America is going to wish it took the advice that the Prophet Samuel gave to the ancient Israelites
when they wanted to depose God as their king and put in a human king. God said He would give
them what they wanted, but that that king would make them pay—and pay, and pay and pay
—until they didn’t want to pay another tax, ever again (1 Samuel 8:10-18).
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Looking Back to 2009
the famous New York Times economist is not worried. He boldly claims that a national health
-care plan will bring “real competition to the health insurance market.” This competition will
drive down costs, he says. But this is another lie.
Two paragraphs earlier in his New York Times piece, he contradicts himself by saying that the
“near-universal coverage plan” will accomplish cost savings through “regulation and subsidies”
Since the recession began in 2007, health care is the only private-sector industry that has
consistently added jobs—21,000 per month on average for 2009.
Regulation and subsidies are anathema to free-market competition. If the government-run plan
goes through, then a level, free-market, competition-friendly playing field is out the window.
The government will become a player (subsidized by taxpayers) in a game in which it is also
referee (regulator). Who do you think will win? Eventually, there will only be one team in town:
the government’s. That makes it a government-backed monopoly.
Any Economics 101 student can tell you that government regulation, subsidies
and monopolies reduce competition and efficiency. Not good things for an economy.
The truth is: You cannot add coverage for 45 million more people without paying more—a lot
more—unless you degrade the service. If you believe you can, your faith violates several
economic laws—such as the law of the free lunch, which is that you can’t get one.
You just can’t get something from nothing.
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Demonstrators for and against President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul protested out
side the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26 as justices prepared to hear arguments over America’s
historic health-care expansion. The law was passed a year ago and is slated to take effect in 2014.
Arguments during the three-day hearing are focusing on a provision of the law that requires every
American to either purchase insurance or pay a fine. Almost all Americans will be affected by the
final decision, and the debate has sparked intense emotion among both supporters and opponents.
Impassioned supporters say Americans have a right to government-funded health care
regardless of their income.
At the rally, political activist Mark Kramer explained the supporters’ stance, saying,
“We are a rich and prosperous nation. It is only morally right that a minimal level of
health care should be a right and not a function of income for which job you have.”
On the other side of the divide, equally fervent opponents insist that government-enforced health
care is not a right. Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum explained his contrasting view,
saying, “Rights come from our Creator, they are protected by the Constitution of this country.
Rights should not and cannot be created by a government.”
The polarizing argument has become a key issue in the 2012 presidential campaign, and reflects
the widening divide between Americans. This election year, Americans are even more divided,
and tempers are flaring even hotter. - this issuse is still flaring up and deviding us still today
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In his 1859 “House Divided” speech, Abraham Lincoln alluded to a statement made by Jesus
Christ: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house
divided against itself shall not stand.” Lincoln understood that deep, continuing political division
ends in ruin. A close look at modern America’s health-care debate, race relations, financial
disagreement and ideological differences reveals a divide deeper than perhaps at any time
since the Civil War.
America’s health-care fiasco has proven one thing: Mankind isn’t able to solve even basic
problems on its own—despite increasing knowledge and technology. Human nature—political
ideology, self-interest, greed and so on—simply gets in the way, and America swings from
one extreme to the other.