A MINORITY VIEW
BY WALTER WILLIAMS
RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 2010
Is Health Care a Right?
Most politicians, and probably most Americans, see health care as a right. Thus, whether a person has the means to pay for medical services or not, he is nonetheless entitled to them. Let's ask ourselves a few questions about this vision.
Say a person, let's call him Harry, suffers from diabetes and he has no means to pay a laboratory for blood work, a doctor for treatment and a pharmacy for medication. Does Harry have a right to XYZ lab's and Dr. Jones' services and a prescription from a pharmacist? And, if those services are not provided without charge, should Harry be able to call for criminal sanctions against those persons for violating his rights to health care?
You say, "Williams, that would come very close to slavery if one person had the right to force someone to serve him without pay." You're right. Suppose instead of Harry being able to force a lab, doctor and pharmacy to provide services without pay, Congress uses its taxing power to take a couple of hundred dollars out of the paycheck of some American to give to Harry so that he could pay the lab, doctor and pharmacist. Would there be any difference in principle, namely forcibly using one person to serve the purposes of another? There would be one important strategic difference, that of concealment. Most Americans, I would hope, would be offended by the notion of directly and visibly forcing one person to serve the purposes of another. Congress' use of the tax system to invisibly accomplish the same end is more palatable to the average American.
True rights, such as those in our Constitution, or those considered to be natural or human rights, exist simultaneously among people. That means exercise of a right by one person does not diminish those held by another. In other words, my rights to speech or travel impose no obligations on another except those of non-interference. If we apply ideas behind rights to health care to my rights to speech or travel, my free speech rights would require government-imposed obligations on others to provide me with an auditorium, television studio or radio station. My right to travel freely would require government-imposed obligations on others to provide me with airfare and hotel accommodations.
For Congress to guarantee a right to health care, or any other good or service, whether a person can afford it or not, it must diminish someone else's rights, namely their rights to their earnings. The reason is that Congress has no resources of its very own. Moreover, there is no Santa Claus, Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy giving them those resources. The fact that government has no resources of its very own forces one to recognize that in order for government to give one American citizen a dollar, it must first, through intimidation, threats and coercion, confiscate that dollar from some other American. If one person has a right to something he did not earn, of necessity it requires that another person not have a right to something that he did earn.
To argue that people have a right that imposes obligations on another is an absurd concept. A better term for new-fangled rights to health care, decent housing and food is wishes. If we called them wishes, I would be in agreement with most other Americans for I, too, wish that everyone had adequate health care, decent housing and nutritious meals. However, if we called them human wishes, instead of human rights, there would be confusion and cognitive dissonance. The average American would cringe at the thought of government punishing one person because he refused to be pressed into making someone else's wish come true.
None of my argument is to argue against charity. Reaching into one's own pockets to assist his fellow man in need is praiseworthy and laudable. Reaching into someone else's pockets to do so is despicable and deserves condemnation.
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM
Why Not Ohio?
Rick, your Libertarian philosophy of "taking care of only me" is selfish. You are indeed one selfish, smog-righteous individual! Healthcare for all is morally right, and can save the country money by implementing it. Why does every industrialized nation offer it??? Because it works for the citizens of that country and costs less in the long run......
Too bad your giant ego and selfishness gets in the way of you doing what is morally right.....
and you confess to be a christian....ha!!!! You probably are a secret Jhiad Osama Bin Laden disciple recruit!
Tell me where I can find it in the constitution and then I will talk..
News and view, listen little one, the moral case for universal health care isn't in dispute...unless you are a Jihad.....
The missing ingredient here is morals, it is immoral to provide medical, food, shelter, heat, cash to anyone able bodied without their having earned it. The Bobster is confused in his morals.
again, shrimp, which unchristian planet did you come from?
Remember, Dennis subscribes to the motto: "Communism only killed a hundred million people, let's give it another try."
Dennis; why do you have trouble understanding the basic principle explained in Dr. Williams' piece? If exercising, what some consider the right of one person, diminishes the right of another, it can not be called a right. Just because you call something a "moral right" doesn't mean that it is a natural right, and natural rights are the only rights recognized by our Constitution.
Their distinguishing feature is that they can exist even if you were the only person on Earth. A right that requires the presence, and contribution of others is not a valid right.
Just curious Dennis why you are not championing the right to "Water"? After all, it is much more necessary to the preservation of life than health insurance. We do not provide water for free.
So, Dan, you're saying that doing the morally right thing to do isn't possible?
That's why you will never get my vote for dog catcher!
No Dennis, we should always do the morally right thing. But we should not force other people into doing the morally right thing. Don't you agree?
Dan, the current health care system is unraveling...and doing more of the same won't fix it.
The only kind of reform is liberal: it involves government action that would reduce inequality and insecurity. We need to create a better, more just society, and this is a place to start.
Dennis, I understand that you would like to see people cared for, but it really does come down to "freedom" or "fairness". You apparently have no qualms taking from people, or forcing them to work for what you consider a worthy cause. "Fairness" is more important to you than "freedom". Unfortunately, our country was not founded on "fairness". It was founded on "freedom".
You also appear to miss learning from the ample examples of countries that have sacrificed "freedom" in the quest for "fairness". In the end, they end up with neither.
Dan, only through fairness of a truely equal health care system will people achieve freedom from high, inflated, and costly healthcare.
Sounds as though you suscribe to the statement made by my opponent. He said, "We must redefine what freedom means in America in 2009. Freedom means being healthy."
Well Dan, Tim's right and you're wrong.....
Dennis, you always make me think of this quotation.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."—Samuel Adams
DAN, SPARE ME YOUR COLONIAL DRIBBLE.....GO BACK IN TIME AND DRINK BEER WITH SAM ADAMS.....
WHAT IS LIBERTY DOING FOR US IN THE HEALTH CARE PROBLEM? RISING PREMIUMS, HUGE DEDUCTABLES AND CO-PAYS, AND PEOPLE BEING DENIED COVERAGE......
Dennis now places "health care for all" above Liberty?
Dennis why don't you run on that program?
I'll be even more happy to campaign against you.
Fine, Sarge, run against me , campaign against me..... I don't give a hoot!