It's Really Not There

It’s incomprehensible to me how someone can knowingly make promises they can’t deliver, yet most politicians do it with such regularity it’s almost come to be expected. It seems to me that many Americans are to the point where they’re so averse to hearing objectionable news, regardless of how truthful and legitimate it may be, they’re practically crying out to be deceived.

One particularly troubling theme that’s being venerated by the presidential candidates and the lamestream media is this fantasy, however desirous, of health care is a ‘right’. I’ve read the Bill of Rights numerous times . . . peaceably to assemble . . . keep and bear Arms . . . unreasonable searches and seizures . . . speedy and public trial . . . seriously, there’s no mention of health care.

I could imagine, after several glasses of Scotch, that an extremely charitable interpretation of the phrase ‘promote the general Welfare’ could warrant a conversation about the role of government in medicine, but nationalized health care is a frightenly bad idea for a myriad of reasons. If you happen to think universal medicine is a laudable idea, let’s take a moment to envisage a health care system managed entirely by the Nanny-State. You want competence? Familiar with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the United States Postal Service? You want sympathy and kindness? Ever had any dealings with the Internal Revenue Service, your local Department of Public Safety, or the Department of Homeland Security? You want fiscal prudence? Like to talk about the policies of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, audit any contracts awarded to the Department of Defense, or review the earmarks placed into any legislation approved by your representative in the last few months? By its very nature, government is ineffective, careless, and wasteful.

Now despite being wrought with fraud, excess and inefficiency, we still have the greatest health care system in the world – although it is in need of reform. The real challenge here is that any meaningful change is going to require a conscientious deliberation of difficult choices and real leadership. Unfortunately, no one in Congress, or campaigning for President, seems to have either a conscience or leadership ability. So we’ll continue to plod along until ultimately, much like the fatigued knee joints of a corpulent couch potato on his third trip to the dessert bar at the all-you-can-eat buffet, our healthcare system will collapse of its own weight.

In the meanwhile, to keep my ill-considered opinions from having an effect on the semblance of a right mind, I’m reminded of the wisdom of Ellis in No Country For Old Men:

Can’t stop what’s comin’ . . . it all ain’t waiting on you.