There’s a sucker born every minute. – P.T. Barnum
We, the People, are born every minute. The last ten years provides ample evidence about the regularity to which Lincoln alludes.
Geese are but Geese tho’ we may think ‘em Swans; and Truth will be Truth tho’ it sometimes prove mortifying and distasteful. – Benjamin Franklin
The Constitution of the United States is like a manual for building a nation of equals before the law. It embodies the wisdom that some people gain power and freedom by stealing the power and freedom of others. It enacts principles to thwart those who conduct such thefts. “Liberty” is a common code word for describing the nation’s promise of power and freedom to its citizens.
Interestingly, the founders were all too aware that the apparatus they made to uphold the liberty of the nation’s citizens, i.e. the government, could also fall under the influence of those who would thieve the liberty of others. Accordingly, citizens must be mindful of what they, and others, ask of their government, while using the government as a tool to promote liberty, and other Constitutional and DOI objectives, and thwart liberty thieves. Unfortunately, some citizens are so focused on defending their liberty from the government that they lose sight of the reason that the government was created, i.e. they lose sight of the enemies of liberty. They are so focussed on the tree, that they lose sight of the forest that is being clearcut all around them.
How absurd men are! They never use the liberties they have, they demand those they do not have. They have freedom of thought, they demand freedom of speech. - Soren Kierkegaard
Curiously, this creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. Those who feel the government is the greatest threat prevent the government from regulating those who would usurp liberty. For example, imagine that some of the nation’s elected representatives are concerned about the undue influence received by some people and groups who donate significant amounts of money to other elected representatives. The concerned representatives draft legislation to prevent the money donors from gaining powers and freedoms before the law that those who do not donate do not receive. Those who feel the government is the greatest threat to their liberty, use their power to thwart the legislation because they see it as government overreach. “People should be able to free to spend their money any way they want.” After years of unsuccessful regulatory efforts, government becomes beholden to the money donors in ways that impinge upon the liberties of those who see government as the greatest threat. They take this impingement to be evidence that they were right from the beginning.
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. – George Orwell, Animal Farm
The healthcare debate offers a particularly delicious irony of this sort, given that the choices it offers deny more than simply less liberty. Both choices involve denying people the liberty to choose other than private insurance, if they have the means. The Republicans offer the status quo, which says much about their moral character. Obamacare forces everyone with means to buy private insurance.
How is it that forcing people to pay for more expensive, less effective and less efficient healthcare through private insurance companies is more liberty enhancing than using superior models that involve greater government participation?
Admittedly, this is not deliciously ironic. Take heart. It is ready to be served.
Insurance Companies: Founding Members of the Order of Frater Magnus
Insurance companies, like most businesses, have the reasonable aim of making profits and improving upon these profits. Doing so, involves finding capital sources or activity sources of premiums and avoiding paying claims. Interestingly, pursuing these aims causes insurance companies to become the largest corporate drivers of anti-liberty activities in society.
How so? Increasing profit margins involves controlling costs. How does one control Fate, such as that manifest in natural disasters?
Every crowd has a silver lining. – P.T. Barnum
The answer is that one does not. Insurance runs on the Serenity Prayer without the moral underpinnings. It uses its’ army of actuaries and lobbyists to control what is controllable and the one thing it can control is people’s behaviors. Accordingly, it works through government to create legislation that controls people’s actions by controlling their choices through sanctions. If insurance companies can gain government sanctions on an activity, people are less likely to make choices that result in claims. Furthermore, if people make those choices, their claims can be denied. In doing so, insurance companies feed on people’s liberties to fatten their profits.
So, is it not a delicious irony, that those who are working so hard to protect their fellow citizens from a government that might compromise their liberty by offering a public alternative to private insurance healthcare, are effectively advocating like lobbyists for the strongest anti-liberty corporatists in society?
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