On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 2:16 PM, Robert Munn <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 12:39 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> wrote: >> > On the other hand, I believe that a basic, adequate, health >> care system should be considered a fundamental right in our country >> because it is required for "life, liberty and the pursuit of >> happiness". > > The basic problem with that argument is that health care is a service > that must be provisioned. Rights are things you are allowed to do > (speech, assembly, gun ownership), not services the government must > provide for you.
My wording wasn't 100% correct, I agree, though I thought I made the point well enough. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are, to me, rights. Not enshrined as such explicitly in the Constitution, admittedly. One of the jobs of government is to ensure that rights may be safeguarded and exercised. Adequate basic health care, in my opinion, is necessary for safeguarding and allowing the free exercise of life and the pursuit of happiness. It is not, technically, a right in and of itself. Rather it is something akin to the prohibition of indefinite detention. A law against indefinite detention is not a right but it is necessary to safeguard the right of liberty. Does that mean that you have the right to free liposuction paid for by the government? No, I wouldn't say so. But by the same token, we allow reasonable detention for the safeguard of the well being of our populace, which is an encroachment upon the personal right of liberty of an individual. Governing is an imperfect (to say the least) attempt to strike a balance and safeguard and ensure the free exercise of basic rights. I believe that basic health care plays an important and, in our country, under-recognized role in that equation. Judah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:323922 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
