Wednesday, April 05, 2006

How To Disqualify Yourself from Presidential Consideration in One Easy Lesson

It seems that rumors about Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's interest in the GOP nomination for President were overstated.

Today's WaPo contains an article discussing his support for socialized medicine.

Apparently, Romney supports a bill to require state residents to purchase medical insurance, comparing the notion to automobile insurance.

Now, never mind the fact that, if one declines to purchase medical insurance, the only one harmed by that failure in the event of an unfortunate incident is the individual (not so with automobiles, where the life and property of others can be adversely affected), but the notion that individuals should be required to buy medical insurance completely ignores the right of individuals to self-insure.

I am a little sick of the health care debate. Partisans for socialized medicine constantly cite the figure of "45 million uninsured." I heard someone ask the interesting question the other day: "How many of that 45 million are illegal aliens?" Another relevant question might be: How many are wealthy, and choose to pay fees for services? Maybe there are scholarly studies answering these questions, but my guess is that they don't come from any far-Left thinktanks.

THERE IS NO RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE! Put more simply, no one should have the right to make a claim upon my earnings in order to subsidize the bad decisionmaking/pathologies of others. My governing principle is very simply: there is absolutely nothing my children should be denied to pay for the treatment of someone who smoked three packs a day for 40 years after the Surgeon General's report on cancer sti... er, cigarettes. Or, for that matter, even to pay for vaccinations for the children of people too poor to pay for their own children's health care.

Vast majorities in the GOP have made their opposition to socialized medicine. Mitt Romney has now virtually guaranteed that he will never win the GOP nomination for President.