We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The above should be familiar to anyone my age or older…do they still require you to memorize this in school? It is the Preamble to our Constitution.

I think many times we forget what the Constitution actually says and doesn’t say. We seem to project things onto it as a way of defending our position one way or another. But the fact is, the Constitution is a very short document and deals with more restrictions on the government than anything. Reading the Preamble, it all makes sense now. I have been reading the Federalist Papers (its taking me quite some time) and the various items I have highlighted in the Preamble were things that the Founders were very concerned about and wrote extensively about. To me, the Preamble states the actual intent of our Founders…not some interpretive intent…if they were here and were asked what they meant the Constitution to be, they would point at the Preamble.

Why bring this up when talking about healthcare? I’ll answer that with another quote:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness

The amazing words of the Declaration of Independence.

I bring both items up because they are the bedrock of our form of government. As I stated earlier, oftentimes we think our government has other purposes. One of the things I see happen all the time is people confusing their right to PURSUE happiness vs their perceived right TO happiness. There is a BIG difference. Government was not set up to give you happiness, but rather to allow you to be free to pursue happiness.

Let’s move onto the actual healthcare part of this essay.

The first question that needs to be answered is: Does government have a role in healthcare?

I think that Liberal and Conservatives can all find common ground here.

I am open to the idea of government having a role in healthcare. At the very least I feel that we should take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. I refer to certain cases such as: Downs Syndrome, childhood cancers, severe mental handicaps, cystic fibrosis, and a whole host of other afflictions affecting those who are unable to provide for themselves.

To me, having the government subsidize care for these types of individuals goes along with “promoting the general Welfare” intent of our Constitution.

Next question: To what extent should the government have a role in healthcare?

Ah, here is the real issue.

The answer comes down to “It depends”…

It depends on how you view governments role in your life.

A Conservative believes that the government should have very little role. We believe that government should set reasonable rules and then get out of the way so that personal liberty and initiative can flourish. We see that the government does only a few things well and that micromanaging peoples lives is not one of those things.

You will notice that this belief in limited government is not tied to hating poor people, kids or minorities….even though we are accused of that all the time. No, we believe that men and women should be as free as possible from government regulation.

A Liberal will argue that the government should play a large role in healthcare and many other areas. From what I can gather from my Liberal friends and from extensive reading, this belief that government should have a large role in various issues, seems to come from the thought that 1) a country as rich as ours should be able to afford these things, 2) the system is not fair, so something should be done to help those who have been screwed over and 3) to control certain behaviors to promote a certain agenda/goal.

I am sure I will get many comments saying that, no, no, Liberals don’t believe that at all.

Really?

Lets look at some of the views from the Left. What have we heard from President Obama recently? He has been talking about “Fat Cat Bankers” and “Fat Cat Wall Street”. Why does he do this? Because to a Liberal, the system is not fair and needs to be corrected. Those “Fat Cats” make too much money, that isn’t fair given how people are suffering out there. So they try to bring down these “Fat Cats”.

Another great example is the environmental movement. The Left wants to control your lifestyle/behavior to save the planet. Another misconception about Conservatives is that we hate the earth and want to pillage and destroy it. Again, false. But there is a balance between good stewardship and controlling people. Don’t believe me about the Left wanting to control you? Two words: Compact Fluorescents. Congress has dictated, under the guise of saving electricity, that you MUST purchase compact fluorescent light bulbs. In the future, the good old incandescent light bulb will be banned. It doesnt matter if you like the new lights or not, you will be forced to buy them in the future.

So what is the answer when it comes to healthcare?

I don’t really know.

Here is what I do know.

The government should not control peoples lives. In the current healthcare bills in Congress, the government mandates that you HAVE to purchase insurance or face fines. The bill tells insurance companies what they have to cover. Again, it is not the governments role to force people to do something.

Allowing the government to control healthcare opens the door to all sorts of other government control in the name of “health”. People made fun of me when I was upset about the lawsuits against the tobacco companies because I warned it would lead to all sorts of lawsuits against other things, like McDonalds and sugary drinks. Well, the lawsuits may not have happened…yet…but the government sure wants to control those things. They want to ban soda machines in schools…why?..to help with obesity. If government takes control over healthcare, watch for other sorts of control about your diet and how much exercise you need.

Despite what you may think, providing healthcare to all individuals is expensive and we cannot afford to do it. The only way to pay for it is to raise taxes. Well you cant raise taxes on the bottom roughly 40% who PAY NO TAXES already. That’s ok, per the current administration, we can tax the “Fat Cats”…i.e. the wealthy. Yeah, well here is the thing, there are not enough of the “wealthy” to pay for this thing. That means the middle class will have to pick up the largest share of the burden.

Do the poor create jobs? Nope, they depend on jobs.

Does the middle class create jobs? Yes, all the time. People in the middle class start business that create jobs.

Do the wealthy create jobs? Absolutely!

So, raising taxes on the two segments of the economy which actually create jobs is going to help our economy how?

Then there is the giant bureaucracy that would have to be created to administer the healthcare to the people.

Have you ever been to the Social Security office? Ever been to the DMV? How about the Post Office…

I am curious, do you like going to places like that? I didn’t think so.

Like I said, the government is very good at certain things…minute details involving my health…not so much.

So if not the government, then who or what?

It has come down to this. We can argue all day about how much the government should be involved and we can agree on some of the finer points, but the details get messy. But we can’t just sit back and do nothing.

See, here is the thing, we have invented ourselves into a corner.

In the last 60 years, medical advances have made it possible to live WAY beyond what was common.

I am not saying this is bad or good. I am just stating a fact.

But this increase in life expectance has gotten us stuck in a corner.

Things that once killed you can now be cured or treated, thereby prolonging your life. Thank you Jesus!

But, this technology and knowledge comes at a huge price.

We have come to the point in our history where you can basically buy your life. Want to live? Pay up. Want the newest treatment? Pay up. Want the best for your Mom or Dad? Pay up.

And pay up we do.

Again, not saying good or bad, just saying.

As the costs have gone up, so has the issue of health insurance and providing coverage.

Do you pull the plug on Mom? If there is no money, then who pays for the continued coverage? Need that new cancer drug? If there is no money, then who pays for the magic pill?

Here we are. What do we do?

If you point at Europe, then I will point out their high unemployment, their high taxes, their underfunded health plans and the fact that people from across the world come to the U.S. for cutting edge healthcare.

But what do we do? Do we let people die in the streets because they can’t pay? Do we pull the plug once it is determined they cant pay? Do we tax ourselves into high unemployment and total government control?

Can anything be done?

The thing to keep in mind is that governments can only raise so much money before the people rebel. If you place too much strain on a government, it will collapse and the result will be MUCH worse than our current problems.

Let’s talk about it. What can we do?