Shack Policy Right Here: We've said this before: the government should butt out of the health insurance racket. Medicine has been a for-profit enterprise in this country since colonial times. A doctor came over to put leaches on you to suck whatever ailed you out of your system and you gave him a chicken or some tobacco or maybe even a spare child you had laying around or whatever other goods or services you agreed would suffice as payment. From there it evolved into the system we have now, which serves an awful lot of people well.
The current system does not serve everybody, though, either because they cannot gain access to the system or because the system doesn't deliver the treatment they want or need.
A Raw Display Of Our Influence: The Writer's Shack renews its call for the government to stop farting around with insurance and mandating what private businesses should do and should focus on delivering medical care to those who require it, instead of paying others to deliver it, like it does now with Medicare and other such programs.
Don't Try This At Home, We're Hack Amateurs: We are not experts on this matter, but it seems to us the $98 billion this bill will cost, on average, per year over the next decade would go a long way towards providing that care. Throw in the money this country currently spends on Medicare and Medicaid and there is no reason this nation cannot afford to directly provide care to its citizens that require it.
WE THE PEOPLE: Patrick Henry allegedly utters one of the most famous phrase in American history - "Give me liberty or give me death" - in Richmond. Virginia on this date in 1775.
We say allegedly because the first transcript of the speech wasn't published until 1816, and that by someone who wasn't there and was relying on correspondence with those who were there and even people who merely knew someone who was there.
Never Let The Facts Get In The Way Of A Good Quote: Immediately before his famous statement, Henry allegedly asked "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" which is a really good quote if you ask us.
FunFact: Henry was giving the closing speech at the Second Virginia Convention at the time of his famous statement and the speech, regardless of what Henry actually said, is credited with persuading the Virginia House of Burgesses to allow Virginia troops to fight in the Revolutionary War.
3…2…1…Blastoff: Gemini 3, the first US spaceflight with a two-man spaceflight, is launched on this date in 1965. It's mission lasted just under five hours and Gus Grissom and John Young orbited the Earth three times mainly testing various orbital maneuvers.
Young tried to become the first human in history to enjoy a deli sandwich in space when he snuck a corned beef sandwich onboard but the sandwich was stuffed back in its bag uneaten when it began to break apart.
Editor's Note: The Writer's Shack is pleased to continue its series of quotes from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
Thought For The Day: Thus Dantes who, three months previously, had desired nothing more than liberty, was no longer satisfied with that alone and aspired after riches.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Oklahoma A&M, now known as Oklahoma State, was the first school to repeat as NCAA basketball champions, beating New York University in 1945 and North Carolina in 1946. Oklahoma A&M would return to the championship game in 1949, losing to Kentucky, but have not won the tournament since.
Today's Stumper: Patrick Henry was the first and the sixth Governor of Virginia. Following his first term he was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson. For his second term he succeeded and was succeeded by men who also had ties to presidents of the United States. Name these men and their presidential relations. - Answer next time!
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