A Right to Health?
Michael Barton denies (Albany Democrat-Herald) that affordable and effective health care is a "fundamental right" for every Oregonian. He is right of course, it is not. It's just a need. That doesn't concern him. What concerns him is "paid for by whom?"
As long as we keep it an argument over "rights," nothing will be done. That would be wrong. Harry Truman used to say that it took the Republicans 150 years to find the word "welfare" in the Constitution. (And then, they didn't like it!) But it's there alright (in the Preamble), as in "promote the general welfare" (common good).
That's one of the purposes of government that Mr. Barton forgot to 'mention. Or perhaps he has just forgotten it, period.
Another purpose of government (in the Preamble) is to "establish justice." We are strong in this country on retributive justice (with 2,000,000 people incarcerated),
and sorely lacking in distributive justice. (Say what? Many people don't even know what that means!) It has to do with allocating both the burdens and the benefits in a society. The burdens of military service, for instance, fall disproportionately on young, healthy males. The financial benefits of war-making accrue mainly to large stockholders and executives in war industries. The burdens of tedious and exhausting labor at low pay are widely distributed among the disadvantaged. Most of them also lack health insurance, with little prospect of getting it as things now stand.
The high costs of medical care benefit stockholders in insurance, pharmaceuticals and related industries, along with private hospitals usually built with tax monies and donated funds. The "privatization" of publically funded hospitals is an instance of colossal thievery aided and abetted by politicians and accomplished by the substantial work of lobbyists (all paid handsomely for their work.
It's true that many pensioners benefit from their pension funds' investments in the stock market. The benefits are widely distributed. So are the burdens on the poor and the uninsured. It's an old-fashioned idea, and we don't hear a lot about it, but there's a common good that benefits everone. Affordable and effective health care is such a good. Nations with a tenth of our wealth (and less) have had it for years. Why can't we?
Let me know what you think: jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
Michael Barton denies (Albany Democrat-Herald) that affordable and effective health care is a "fundamental right" for every Oregonian. He is right of course, it is not. It's just a need. That doesn't concern him. What concerns him is "paid for by whom?"
As long as we keep it an argument over "rights," nothing will be done. That would be wrong. Harry Truman used to say that it took the Republicans 150 years to find the word "welfare" in the Constitution. (And then, they didn't like it!) But it's there alright (in the Preamble), as in "promote the general welfare" (common good).
That's one of the purposes of government that Mr. Barton forgot to 'mention. Or perhaps he has just forgotten it, period.
Another purpose of government (in the Preamble) is to "establish justice." We are strong in this country on retributive justice (with 2,000,000 people incarcerated),
and sorely lacking in distributive justice. (Say what? Many people don't even know what that means!) It has to do with allocating both the burdens and the benefits in a society. The burdens of military service, for instance, fall disproportionately on young, healthy males. The financial benefits of war-making accrue mainly to large stockholders and executives in war industries. The burdens of tedious and exhausting labor at low pay are widely distributed among the disadvantaged. Most of them also lack health insurance, with little prospect of getting it as things now stand.
The high costs of medical care benefit stockholders in insurance, pharmaceuticals and related industries, along with private hospitals usually built with tax monies and donated funds. The "privatization" of publically funded hospitals is an instance of colossal thievery aided and abetted by politicians and accomplished by the substantial work of lobbyists (all paid handsomely for their work.
It's true that many pensioners benefit from their pension funds' investments in the stock market. The benefits are widely distributed. So are the burdens on the poor and the uninsured. It's an old-fashioned idea, and we don't hear a lot about it, but there's a common good that benefits everone. Affordable and effective health care is such a good. Nations with a tenth of our wealth (and less) have had it for years. Why can't we?
Let me know what you think: jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
posted by John Goodwin at
9:07 AM
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