Saturday, March 24, 2012

Why Do You Oppose Obamacare?

The following is a quote from Stuart Butler of The Heritage Foundation.

In a civilized and rich country like the United States, it is reasonable for society to accept an obligation to ensure that all residents have affordable access to at least basic health care — much as we accept the same obligation to assure a reasonable level of housing, education and nutrition.

http://www.heritage.org/research/testimony/laying-the-groundwork-for-universal-health-care-coverage

He continues on.

But as part of that contract, it is also reasonable to expect residents of the society who can do so to contribute an appropriate amount to their own health care. This translates into a requirement on individuals to enroll themselves and their dependents in at least a basic health plan - one that at the minimum should protect the rest of society from large and unexpected medical costs incurred by the family. And as any social contract, there would also be an obligation on society. To the extent that the family cannot reasonably afford reasonable basic coverage, the rest of society, via government, should take responsibility for financing that minimum coverage.

So this is from The Heritage Foundation, the bulwark of conservative thought against the onslaught of socialist triumph. And this is the best that they can mutter up? This is an implicit agreement with socialist thoughts about equality. If this is supposedly the conservative thought, then what is the source of opposition to Obamacare? It makes me wonder what the popular opinion would have been amongst conservatives had a Republican president pushed such legislation.

For the libertarian, opposition to the bill is simple. It is too demanding on employers, infringes on liberty, forces young people to buy insurance when they usually do not really need it (thus making them poorer), and does nothing to fix our corrupt medical establishment (medicare, medicaid, forcing employers to provide healthcare, the HMO favoritism which obscures a price system, etc.).

So I will pose the questions to you. Do you consider yourself a conservative? Do you agree with the thoughts of Dr. Butler? Do you oppose Romneycare on principle or was what he did okay because it was at the state level? Do you oppose government ownership of industries?

I would love to see the discourse on this issue, especially among those who portray themselves as vehemently against Obamacare, yet are supporting Mitt Romney.

3 comments:

  1. We are becoming a one Party state with two Democrats contesting each other in November.

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  2. The Heritage Foundation drafted the basic blueprint of "Obamacare" when relatively sane conservatives (as opposed to today's radical anarchists) were looking for an alternative market-based approach to universal healthcare. Dr. Butler undoubtedly knows this. The question, then, is why he doesn't acknowledge the major influence his employer had in creating the very foundation for this approach to healthcare.

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  3. Conservatives don't want to admit how they have been pushing this for a long time because a Democrat passed it. Meanwhile, how again are the two parties so completely different?

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