Saturday, December 10, 2005
A Classic Example Of The Evils OF Socialism
Consider the following from the UK:
Smoking, drinking, and obesity are not healthy behaviors, but they are not immoral either. They are traditionally personal choices, bad choices but legitimate choices. And yet here a national governmental agency will seek to control that behavior, robbing individuals of that personal freedom. They do so under the banner of cost-control since they have socialized medicine. This is something of a canard since people who make those choices are probably less likely to seek medical care save at the end of their life than people who enagage in more healthy lifestyle practices.
But here's what really bothers me -- would they consider doing this for AIDS and HIV, another behaviorially based pathological condition? Heck what about other less glamourous STD's for that matter? Or what about injuries resulting from participation in highly risky sports?
Socialized medicine forces, just like socialism in general forces, the society to encroach on personal liberty and make decisions about what is and is not acceptable personal behavior -- it cannot be avoided because resources must be allocated. And what's really awful is that in some countries with socialized medicine such people don't even have the option to seek private medical care.
One of the hallmarks of a free society is that we are free to make bad decisions as well as good ones. I, for one, do not wish to give that up.
Smoking, drinking, and obesity are not healthy behaviors, but they are not immoral either. They are traditionally personal choices, bad choices but legitimate choices. And yet here a national governmental agency will seek to control that behavior, robbing individuals of that personal freedom. They do so under the banner of cost-control since they have socialized medicine. This is something of a canard since people who make those choices are probably less likely to seek medical care save at the end of their life than people who enagage in more healthy lifestyle practices.
But here's what really bothers me -- would they consider doing this for AIDS and HIV, another behaviorially based pathological condition? Heck what about other less glamourous STD's for that matter? Or what about injuries resulting from participation in highly risky sports?
Socialized medicine forces, just like socialism in general forces, the society to encroach on personal liberty and make decisions about what is and is not acceptable personal behavior -- it cannot be avoided because resources must be allocated. And what's really awful is that in some countries with socialized medicine such people don't even have the option to seek private medical care.
One of the hallmarks of a free society is that we are free to make bad decisions as well as good ones. I, for one, do not wish to give that up.
