Submitted by kpaul.mallasch on Mon, 07/02/2007 - 2:05pm.
Cities: RichmondCounties: Wayne CountyMFP Tags: Rex Bell Column, Rex Bell, LPIN, Libertarians, Libertarian Party of IndianaTopics: PoliticsTypes: Opinion
Cities: RichmondCounties: Wayne CountyMFP Tags: Rex Bell Column, Rex Bell, LPIN, Libertarians, Libertarian Party of IndianaTopics: PoliticsTypes: Opinion
A Libertarian Perspective on...Rights vs. abilities
By Rex Bell
Stinky Wilmont was the biggest kid in the 5th grade at Millville Grade school. I suppose his size could have been attributed to genetics. As I remember, his mother was a woman of rather large proportions, and his father, though not as rotund, was still a mountain of a man. At least they seemed pretty big to me at the time.
So that could have had something to do with Stinky’s size. Or it could have been that he was 14 years old. Regardless of the reason, he was a looming figure in the classroom, the lunchroom and on the playground at recess. And if Stinky took a notion to lay claim to your new pencil or eraser, or if he decided he was going to take your cornbread and leave you with just the beans, that’s pretty well the way things worked out.
For the most part I stayed on good terms with Stinky, so most of the time my school supplies and my lunch were safe. Still, I couldn’t figure out why he had the right to do some of the things he did. When I got a little older, I figured out that he didn’t have the right to do them. He only had the ability.
Before the Indiana General Assembly adjourned for the year, they passed a few new laws that Hoosiers are going to have to deal with. One thing they did was reduce the number of drivers that are exempt from the seatbelt laws. The drivers of pick-up trucks are no longer exempt, unless you’re farming, or making certain deliveries. They also created another entitlement program, providing health insurance to families that make up to $40,000.00, and funded with an increase in cigarette taxes. Apparently with smokers in the minority, the assembly felt safe on this one. But, as the number of smokers decreases, or turn to black market cigarettes, it’s anybody’s guess as to who will be chosen to fund the program as revenues decrease and costs increase. Property owners certainly seem a likely target under the current crop of lawmakers.
The thing is, the government doesn’t have the right to make any private citizen wear a seatbelt, anymore than it has the right to make an uninvolved citizen pay for that citizen’s medical expenses if he is hurt in an accident. And it doesn’t have the right to force one group of citizens to pay for another group’s health insurance. Or entertainment. Or retirement.
As citizens, we can’t give our government the right to do these things. We can only give them the ability. We can also take that ability away. And that’s something we had better start thinking about next election.
Rex Bell is a Wayne County Libertarian that writes a monthly column on events that shape our lives from a libertarian point of view. If you have a comment or question on a particular subject, you can e-mail him at
lpwc@msn.com or snail-mail him at 17059 State Road 38, Hagerstown.
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Hey, Rex...
I'm hoping this is a regular (weekly!?) column. ;)
-kpaul
Hey kpaul
I'm starting out with a monthly column. I try to update my blogs weekly. I'd love to write more, but this darn business of having to make a living keeps getting in the way!
the plan is to
... pay contributors like you... eventually. Until then, know whatever you contribute (comments, columns, letters, whatever...) is greatly appreciated by me and, I'm sure, the rest of the MFP community.
-kpaul
Well said
Your thoughts on MitchCare socialized medicine were dead-on accurate.
 Here's what we have to look forward to:
In Australia:
Hospital turns away emergency ambulances; man dies of heart attack
Several regional hospitals were turning away ambulances yesterday, including Gold Coast, Logan, Pindara, John Flynn, Allamanda, Tweed Heads and Murwillumbah.
One man died of a heart attack after being turned away by Tweed Heads Hospital.
The health care facilities are part of Australia's socialist health care system.
In Canada:
Dogs get better care in Canada than humans
Canada's socialist health care system has similar woes: Dogs gets hip replacements within a week. Humans wait for years. [source]
Dr. Brian Day is a leading critic of Canadian medicare. He opened a private surgery hospital and then challenged the government to shut it down. "This is a country," Dr. Day explained, "in which dogs can get a hip replacement in under a week and in which humans can wait two to three years."
Day was recently elected by his peers as president of the Canadian Medical Association.
In Britain:
Mother in labor neglected by hospital staff for 17 hours; baby dies
The family of a premature baby who died after emergency surgery to the wrong lung have agreed an out-of-court settlement with Wythenshawe Hospital.
The mother claimed that staff failed to check on her during her 17-hour labour, that she was left to give birth alone and that there was nobody present to give emergency care immediately after the birth.
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