At the blog We Stand Firm, Diana and Paul Hsieh, Lin Zinser and Ari Armstrong are doing a great job of fighting against socialized medicine. Friday’s Feb 6th post is about an article by Greg Scandlen of the Heartland Institute on the subject of mandatory health insurance and how it’s wrong in theory and practice.
In the same vein, JunkfoodScience looks at the disaster that is socialized medicine in Japan and how people are being rejected by hospitals who can’t handle them because they’re understaffed and have no beds. As you read this keep in mind that our leaders want this for you and me. It’s titled “A Tragic Casualty” and here’s a short quote:
“A troubling comment was made by Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe, who “told a parliamentary committee last year that the rising number of elderly patients hospitalized for months was taking up space that could be used to treat emergency cases.â€
What the world is watching is a form of supply rationing.”
All forms of socialized medicine will result in rationing.
Still regarding health care, Stella at Reason Pharm correctly takes the Associated Press to task for its misplaced praise of government regulators. More evidence that the press worships government.
Japan is a fascinating case. They were poised to become the world’s most productive people and greatest economy and then modern collectivism caught up with them. I guess McCarthur’s influence lasted for about 3 decades and then they succumbed to Leftism, although I don’t exactly know what the Japanese version of that is as they are not multiculturalists.
Socialized medicine terrifies me. Especially as I get older. Egalitarians don’t care if people die on waiting lists. That is altruism in practice for them and thus the height of morality.
BTW, off-topic, but it looks like three Republicans have succumbed to Obama’s disgusting stimulus plan. Check Michelle Malkin’s site out for info on how to bombard these three Republican Senators with phone calls in order to pressure them not to submit. Arlen Spector is one of them.
Japan has a long history of collectivism and authority. It doesn’t surprise me that they are fragile and vulnerable leftist influence.
Although the Japanese work ethic has taken them far, the strong foundations of their earthquake-proofed buildings do not extend to their culture.
L-C: Yes they don’t apply their reasonimg abilities to their culture. Building skyscrapers requires 100% devotion to very precise principles. When they discover that building a successful and prosperous society requires the same devotion to equally precise principles, they will be on their way.
Madmax:
“Japan is a fascinating case. They were poised to become the world’s most productive people and greatest economy and then modern collectivism caught up with them.”
I think that many nations try to copy the US. After all, the US is the most prosperous and most powerful nation ever to exist. Why not copy them? The US adopted the principles of collectivism during the FDR era. The same mis-information about capitalism and free markets that was fed to Americans was ingested by the rest of the world. They have been trying to create an altruistic, self-sacrificial capitalism and of course, it can’t be done. If America can’t shake the death grip of altruism, I can’t really blame other nations for not doing it. If Japan would only discover rational self-interest and laissez faire capitalism they would be just fine.
As for the Repubs that keep voting with the Dems like Arlen Spector, Olympia Snow and a few others, the republicans should just get rid of them. The best way I think is to let them know that no money will be coming from the RNC for their re-election campaigns. That’ll do it.
Related to Japan, here is a link to a really good article on government spending in various countries over the last 20 years. Some good data here especially about Japan.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/02/economics_evidence_and_enlight.html
Basically Japan shot itself in the foot starting in 1991. South Korea, on the other hand, went in the other direction and had tremendous economic growth. Japan sounds like a quasi-socialist nation now. Well, so are we sadly.
Madmax:
Thanks for the link. That was indeed a good article.