by 
Universal Health Care is not a right. There, I’ve said it, and there’s no contradiction when it comes to being a Christian, as some might think.
You see, there are articles like this one that would have you believe that those that do not believe that every person deserves health care simply for living are not only un-American, but also un-Christian.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Apples to Apples
You see, if you follow the logic that it’s un-Christian or un-American to not have health care simply because you are born, then you have to start asking the question, “What else would be un-Christian or un-American?”
Since the lack of food could cause someone to die, then all Americans must have food provided for them. Same thing for shelter, and other necessities.
Should the government be in the position of mandating that these things would come to pass? How would they enforce it?
Let’s take food for instance. Food is in limited supply—different types have different limits. If all people must be fed, how do we decide who gets what food? In the current system, we pay for food, and the “better” the food, or the service provided, the more we pay.
Once we have universal health care, provided by the government, we all get the same. That means that the people that don’t need health care, or only need catastrophic care, pay for those that need more. And the service for both stinks.
Free
As a blogger, I’ve read a lot about the power of “free”. It’s crazy how people’s minds work, but the idea of getting something for nothing (even if paying 0.01 for a better product was on the table!) is incredibly strong.
Once something’s given away for free, everyone wants it. People are willing to trade things that they don’t know have value for something “free”.
When someone hears that healthcare will be “free” and they desire this end they aren’t thinking about the privacy implications. They aren’t thinking about the fact that their choices will be limited. They aren’t thinking about the fact that their taxes will increase and that the financial rewards for invention will be lessened.
They are only thinking about themselves.
Selfishness
And that’s at the root of this—and why Rev. Jim Rigby is exactly wrong. Universal Health Care isn’t about helping others, it’s about feeding a selfish human nature.
Bear with me now.
The concept is this: Most people that need health care get it. Most people that need food get it. And they get what they can afford and the system balances itself out.
Though Universal Healthcare might make people that want to provide it feel good, the reality is that they are taking money from people to give to someone else.
Rev. Rigby used the following illustration in his talk:
The late Brazilian bishop Dom Hélder Câmara said it well: “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist.”
Because one of them is an act you chose to do—you gave of your food to the poor—and one of them is an act you are choosing to force everyone to do. If I choose to help someone, that’s something. If you come up to me and tell me to give my money to someone else, that’s theft. I’m being mugged.
It’s not a question of whether I want to see everyone get the treatment they need (regardless of whether the treatment works, which is another issue entirely). I would love for everyone to have healthcare insurance. The problem comes into play, the reason that it is un-American, is that it’s not right to force people to pay for someone else.
It’s fine if they elect to, and they should be encouraged to do so, but it’s wrong to force people into that scenario, and it just degrades the entire system—like practically everything government touches.
It’s selfish—the people that propose it want to feel good, they want to have the power to take someone else’s money—and it’s wrong.
