Wiretaps – “NO!” Government Control of Our Health Information – “YES!”

Today’s release of “SiCKO”, Michael Moore’s new “documentary”, is going to push the American health care system into the spotlight of public debate.

In “SiCKO”, Moore unfavorably compares the American health care system to the socialized medicine programs in Canada, Great Britain, France and Cuba. A lot of people will walk out of the theater asking “If France and Cuba can do it, why can’t we have universal health care in the United States?”

People who see the movie will feel smugly superior to everyone who hasn’t, as if Michael Moore has just let them in on a secret. They will wholeheartedly support any candidate with a plan for government-administered health care. The very idea makes people feel warm and fuzzy inside. After all, don’t we all have the right to free health care? Since “universal health care” is one of their pet issues, it will be a bonanza for the Democrats!

However, support for “universal health care” exposes one of the inconsistencies of Democrats’ positions.

Many Democrats don’t support government wiretapping of phone calls by suspected terrorists or government tracking of financial transactions by terrorist organizations because these actions infringe on our “right to privacy”. They argue that it’s a small step from tracking the financial transactions of terrorist organizations to tracking the banking maneuvers of Aunt Mildred in Poughkeepsie.

They don’t want the government to know what we talk about on the phone or how we spend our money, yet they’re willing to give the government full access to the most personal information we posses - our health records. Our government isn’t worthy to listen to phone calls between terrorists, but they can be trusted to know who has which sexually transmitted diseases; how many miscarriages women have had; and which men have erectile dysfunction.

I think most people would rather let the government listen to their phone call to Uncle Fred from Spokane than let the government know about their chronic flatulence problem.

I agree that our health care system could probably use some improvement, but government-administered “universal health care” is not the answer.

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http://thephantomrepublican.blogspot.com/2007/06/wiretaps-no-government-control-of-our.html