OPINION:
One of Barack Obama’s largest and most damaging legacies is his selling of the notion into America’s mainstream consciousness that health care is a right.
It’s not. In a nation built on the premise our rights come from God, not government, the fact is the list of what we’re all rightfully owed versus granted as blessing, privilege or gift is shockingly small. And health care from the government just doesn’t make that cut.
Yet here we are, in a Republican-dominated Congress and White House, debating how to fix Obamacare — when the roots of our country’s founding would demand we ought instead be debating how we ought to get the government out of the business of health care. Completely and forever.
That’s a concerted switch in mindset. And it’s proof positive of the previous president’s galling success at dramatically shifting the nature of this nation. Obama must be rubbing hands in glee as the GOP attempts to unwind his socialism web, not by turning toward principles of limited government, as representative of a good republic ought, but rather by simply going Socialism Soft.
Republicans are arguing the government ought to get out of health care, but not completely — that Obamacare’s a disaster, but they can fix it.
That the American people ought not to worry because the Republicans in Congress will try hard to make sure every citizen retains adequate coverage.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, talking about possible changes in developing legislation to make sure low-income people get more tax credits from health care, said: “We think that we should be offering even more assistance than what the bill currently does,” Time reported.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price agreed. And various other legislators weighed in with their own opinions of the version being fine-tuned for ultimate presentation to President Donald Trump to sign into law.
But whatever version comes to Trump’s desk, the fact that America’s government is spending so much time discussing health care is a travesty in and of itself.
Our country, founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs with the guiding light that individuals are guaranteed “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” no more and no less, has seen a substantial shift since Obama times.The ability to care for one’s self — to pursue good health as a matter of individual choice, and in order to secure life, independence and happiness — may be a God-given right, as etched in the Declaration of Independence. But the matter of government using tax dollars to provide all that? That’s a substantial change in collective thinking, fueled in large part by Obama’s socialist messaging. Let’s remember, America: Health care, provided of, by and for the people, is not a right. Reminding legislators of that would go far in clarifying how the Obamacare debates rightly should proceed — and here’s a hint: reform is the wrong word to use.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.