Rights . . . and Wrongs
I often drive by a building with a large sign painted on it: HEALTH CARE IS A RIGHT. No, its not. That assertion is a direct threat to the existence of American democracy.
That is not to say that the source of payment for health care services is not a legitimate issue. If we, as a voting public, decide to tax ourselves to pay for Medicare of all or some other form of single payer health coverage, that is an absolutely proper political act. Politics is all about allocation of resources.
Rights, on the other hand, are an issue that transcends allocation of resources. The American nation was not founded, as most nations were, in the bedrock of blood and soil. Our foundation is an ideal — inalienable rights. Those rights — Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness — are stated in the Declaration of Independence. They are fleshed out in the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. Those rights derive from our membership in the human race, not the action of government. The job of government is to SECURE those rights. Failure to do so renders a government illegitimate. That was the basis for our war against English rule. Those rights are supposed to guarantee us against government intrusion in our lives, not confer taxpayer supported health care benefits. Freebies courtesy of the taxpayer are a privilege, not a right.
Confusion over the definition of the word “right” originated in the administration of FDR. He decided to proclaim some new rights as a vehicle to attract voters. His perversion of the ideal endured. The advance of the welfare state has been adding “rights” ever since his passing. Whatever your view of the ethics and effectiveness of the welfare state might be, it is hugely dangerous to pervert the notion of rights by attempting to bathe benefits conferred government by in the halo of “rights”.
Those who believe that Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy should be more concerned about the challenge to its foundation. When we confuse the eternal battle over who gets what resource from whom — the special interest scrum — with the core function of government, we are asking for trouble.
