Volume 5, Issue 41
We are on the highway of Business as Usual. A road that appears to accommodate along the way all that is needed for the journey. Gasoline, lunch, repairs, rest stops, and free time. True costs of the trip are never considered. The government will pay for it. The scenery is fabricated to appear tranquil to produce a false sense of security that the road will go on forever. The view out the window is deceiving and is a distraction from the cliff ahead.
Reality is that the current budget of the United States government is unsustainable. Healthcare is one of the fastest growing segments of the overall budget. As currently structured, it has a life of its own. Not only is healthcare growing as a percent of the budget, it is ultimately unsustainable in its own right. This is a fact, and it is not in dispute. If the highway of Business as Usual leads to a cliff, then why is it so hard for leaders of Congress to reach an agreement to course correct the vehicle of government?
It is because no one wants to face the truth about the reality of options. Why?
There are only two options. We can turn left and proceed down a highway of socialism, or we can turn right and proceed down a highway of free enterprise. Why the consternation?
Socialism leads to single payer healthcare. This means that the government funds all healthcare costs. But the consequences of this choice are that the government also controls all options. Ultimately, healthcare is rationed. As an individual ages, less and less healthcare is covered. Progressives proclaim that all industrialized countries provide national healthcare. This statement can be questioned. But let’s take it on point for its premise. Every country in the world that has single payer either limits the healthcare package or rations care. National healthcare is not the elixir that the left claims it to be.
Free enterprise produces more options, but the consequences are that some can afford and choose better coverage than others. Under free enterprise, citizens are more accountable for their own personal health circumstances. The poor and disadvantaged receive healthcare, but options may be more standardized.
Socialism restricts the opportunity of certain individuals. Free enterprise threatens the security of certain individuals. Socialism produces equal outcome for all at a lower standard of living. Free enterprise produces a higher standard of living, but not necessarily an equal outcome for all. In pursuit of happiness, socialism dictates an individual’s pursuit. In free enterprise, the individual determines the destination and route of that pursuit.
There is no stopping in the middle of the road. The forces of government and human nature dictate that a road, direction, and pace must be chosen. Upon reaching the crossroads, a point of no return is in sight. Committing to the highway of Business as Usual will eventually reach a skid point at which, even if the brakes are applied, the government vehicle of society will careen over the cliff.
The proper choice is to turn right at the intersection of the crossroads of reality. This course can be taken without totally abandoning the tenets of government provided healthcare. Taxing the engine of private endeavor to provide government services for those who need them is the better road to take. The debate should always be, what are the needs of the people? And in those needs, what are the priorities? Free enterprise is a road that has historically along its way produced adequate revenue for critical government purposes.
Turning left stifles free enterprise in a way that lack of oxygen extinguishes a flame. Socialism limits choices and opportunity. It stifles innovation and the application of creative thought. That is why, in repeated attempts to implement socialism as a form of government, in 6,000 years of recorded history, it has never worked.
The American public is not being told the complete truth. First, there is a cliff at the end of the road of deficit spending, accumulated debt, and business as usual. No government can print and borrow money forever beyond its means. Second, socialism can provide a healthcare system, but such a system results in fewer choices, longer lines, rationed care, and less individual freedom. And third, freedom should be the paramount objective in this country. Some individuals seek security at the sacrifice of freedom. That is an appropriate and fair choice for them. However, those who cherish security over opportunity should not demand that those individuals who hold freedom higher than security sacrifice their freedom at the altar of socialism.
A government devoted to freedom can protect the people’s needs as professed by socialism. A government devoted to socialism will destroy people’s freedom.
There is nothing wrong with desiring freedom. The opportunity freedom presents must be pursued with compassion for the needs of all. But no excuses need to be made in standing for freedom.
For freedom is the destination of the pursuit of happiness.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?