Posted on 05/26/2011 7:25:16 AM PDT by Slyscribe
ObamaCare supporters fervently believe that science will prevail in systems that are controlled by politicians. It is usually the unstated assumption behind their arguments defending the Independent Payment Advisory Board. They seem to believe it so blindly that they can’t see evidence to the contrary even when it is right in front of their noses.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.investors.com ...
Of course, anyone who wishes to purchase the rationed treatments using their own cash or private insurance must be free to do so.
You’re right about that. I should have been more explicit. I was thinking of similar situations and patients/consumers, with different results based on political affiliations.
One Panel of Experts thousands of miles away will make better decisions than you and the doctor in the room who has examined you and knows your history.
“The Fatal Conceit - The Errors of Socialism” - Friederich Hayek.
Hayek gives the main arguments for the free-market case and presents his manifesto on the “errors of socialism.” Hayek argues that socialism has, from its origins, been mistaken on factual, and even on logical, grounds and that its repeated failures in the many different practical applications of socialist ideas that this century has witnessed were the direct outcome of these errors. He labels as the “fatal conceit” the idea that “man is able to shape the world around him according to his wishes.”
“The achievement of The Fatal Conceit is that it freshly shows why socialism must be refuted rather than merely dismissed—then refutes it again.”—David R. Henderson, Fortune.
“Fascinating. . . . The energy and precision with which Mr. Hayek sweeps away his opposition is impressive.”—Edward H. Crane, Wall Street Journal
F. A. Hayek is considered a pioneer in monetary theory, the preeminent proponent of the libertarian philosophy, and the ideological mentor of the Reagan and Thatcher “revolutions.”
About the Author
F. A. Hayek (1899-1992), recipient of the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1974, was a pioneer in monetary theory and a leading proponent of classical liberalism in the twentieth century. He taught at the University of London, the University of Chicago, and the University of Freiburg.
My wife’s best friend’s husband died when he was taken off of the transplant list (liver) because he couldn’t afford the gym they wanted him to go to. Because of this experience she met many others who were refused for one reason or another while a celebrity drug addict like David Crosby gets one right away. Death panels have always been around so I don’t see what the fuss is over another one. Even the first responders to heart attack calls, accidents, etc., look at some people and decide they would be better off letting them pass. If it makes you feel better you can either ignore it or give some more compassionate name but people in the medical and insurance fields have always had the power to decide on life or death and always will.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews: 142 of 147 people found the
By Chuck DeVore “Chuck DeVore” (Irvine, CA United States) -
I first read The Fatal Conceit back in 1991, after reading Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom. I reread the book in 2007 while commuting back and forth to California’s state capital in my capacity as a state assemblyman. Needless to say, the book’s profound critique of socialism means much more to me now as a 45-year-old lawmaker and front row eyewitness to daily attempts to incrementally enact socialism in the Golden State.
The Fatal Conceit’s title captures the essence of the socialist/progressive/liberal impulse, born of a feeling of moral and intellectual superiority, to bring order to the free market, and in so ordering, destroy the very thing (capitalism), that allows modern civilization. Hayek writes of socialism in the introduction entitled “Was Socialism a Mistake?”:
“...The dispute between the market order and socialism is no less than a matter of survival. To follow socialist morality would destroy much of present humankind and impoverish much of the rest.
“All of this raises an important point about which I wish to be explicit from the outset. Although I attack the presumption of reason on the part of socialists, my argument is in no way directed against reason properly used. By `reason properly used’ I mean reason that recognizes its own limitations and, itself taught by reason, faces the implications of the astonishing fact, revealed by economics and biology, that order generated without design can far outstrip plans men consciously contrive...”
What a simple observation of the truth, “...order generated without design can far outstrip plans men consciously contrive...” Capitalism, spontaneously generated through centuries of human interaction, has proven the best way to conduct the economics of mankind. But socialists to try to “improve” upon something that no person invented, and, in so doing, ruin a healthy economy. Hayek admits that capitalism can look bleak to individuals who, through hard luck or laziness, can’t make it - but he convincingly argues that helping the poor by enacting socialism out of a moral impulse “...would destroy much of present humankind and impoverish much of the rest.”
This brings me to present day California with its burgeoning budget deficit brought on by chronic overspending on social programs twined with a tax regime regarded by The Tax Foundation as the 47th worst business tax climate in America. Very soon this system will collapse. The socialists/progressives/liberals who run the legislature are already proposing more taxes and more social welfare spending. Should California become America’s tax dungeon by edging out Rhode Island to claim the worst business climate in the nation, the negative impact on the working class will dwarf all the combined intended good of every social welfare program enacted and yet conceived by the left as the paying jobs of the capitalists flee the state. Gazing at California, Hayek would surely shake his head sadly.
The Fatal Conceit should be required reading for every elected official in America, beginning with California.
Reviewer: Chuck DeVore is a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, a California State Assemblyman, he served as a Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs in the Department of Defense from 1986 to 1988, retired from the Army National Guard as a lieutenant colonel, and is the co-author of “China Attacks.”
Sometimes, but not necessarily. Under 0bamaCare, the Government will necessarily accrue to itself life or death decisions, which it can mete out on a political basis, including your political inclination if it can.
My doctor is on standing orders from me to never allow my insurance company's rules to stand between me and the best medical care possible. He knows I will pay for whatever the insurance company won't.
In many socialist countries, me paying extra in a private transaction for healthcare is illegal.
They seem to believe it so blindly that they can’t see evidence to the contrary even when it is right in front of their noses.
Oh they see it however it doesn’t fit their socialist agenda.
Der Bamafuhrer and his guardians of ‘social hygiene’..
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