The United States Women’s Soccer Team just won the World Cup in spectacular fashion. Americans could not be any prouder of them. What they’ve done for American self-confidence should not be underrated. And this confidence is built on the reality that there can be unity in diversity. The U.S. women are diverse in culture, ethnicity, political ideology, and sexual orientation. They’re gay, straight, liberal, traditional, young and old (relatively speaking). Yet they absolutely believe in each other as one team pursuing one objective.
Progressives should take a page out of their team’s playbook on character.
One of the most debated government policy issues amongst liberals today is whether or not, in advocating universal healthcare, that private health insurance must be eliminated. Progressives argue for universal government-run healthcare. When asked why socialized healthcare requires the termination of private sector insurance, they are disingenuous in their answer. They claim it will be more efficient. An examination of the workforce deserves better representation.
Eighty percent of Americans are satisfied with their private health insurance. The number 80% also represents most Americans who are satisfied with their jobs. Twenty-two and a half percent of Americans are on welfare. Approximately 4.5% receive disability income or subsidized rent. Approximately 3.5% are unemployed and actively looking for work. One and a half percent are in prisons or jails and hospitals. Therefore, roughly, one in three Americans are receiving government support and government healthcare. The 80% number referenced above is the percent of those in the public workforce. Further, 18% of the public works for the federal, state or local government or is in the military. Many times, healthcare provided by government agencies is private health insurance products. The point is that the U.S. composite adult workforce is a complicated matrix of disciplines, ebbing and flowing in direct relation to economic conditions and the unintended consequences of government policy. Drastic changes will have drastic consequences. Why fix the part that is not broken? Why throw the baby out with the bathwater?
If current healthcare is acceptable to 80% of Americans, why not propose policies to support the 20% that progressives feel are underserved? Why do progressives demand all or nothing for socialized medicine?
It is because they do not just want universal healthcare, they seek universal outcomes.
Socialists do not recognize any value in the diversity of talent. Therefore, everyone must make exactly the same wage, living in the same size house, driving the same style car. Don’t think this is unrealistic. In the former Soviet Union, even the color of the car had to be the same. The idea is that every person works for the benefit of the state, not themselves. Society is instructed that the fruits of their labor belong to the state. The government will then decide the equal redistribution of wealth as directed by the state’s wisdom. Do any of the candidates running for President today truly want to restrict one’s economic choices so drastically? Probably not in their conscious mind, but history is an inerrant teacher and her lessons are illuminating. Free enterprise can support minimal socialistic policies and remain viable. Socialism, however, cannot tolerate any free enterprise and survive as a system.
Progressives have never embraced the true purpose of less government. Freedom from government control releases the ingenuity of an individual in their unrestricted pursuit of happiness. It is not for the king (government) to determine the process or outcome of the pursuit of happiness in concert with his (its) own purposes. It is a classic conflict of interest.
So why then are progressives so determined to eliminate the private sector? It is because people pursuing what’s best for their families, as a process, will always outperform the limited vision of government. Therefore, government entities can never compete with private sector initiatives. The government can never envision a positive, innovative outcome. The laptop computer would never have been invented by the government.
Progressives continue to pursue political ideology which narrative can only be carried in theory. When asked why private health insurance should be eliminated, they respond with inadequate answers like, “there will be less paperwork.” Socialized medicine will produce less service for fewer people with longer waiting times. This is apparently acceptable to some leaders because then, all outcomes for individuals will at least be the same. To understand this, one only has to remember that the answer to the question about Obamacare: will everyone be able to keep their own doctor?
The dynamics of freedom are as complex as the adult workforce. Some people seek a better job to support a personal pursuit of happiness. Some people are satisfied with their job as their pursuit of happiness. Some people work generationally for their family’s pursuit of happiness. Some people simply serve as their pursuit of happiness. Each pursuit is personal. Every honest pursuit is meritable and of value. The government has no right to dictate the ultimate standardization. Infringement of individual pursuit of happiness by the government for its own goals and objectives has been proven to fail over and over again in history.
Whether you have faith in a Creator, or you believe in the accident of life, life is incredibly diverse. Neither nature nor God establishes a value on the importance of one life over another. We are all equal in our contribution to the world order. Only through freedom to exercise personal talent in the great mix of society does the human race advance.
In rejecting the benefits of diversity, progressives deny the value and worth of individuality. They, who claim to represent the interests of minorities, ironically discriminate against those minorities in refusing to accept the contribution of their personal talents. In this, they deny all lessons of history in the natural order of this system of things.
The diversity of ideas, gifts, and pursuits of happiness of every human being, collectively, is the strength of a nation. Citizens respecting a national identity and a common goal can achieve a moral destiny when left to thrive in a system of freedom.
If one ever had any doubts about common purpose in diversity, one only has to look to the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?