HR 3200's inevitable conclusion

Obama Care

~ Guest Author William Chandler.

Like all liberal policy, the health care bill is well-intentioned. Figures of 47 million have been thrown about like bales of hay in farm country. We have all been subject to the commercials telling of lower costs, less waste, less fraud and abuse, as well as affordable health care for all. Some even would like to invoke a ‘public option’ or a single-payer system, or the seemingly more palatable ‘co-op’ non-profit scenarios.

Rehashing the arguments at this point is ridiculous. Commercials telling people of the care in the United Kingdom and Canada, about what the bill does or does not include, says or does not say, are burned in the memory of many. Let me boil it down to a very personal level for the reader.

You don’t know me, so you are going to have to take me at my word. One of the first images of town-halls was a father in Michigan confronting his congressman with his 36-year old son sitting there in a wheelchair. My heart broke for both of them, not just because of their plight, it is because I too am living with cerebral palsy, and I am also close to the wheelchair-bound man’s age.

In his exchange, Representative John Dingell (D-MI), touted the inclusion of provisions that would take care of people with disabilities. When questioned further by this father there to protect his son, Mr. Dingell could not cite the specific amendment to HR-3200 or the language which it contained. In the days that followed, lawyers from across the country who had read the proposed bill did not see any such provision in the proposed legislation.

To be fair, there are five different drafts of this legislation – two in the Senate, three in the House. All five of these versions must go through a vetting and reformation process before President Obama signs it into law. I am extremely sure that some manner and provision will be there for those who share my condition if nothing more to quell an uprising of cataclysmic proportions if there was not.

Yet, let’s look outside this realm for just a minute. Since September of 2008, we have become familiar with such words as “trillion”, “bailout”, “stimulus”, “czar”, and “cap and trade”. In the last week, the projected forecast of debt has jumped from 7 to 9 trillion, and the majority of that debt is born on the backs of China (who isn’t exactly our ally) and the Middle East (please note that our ‘Green Agenda’ is trying to move us AWAY from the oil in this area so these countries will not have a lasting incentive to hold this debt.). For the longest while, the dollar has been “The Standard” in world transactions, and every currency in the developed world has measured their commerce against it. In recent months, Russia, India, and China[1] have called for the greenback to be replaced by a World Monetary Standard, and this is a direct result of the skyrocketing debt and coming inflation caused by the unchecked printing of money by the Federal Reserve.

If the world succeeds in cashing in their stockpiles of dollars for Euros, Yen, Yuan, or the proposed international banking currency of SDRs (Special Drawing Rights), the majority of this debt would crash down upon us. The US would be in rapid and financial freefall and tough choices would have to be made and implemented. The US Government, now owning, in some form or fashion, the health care system, which is a full 1/6th (or better) of total gross domestic product, would have to drastically cut services to the people who draw on the system the most – the infirm and the elderly.

You might think, as someone who is eligible for government assistance, I welcome every opportunity and every dollar coming to me. I can tell you unequivocally, that is the exact opposite of my viewpoint. I have strived to live on as little as possible, for although I have c.p., it does not have me. My brain is still active, and I can walk. Eventually, I will need more services, but like the Disability Income I am on now, that comes with a price. I cannot better my situation without my benefits being either cut or eradicated, but beyond that, there is a pride in knowing you are as little of a burden as possible on others – even as family and friends scream at you to go avail yourself of such things as food stamps, home assistance, and other things. Yes, no one would think less of me if I took that hand out, after all, it is there for me.

There was a painting I saw in elementary school of a girl sitting in a field with her hand outstretched. She was some ways away from the farmhouse in the distance. “Christina’s World” by Andrew Wyeth depicted a girl suffering from muscular degeneration and crawling across that field to get back home – without assistance. The way the painting was explained to me was this – if this girl who had every disadvantage could crawl across that field on her own that despite her inability, what can others, including this author, be capable of relying on our own accord if there were no barriers to achievement. Seeing this painting and the story behind it is well worth anyone’s time. Yes, I get meager assistance, but it is my decision to what I feel I need as a person, and relegating that decision by being more of a liability on my society until it is an absolute necessity is a sign of defeat.

As Americans, we are guaranteed three things and three things alone: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Once the government guarantees anything else, inevitably, two things occur. Decisions are taken from the recipient because the good of the many outweigh the needs of the one, and, as a consequence, the will of the recipient atrophies like an unused muscle – “why work for what’s already given to you?”

How does this all relate to health care? Simple. If the entity providing services finds it not feasible or economically viable to continue providing said service, it is necessarily rationed for the will of the masses. This scenario builds upon itself until quasi-socialism occurs. As we have seen, whether it be banks, cars, housing, those in power find it necessary to grab a hold of it – after all, the population does not know what is best for it, and the government does. Who cares who gets singled out, as long as votes roll in, taxes pile up, and we can keep the able-bodied productive and happy.

Certainly, there have been calls to scrap “End-Of-Life-Counseling”, at least for now. When former Alaska governor Sarah Palin put it bluntly as “Death Panels” and vilified by every media outlet save one, she must have had some inclination that the Government-Run Veteran’s Administration was touting a pamphlet – “Your Life, Your Choices” [2]. Remember, the government runs the VA, and the same can be said for government run health care on Indian Reservations. If you wish a preview of what government-run care is like, I would advise you to speak with those that have experienced it.

My grandmother recently passed away at nearly 100, and my other grandma has just celebrated 100. Other family members are battling various health issues and are choosing to do so with strength and character that shaped who I am. To have an entity with the unchecked capability to regulate what it sees fit, does so with the psychological understanding that it compromises that fight … at least for some.

The government, in all truth, can’t guarantee anything that isn’t written in the Constitution and it’s Amendments. To sustain itself the government will necessarily have to adopt a frightening slogan: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”[3]. Once it does those who can’t fulfill their obligations and are a drag to society, are necessarily eliminated for the common good.     

                                                                                 - William Chandler Denver, CO.

 ~ William Chandler is an American Patriot. He is also an Author, mathematician, and a Tournament Chess player. His commentary appears here exclusively, and in it's entirety. William lives with cerebral palsy and is intimately familiar with Government run Health Care from the perspective of one who must use it. His insight into what we can expect from Government Health Care is invaluable. It should also serve as a warning to those of us who have not had the experience of government medicine. The Doctors and Nurses who are within the system are not at fault, it is the system that is the problem, and is one that should not be forced upon America as a whole.

                                                                               ~ Dianna Cotter Aug 28th 2009

[1] - "China Takes Aim at the Dollar” – Wall Street Journal, Mar 24, 2009; “What will replace the $: A BRICs viewpoint” – India Times, May 30, 2009.

[2] - NowPublic.com August 24, 2009 VA Death Book -"Your Life, Your Choices"- Reinstated Under Obama

[3] - Marx, Karl – Critique of the Gotha Program 1875