I have had a good amount of solid conversations with my friends over the years. People don't always agree with me, yet I still call them friends. Weird huh? I find it funny because people who send me notes outside of the blog, think I am looking to surround myself with people I agree with. I think they miss the point of this blog. I am not looking to rally people to my banner. I am only hoping to maybe, just maybe, somebody might be inspired to think. I woudl be real happy if somebody actually acted. I am not really picky about how they act, as long as they do something to get involved with life.
To the point though, recently I had a really good conversation about America. Yep. Go figure, huh? Who would have thought I would have gotten into a discussion with a friend of mine about politics. Now I learned a few things from the conversation. First is that when somebody feels strongly enough about something they will not allow their position to be shifted even to a point of being belligerent. Second thing is that while we both speak English, we don't always speak the same language.
One of the things we disagreed on was the concept of freedom, and basic human rights. Seems simple right? I mean you can all picture what freedom is, and what you feel are basic human rights, right? So I asked around Campus in causal conversation to see what people thought these concepts meant. It was astounding the differences I found. So many saw human rights going far beyond the concept of warm, dry, full.
Freedom is defined as the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint. You can go further and say it is exemption from external control, interference, regulation, or restrictions. So to me this is the greatest right afforded by our government. However it is being neglected, because of our need of entitlement versus the understanding of freedom and rights. Rights are those things that all humans should be entitled too, but our sense of entitlement go beyond that.
Amnesty International states that "Human rights are basic rights and freedoms that all people are entitled to regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, race, religion, language, or other status." They go into further detail in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I will also go on the record to say that I agree with this Declaration for the most part. However I feel that in some cases it impinges on personal freedom in ways. What I mean by this is the section on healthcare. While I agree everyone should have access to healthcare, I do not think it should be provided for them.
In 25.1 it is stated "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control." I am sorry but I do not agree that State provided welfare is a right. I think it is an entitlement afforded by an expectation of freedoms being allotted by government, rather then freedoms being guaranteed on their own as a human right.
In plan English, I am free not because of my government, rather my government (America) exist because of my freedom. Every expectation we place on our government lowers our personal freedom. While the measure of our government is to protect our freedoms, some freedoms are impeded or removed when they are given to authority. Okay so what I mean by this asking the Government to provide things for us, rather then protect our access to those things, we put those things in Government control. Then we get laws that protect us from self harm, while usually common sense dictates them, they are still restricting our personal freedom.
Seat belts and helmet laws clearly fit into this basic category. While it is just smart to wear these things, it should be a choice not a law. If I decide not to wear my helmet and go for a ride, the risk is my own. Therefore not impeding on some other persons rights or freedoms. Now we get into healthcare, which is much more layered then that. However I will say that the Government has the responsibility to protect my access to healthcare, they are not, nor should be in control of my healthcare. This way I have the right to practice healthcare if I choose, or see what provider I can afford or choose to afford. When the government runs my healthcare it limits the channels I can take to address grievances. It limits the care that I would like to receive, which essentially is my choice.
Lets say that the Government states that Chiropractic care is no longer viable or effective. They do not think the health benefits justify the time involved in the procedure. So now it is no longer available or offered as a service. So if I wanted to or not, I no longer have the choice of seeking Chiropractic care. Bureaucracy has no place in healthcare. This is essentially what is currently wrong with healthcare in America to begin with. HMO's restrict care on the basis of cost and profit rather then the effect on the overall health of the patient.
This is not limited to healthcare either. The more we put out our hands out and demand things from our Government like spoiled children, the more we hand over control ergo our freedoms to the Government. The more we ask them to do, the more choice we hand over to them. America is about protecting individual freedoms and rights. It is the reason our Government was born in the first place. You know the tax that inspired all of this was as meager as two percent. Yet that same entity is now taking well over twenty five percent of our wage, ergo our time, to pay for these services we demand from them. These services that require us to give up our freedoms little by little.
With each of these government programs, regardless of how effective they be, we hand over control and choice. We hand over our personal freedoms. We give up choice and more of our wages to cover it. We ask the government to tell us what is right and wrong, defining our morality. We give them power to tell us when life starts, and decide if abortion is legal or not. We let them decide things that we should be free to decide on our own. Thomas Jefferson knew what it took to protect our freedoms, and ensure the serviceability of this great social experiment when he said clearly as possible that best government is the less government.
No comments:
Post a Comment