A WORD FROM OUR FOUNDER

Still hard at work with the final issue of Arsenic Lullaby so today you all have the pleasure of a blog by my Friend Josh, a talented stand up comedian who is about to foolishly "out" himself by giving a political opinion...i read through it and like most times i hear from Josh...the man makes perfect sense.  give it a read and make him feel at home with some comments pro or con (don't worry he can handle some abuse) and if you want to check out more or see him live go to http://www.joshgoguen.com

Doug asked if I’d write something for him and immediately I thought, “Oh boy, I can do something on healthcare!”

Not really, but it’s a pretty big item on the Obama agenda that I've been annoyed with. During the campaign our president said of health care “Well, I think it should be a right for every American.”

Aside from hearing all of the horror stories about the government health care that exists in Europe and Canada, the thing that bothers me most about the argument for a socialized system is the notion that we somehow have a “right to healthcare”. When people believe they have a right to goods and services of others, we lose the meaning of the word “rights”.

A right is something you are born with. It is something that would still exist if there were no society. A right is not dependent upon someone else giving of themselves in order to provide for you. If you were dropped off an a deserted island, you would still have your rights.

Consider the movie Cast Away. Tom Hanks is stranded on a deserted island with no one around, which is what makes it deserted. Let’s try to assess the things he has, that would fall under the category of rights.

First, he’s alive. So, that’s a simple one. He’s got the right to life.

Second, he can pretty much do as he pleases and go where he pleases. No one is going to tell him when to work, when to sleep and what to do with the copious amounts of free time that one would have alone on an island. So, he has the right to liberty.

Third, he’s able to keep the things he works for. Should he sharpen a stick into a spear, that’s his spear. If he catches a fish, what he does with it is his buisiness. He has a right to the fruits of his labor.

Did he have a right to food? No, he had to hunt for or find it. That’s work.

Did he have a right to clothing? No, he had to find it, make it, or go with out. In other words, he has to work for it.

Did he have a right to shelter? No, he had to build it. That’s work.


Did he have a right to healthcare? No. If when he fell ill, he had to figure out how to deal with it on his own or pretty much hope the problem went away.

Do you see where this is going? If you wouldn’t have the right to it while living on the island, you definitely don’t have a right to it just because you live in society that happens to have what would surely be considered magic by people 100 years ago.

Still not going to go with me on this?

Let’s try one more way to look at it.

Suppose you had Syndrome X (chances are you might) and as luck would have it, I just invented a cure to it this afternoon. Are you really going to tell me that suddenly you’re entitled to something that didn’t even exist yesterday?

I enjoy living in a world where words have meaning and it seems some of those meanings are being replaced with emotional garbage. Even if you disagree with me on health care, you have to consider how you argue for it. To call something “a right” that simply isn’t, not only cheapens the word it cheapens real rights.

http://www.joshgoguen.com

 comments? concerns?

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