The Compassion of Socialized Medicine

Every person has a right to health care!* We need socialized medicine!** It's free!*** It's for everyone!****

* It is a basic human right that one may not be gratuitously denied health care. However, it is not a basic human right that anyone (doctor, hospital) must provide a service to anyone else free of charge.
** like a sharp blow to the skull
*** except for the monumental tax hike it would require
**** who survives


If any of the above sounds appealing to you, and you would like to see Britain's and Canada's socialized health care systems tried out in the US, allow me to pass on this little nugget of wisdom from Baroness Warnock, a former headmistress who went on to become Britain's leading moral philosopher and a veteran British government adviser, on the duty of elderly British citizens in mental decline:

...dementia sufferers should consider ending their lives through euthanasia because of the strain they put on their families and public services.

Lady Warnock said: "If you're demented, you're wasting people's lives – your family's lives – and you're wasting the resources of the National Health Service.

"Actually I've just written an article called 'A Duty to Die?' for a Norwegian periodical. I wrote it really suggesting that there's nothing wrong with feeling you ought to do so for the sake of others as well as yourself."

The 84-year-old added that she hoped people will soon be "licensed to put others down" if they are unable to look after themselves.

Ah yes, "the right to die", which in practice quickly morphs into "the duty to die" - to save resources for others, to prevent family burden (or in countries with socialized medicine, taxpayer burden), for the common good.

Legalized abortion and euthanasia not only end a life, they shape the culture to marginalize those who choose not to pursue them in difficult situations: witness the reaction of many "progressives" to Sarah Palin having 5 kids (one with Down Syndrome) and Bristol Palin's decision not to abort her unplanned pregnancy - it's been downright vicious. With legalized euthanasia, the same vitriol will eventually be directed toward the elderly and those afflicted with debilitating conditions who do not wish to be put to death.

A brave new world, indeed.