by American Citizen

Created on: September 01, 2009   Last Updated: September 04, 2009

Senator Ted Kennedy's death is sad. It's as sad, but not as tragic, as his brothers' assassinations. Death doesn't change the economics of a bad idea. People, regardless of the senator's passing, are still becoming more and more aware that national health care is not a right. No one is born with the right to insurance coverage. Every living creature on this planet has to fight to survive. Humanity - with its most ingenious mind power - has the highest responsibility to figure out its own survival. Nationalized insurance is not a good idea. Death doesn't change bad ideas into good ones. There are better ways to memorialize a person's end of life. The Kennedy name will get its memorials - Edward and Eunice both.

Readers of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" (which is being made into a movie) and F. A. Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom" understand all too well how socialism is not a utopian vision, but a dictator's dream. Controlling production and distribution of all products, including insurance, requires intense central planning. A person's physical well-being is intensely personal. It is best addressed on a case-by-case basis, which no government can hope to achieve. A government requires uniformity. How can my well-being be uniform with my neighbor's, let alone my state's or country's? It is impossible. What is sure, the premiums will provide a stream of revenue to bureaucrats, because they take a slice - call it administrative costs - and pass on whatever they deem fit to fulfill my needs. Which of my needs will go unmet because I don't conveniently fit into a form?

I've written another piece that helps to debunk some questionable arguments for health care being made a public option. That may or may not be enough to convince anyone. But let's at least consider the government. What is the government's product? Legislation and enforcement of that legislation. Dense reams of paper that tell other people what to do and men with guns and penalties for not doing what they tell us to do. For that we pay taxes. The fruits of our labor are the government's source of revenue. There is no wealth creation in that scheme. A business must offer a product (widgets let's say) or a service (advice or assistance) that people DEMAND so much that they are WILLING to pay a price to get its benefits. If they don't like the price (too high for what it's worth or too low to be trusted), they walk away voluntarily. Most people can't just walk away voluntarily from an IRS enforcement agent,

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