Post by dgriffin on Jan 9, 2009 9:22:36 GMT -5
Universal healthcare and the waistline police
news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20090107/cm_csm/yhsieh
Sedalia, Colo. – Imagine a country where the government regularly checks the waistlines of citizens over age 40. Anyone deemed too fat would be required to undergo diet counseling. Those who fail to lose sufficient weight could face further "reeducation" and their communities subject to stiff fines.
Is this some nightmarish dystopia?
No, this is contemporary Japan.
The Japanese government argues that it must regulate citizens' lifestyles because it is paying their health costs. This highlights one of the greatly underappreciated dangers of "universal healthcare." Any government that attempts to guarantee healthcare must also control its costs. The inevitable next step will be to seek to control citizens' health and their behavior. Hence, Americans should beware that if we adopt universal healthcare, we also risk creating a "nanny state on steroids" antithetical to core American principles.
I won't attend my re-education seminars. They'll have to pry my cold dead fingers from my box of Krispy Kremes. (Sorry, Ralph)
Here's how Hillary might finally capture the hearts of the American people. She could disavow her efforts toward universal healthcare, start eating donuts in public ... a dozen at a news conference ... gain 50 pounds and come to stand for the freedom of American over-indulgence.
