On The Socialization of Healthcare...
     
              Rev. Karin Conover-Lewis   
     Common Faith Chapel Universal Life Church 

(Text captured from echomail post in April, 1993)

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You want private hospitals to be run in the same manner as *military*
hospitals!? Good grief! I have experience with both varieties, thank
you, and never again would I submit myself to the incompetence which is
bred and rewarded under the 'military model'. Health care is not a
right, it is a product - a service - just like any other. Yes, it may
look cold and heartless to say so, but that is the case, regardless.
People who want to socialise medicine in America are generally people
who want to socialise America itself (as if it isn't already), who want
to "redistribute the wealth" as a means of obtaining that which they
haven't been able to achieve on their own.

We must never close our eyes to suffering, and must always be willing to
help those who are less fortunate than ourselves. But to legislate the
socialisation of medicine is to *force* people to be charitable, and to
steal from them in order that others may benefit from their prosperity.
You cannot force someone to be charitable, caring, and willing to help
others. But this is exactly what is being attempted under the socialist
policies being formed in America today. How is this any different than
robbing the bank accounts of anyone who has been foolish enough to save
their money?

Access to free, unlimited medical care is no more a basic right than
access to free, unlimited transportation, or free, unlimited access to
education. Do we have a right to free, unlimited food? Free, unlimited
clothing? Free, unlimited housing? Free, unlimited entertainment?

We have been presented with the argument that medical care is a "basic
right" because without our health we are unable to engage in the pursuit
of happiness, or because we have an inalienable right to life. Yet food
is far more necessary than health care - why doesn't the government
provide that for us? Without clothing we would freeze in the winter -
shouldn't the government issue our clothing to us? And no amount of
clothing will substitute for a roof over our heads, so why doesn't the
government supervise the redistribution of the nation's housing in order
to get people off the streets?

Services provided by the government are not free - they are paid for by
stealing money from one group of people (those who have it), and
redistributing it to those who do not. The socialisation of medicine in
this country is one more nail in the coffin of Liberty.

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