Category | Op Ed

Where are the capitalists?

Published on March 23, 2010 by Justin Hayes

By the time you read this column, the U.S. House vote on health care should have already taken place (Editor’s Note: The Health Care bill passed in the House 219-212).

According to the Congressional Budget Office score of the bill, it comes with a price tag of around $940 billion.  But, according to some fuzzy accounting, the overhaul of the health care system is supposed to cut $138 billion from the deficit in the next 10 years and cut another $1.2 trillion the following 10 years.  So by 2030, we should be in the clear.

The programs in the bill don’t become effective until 2014, keeping the cost below the trillion-dollar mark-a neat trick for Democrats to use come election time. In the first four years, after the bill becomes law, only $17 billion in costs are incurred.

Once the programs kick in, the cost of the bill over the next six years skyrockets to $923 billion.  The bill designed to help the uninsured also includes provisions to penalize them around 2015 for not having a federally improved insurance plan.

Now that the bill has passed the House, it will have to be signed by the President and go through the budget reconciliation process in the Senate before it officially becomes law. That’s not exactly what you learned in POLS 1101, but procedure’s not important, right?

However, it has come to my attention that many conservatives and Republicans believe that if the health care bill does fail and the Republicans gain control of Congress again, that this will be the end all to every problem we face. Unfortunately, my friends, that is far from the truth.

First, the Republicans, in their opposition to health care, have failed to combat the notion that health care is a right. Yes, they have gone on and on about costs, taxes and mandates, but have very rarely pointed out that health care is not a natural right. Yes, some of you may feel that health care coverage should be provided to us, but by what right? What right do you have to take from others and give to yourself?

To expand health care coverage to those without it requires the government to seize the property of someone else, even if it’s not a single-payer system. A natural right, however, cannot require the violation of another person’s rights. A right to free speech does not keep other people from the ability to speak their minds. A right to a house, on the other hand, requires the government to take that house from someone else or take someone’s money so that you can pay for that house. The latter, like health care, is not a natural right and violates the foundations of our Constitution.

Yet we hear hardly a mention of this idea from the Republicans. It is easier and less philosophical to talk about money and taxes. But without a strong stance against this sort of abuse and without recognition of the foundation of our rights and freedoms, how will this country survive? The people will continue to demand that rights be violated for material “needs.”

Secondly if Republicans regain control, there is probably not going to be that much change. Liberals call the Republicans obstructionists, and conservatives call them reformed champions of the free-market.

To me, they are just playing politics. Many of the Republicans in Congress are the same ones who voted for the Medicare Part D expansion, a federal takeover of our education system with No Child Left Behind and a financial bailout package. Can we really call these people champions of the free-market?

Scott Brown (R-Mass), the “Tea Party candidate,” was supposed to be a sign of the return of conservatism and capitalism. Yet, immediately after he took office, Brown sided  with the Democratic senators on their “Jobs Bill.”

This comes as no surprise, considering Brown’s support of Massachusetts’ health care mandate. If a “conservative” is willing to sacrifice free-market principles for health care, what makes anyone believe they are not willing to do it again?

With the coming insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, a national debt of around $12 trillion and a falling currency, this country faces serious problems. Unfortunately, we lack real leaders with long-term, comprehensive solutions that go beyond partisan bickering.