Brain Lemon

The health care bill that was recently passed and signed relies on one basic device to accomplish its goals – the individual mandate.  Under the bill, people will be forced to either buy health insurance, or pay a fine.  The IRS will be hiring over 16,000 new agents to enforce this provision.  Now, to those who believe in a limited government, this whole idea is offensive and wrong.  The government cannot compel you to purchase a product simply because you exist.  This fact is clearly demonstrated when you replace health care with another product, such as a car.  No one would seriously entertain the idea that you could be mandated to buy a car.

The problem with health care, though, is that the traditional idea of “insurance”, in which multiple people pay a premium to be covered in case of an emergency, has essentially been destroyed.  This is largely the result of government intervention, but whatever the cause, our society has come to think of “health insurance” as being completely different from any other kind of insurance.  We entirely expect it to cover not only emergency care, but also all of our drugs, doctor’s appointments, and procedures.  Now, this is not to say that there should not be available coverage that includes these things.  I, for one, had a couple recent bills that totaled in the thousands that I was glad my insurance covered.  The point is – if I wanted to take the risk that I would not need this coverage, or if I was willing to plan ahead and budget for such events, I should be able to purchase the coverage I want.

The issue is that we no longer see health care as a product, but rather as a “right”.  We view our insurance policies as expense accounts and have no conception of how much we are spending, or how much things cost.  And now that health care has been installed as a government responsibility, this so-called right will be enshrined.  The problem is that it’s not a “right” at all.  I could spend pages explaining this simple fact, but it essentially boils down to this: A right cannot require that others’ rights be violated to “enforce” it.  A right cannot be created by people or government, but is from God (or from nature, at least).  And any imagining of the supposed health care right is far too inchoate for it to ever exist in the first place.  For example, do you have a “right” to get any medical care at any time?

We on the right have allowed this fiction to be created and perpetrated, and until we can take back the argument we are toast.  Unfortunately, the health care right has become so commonplace that it is hard to fight.  And as long as it exists, the individual mandate will not be perceived as the unconstitutional offense that it is.  If health care is a right, then requiring health insurance is entirely within the government’s purview to enforce that right.  If, instead, we can restore it to being seen properly as a product, the mandate is revealed to be illegal and wrong.  By restoring this we can open the door to all sorts of market-based reforms.  Until then, it will be seen as a public utility.  We’ve got to start challenging the progressives’ rhetoric, and restore the idea that rights are not from government but from God.

This Jonah Goldberg piece dovetails perfectly with what I was writing about yesterday.  We really are entering a new phase in American life.  Those that still do not understand this fact will get it soon.  While many of them will choose to stand on the sidelines, I think the health care bill will have such a tangible effect on everyday life that even those who don’t wish to be involved will be forced too.  While it’s a horrible way to do so, I don’t see this as a bad thing.

Quite simply, the election of Barack Obama, in direct contrast to his campaign rhetoric about uniting people, was a tremendous victory for the ideological left of this country.  While Hillary Clinton represented a more moderate wing of the Democrats, Obama is and always has been a true liberal.  This is not to say Hillary was not so in her heart, but in her style she understood that the country is essentially center-right on many issues.  Obama, on the other hand, was raised in an environment of hard-core, radical Leftist thought, and truly believes in the liberal worldview.  He genuinely believes the Constitution is flawed and outdated, that wealth needs to be redistributed, that many of the world’s problems are America’s fault, and that his election represented a mandate to inflict radical change in the country.  His fellow Leftists, Pelosi et al, also are devoted to this idea of an all-encompassing superstate.

As a result, then, this country is more divided than ever and it will remain so for some time.  Like I wrote in my post yesterday, the signing of the health care bill represents the first major assault in the coming war.  It is an idea borne of the assumptions and ideas of the Left – ideas such as the so-called “right” to health care and other government-provided goodies.  It is straight out of the class-envying ideas that have powered socialist and Marxist thinking for decades.  In truth it is merely the natural destination of progressive thought, but now it has decided to come out into the open.

What this means is that for the near future, at least, there really are two Americas.  There is the America of Obama, which views the government as the provider of rights and the giver of all things.  Then there is another America, that of the Tea Parties, that just wants to be free and left alone.  These two are deeply opposed and the clashes are just beginning.  The good news about health care, if there is any, is that people will come to understand what the liberal superstate really means in practice.  Coupled with stiff environmental regulation, people will come to see what it  means to have government involved in every single facet of life.  And it is my belief that this will wake up the masses to the evils of big government and ignite the country’s fire for freedom.  If it does not, we are finished as a great nation.

The news today is disheartening – the Democrats are planning to vote for health care on Sunday.  This either means they have the votes, or they are bluffing.  While the best outcome would be to have the vote and lose it, in this system that is not likely to happen.  Barring some particularly steel-spined Democrats who stand strong and defect when the vote actually comes, votes like this are generally not held until the party whips know the votes are there.  So working with the assumption that somehow the votes have materialized, we can make the guess that by some method the Democrats will manage to jam the health care bill through this weekend.

I can honestly say this fact makes me scared.  I don’t remember ever being so afraid of a piece of legislation, because, quite simply, we’ve never seen anything like it.  This bill will single-handedly demolish the innovation and freedom that have enabled this country to thrive.  By fundamentally changing the nation’s nature and saddling us with trillions more in unfunded debt, this could be the most damaging, lethal bill to ever go through Congress.  Everyone will feel it, and millions will suffer under much higher costs, oppressive debt, and onerous regulation.

This, then, will surely be the defining moment for this president and his Congress.  It is an act so brazen, so arrogant, and so destructive that no matter what comes to pass in the years ahead, this is a sin that cannot be forgiven.  It is an atrocity that cannot be forgotten, and cannot be ignored.  Indeed, we must all understand what has been done here, and what it means.  In short, what we have now is the beginning of a war.  We have a president and leaders who, in a mad lust for power, will take a sledgehammer to the private sector and whatever freedoms we have left.  How this does not make them genuine enemies of the republic, I don’t know.

I say this with great sadness because I have no great desire to hate my own president.  I would love to live in a world where he actually lived up to his promises of moderation and bipartisanship.  I would love to restore some civil dialogue where all ideas can be offered and debated.  But that is a fairy tale.  Obama has no desire for that, and with the signing (or even just the support) of this health care bill he has made clear that he is at war with much of what has historically made this country great.

I think it’s high time, then, to really start seeing things in that perspective.  There are a million policies and decisions we can disagree with.  We can complain and argue until we are blue in the face about education policy, military decisions, even environmental laws.  What we cannot do is stand by while something as important and personal as our health care is turned into a government-controlled nightmare.  If this bill does indeed become law, this country will have changed and we must too.  The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, and now we must respond.

As nauseous as it makes me, my honest gut feeling is that the Democrats will find a way to pass their health care bill.  The opportunity is simply too great and too close for them to resist.  It is much like Rush has described – it is like Sauron nearly grasping the One Ring.  In many ways the ultimate prize for the statists, government health care is potentially the most important achievement of their political lives.

The reasons for this are clear.  Passing this health care “reform” bill will establish a new entitlement that will be very hard to roll back.  It will extend the tentacles of government into every facet of life.  It has long been understood that, much like carbon controls allow government to regulate every part of economic life, health care control will allow government to regulate all elements of personal life.  The “obesity crisis” all of a sudden becomes a national emergency, and addressing it becomes an argument about saving taxpayer money and working for the common good.  And of course, addressing it means bans, laws, taxes, and the like.  In general, everyday health decisions gain national significance as they all affect the health care system in some way.

In short, then, this health care bill passing is in many ways “game over” for a long time.  This is not to say it cannot be defeated someday, but doing so will become increasingly hard under our current system, as the above-mentioned tentacles grasp tighter and deeper and people get used to subsidies and controls.  To the tyrants intent on passing this, that is the entire point.  The near-totalitarian mindset of much of the Left is on full display as politicians lie, extort, and bribe in their quest for the Holy Grail.  It has become clear that no tactic is too low, no attack too base.

What do we do then, in the face of this impending juggernaut?  We, quite simply, go to war.  I don’t think it is much of an exaggeration to compare this bill to Pearl Harbor.  Certainly not in the sense of lives lost (at least visibly), but in terms of its brazenness, violence, and offensiveness.  Just as Pearl Harbor shocked the nation, instantly readied us for war, and launched us into fighting against the Axis, the health care bill needs to launch Americans into battle against the power-hungry, oppressive leaders who would dare enact such a wretched thing.  We need to understand that the very fabric of our country is under assault and act accordingly.  This is not a fight any of us wish for – we would much rather live our own lives, and mind our own business.  But when the forces of statism launch an unprovoked sneak attack on us, we damn well better respond in kind.