By Rick Manning
I chose not to write or comment on the health care bill publicly or privately for the past week in order to allow some time and perspective to pass. However as time goes by and the details of the bill seep out, I continue to be astonished at the smug, condescending attitudes of those who support this law.
I cannot understand, why people who support this law think it makes them morally superior to tax a handicapped person’s wheelchair to pay for the health care of others?
I cannot understand why people who support this bill think it makes them morally superior to hire 16,000 more IRS agents (about four times the total number of Occupation Safety and Health Administration inspectors) to go out to harass and arrest young people who choose to not pay a sizeable portion of their incomes to buy a product that they neither want, nor feel they need, all to pay for someone else’s health care?
And, I cannot understand why people who support this bill think it is morally superior to increase my taxes to pay for someone else’s health care?
On this last point, let me explain.
It is not greedy to work hard, sacrifice, drive a Chevy Cavalier rather than a BMW, still watch a 19-inch television rather than a big screen, put money away for your own retirement while foregoing expensive vacations, and then protest when others demand that you purchase their health care for them.
It is not greedy to demand that elected officials actually know what is in legislation prior to voting to raise taxes by spending a trillion dollars. It is expecting accountability.
It is not greedy to object to a system that increases costs and lowers the quality of health care for everyone, it is rational.
It is not greedy to question why a person who currently has a great insurance plan should be penalized by a law that was sold as providing quality health coverage for all.
However, it is greedy to say, I want to have health care, but think someone else should pay for it.
This is not to say that we should not take care of the indigent, but it isn’t a morally-superior position for a politician to effectively stick an IRS agent’s gun to the head of a 25 year old who is just getting on his or her feet and say, you must sacrifice buying your first house, because instead of saving for it, you have to buy health insurance.
Ultimately, those who believe that they should forcibly have their hands in each taxpayer’s wallet to pay for a service that they lack are not morally superior.
In fact, these politicians and special interest advocates are worse than thieves, because they don’t even have the self-respect to sneak in under the cloak of darkness to rob their victims. They are not morally superior; they are merely thugs with the power of the government to back them up.
I apologize to anyone who is offended by this characterization, but I am offended by those who think that because I have sacrificed my whole life, and have done what I’m supposed to do as an American, I should be compelled by law to pay for the health care of those who have squandered their wealth, talent and opportunities.
Just as elections have consequences, so do life choices. Unfortunately, many who support health care reform want the rest of us to be accountable for their life choices.
Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and President Smug may have shoved the health care law down America’s throat. They may be able to have the IRS take our money. But – they can never make us like it. They cannot stop us from defending the product of our labor.
So, perhaps Pelosi and crew should lose the smug morally-superior attitude and just admit what they are – back alley muggers. Muggers who are taking the hard-earned wealth of those who are working hard to achieve the American dream, and giving that money to feather their own and their constituency’s collective nests. November 2010 cannot come fast enough.
Rick Manning is the Communications Director of Americans for Limited Government.
