IBD Editorials
Viewpoint
Health Care A Right? More Like A
Wish
By Dr. WALTER WILLIAMS Posted 03/08/2010 05:53 PM ET
Most politicians, and probably most Americans,
see health care as a right. Thus, whether a person
has the means to pay for medical services or not,
he is nonetheless entitled to them. Let's ask
ourselves a few questions about this vision.
Say a person, let's call him Harry, suffers from
diabetes and he has no means to pay a laboratory
for blood work, a doctor for treatment and a
pharmacy for medication. Does Harry have a
right to XYZ lab's and Dr. Jones' services and a
prescription from a pharmacist? And, if those
services are not provided without charge, should
Harry be able to call for criminal sanctions
against those persons for violating his rights
to health care?
You say, "Williams, that would come very
close to slavery if one person had the
right to force someone to serve him
without pay." You're right.
Suppose instead of Harry being able to force a
lab, doctor and pharmacy to provide services
without pay, Congress uses its taxing
power to take a couple of hundred
dollars out of the paycheck of some
American to give to Harry so that he
could pay the lab, doctor and
pharmacist. Would there be any
difference in principle, namely
forcibly using one person to serve the
purposes of another?
There would be one important strategic
difference, that of concealment. Most
Americans, I would hope, would be
offended by the notion of directly and
visibly forcing one person to serve the
purposes of another. Congress' use of the tax
system to invisibly accomplish the same end is
more palatable to the average American.
True rights, such as those in our Constitution, or
those considered to be natural or human rights,
exist simultaneously among people. That means
exercise of a right by one person does
not diminish those held by another. In
other words, my rights to speech or
travel impose no obligations on
another except those of
noninterference.
If we apply ideas behind rights to health care to
my rights to speech or travel, my free speech
rights would require government-imposed
obligations on others to provide me with an
auditorium, television studio or radio station.
My right to travel freely would require
government-imposed obligations on others to
provide me with airfare and hotel
accommodations.
For Congress to guarantee a right to
health care, or any other good or
service, whether a person can afford it
or not, it must diminish someone else's
rights, namely their rights to their
earnings. The reason is that Congress has no
resources of its very own.
Moreover, there is no Santa Claus, Easter Bunny
or Tooth Fairy giving them those resources. The
fact that government has no resources of its very
own forces one to recognize that in order for
government to give one American
citizen a dollar, it must first, through
intimidation, threats and coercion,
confiscate that dollar from some other
American.
If one person has a right to something
he did not earn, of necessity it requires
that another person not have a right to
something that he did earn.
To argue that people have a right that imposes
obligations on another is an absurd concept. A
better term for newfangled rights to health
care, decent housing and food is wishes. If
we called them wishes, I would be in
agreement with most other Americans for I,
too, wish that everyone had adequate health
care, decent housing and nutritious meals.
However, if we called them human wishes,
instead of human rights, there would be
confusion and cognitive dissonance. The
average American would cringe at the thought
of government punishing one person because
he refused to be pressed into making someone
else's wish come true.
None of my argument is to argue against charity.
Reaching into one's own pockets to assist his
fellow man in need is praiseworthy and
laudable. Reaching into someone else's
pockets to do so is despicable and
deserves condemnation.
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2. Viewpoint: Health Care A Right? More Like A Wish
3/8/2010: Most politicians, and probably most Americans, see health care as a
right. Thus, whether a person has the means to pay for medical services or not, he
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6. Viewpoint: Pre-Existing Condition Mandate Is Lunacy
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7. On The Right: Teacher Union Holding Back Black Students
12/22/2009: Detroit's (predominantly black) public schools are the worst in the
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8. The Viciousness Of Academic Liberals
6/23/2009: Ward Connerly, former University of California regent, has an article,
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Biography of Dr. Walter Williams
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dr. Walter E. Williams holds a B.A. in
economics from California State University, Los Angeles, and M.A. and
Ph.D. degrees in economics from UCLA. He also holds a Doctor of
Humane Letters from Virginia Union University and Grove City College,
Doctor of Laws from Washington and Jefferson College and Doctor
Honoris Causa en Ciencias Sociales from Universidad Francisco
Marroquin, in Guatemala, where he is also Professor Honorario.
Dr. Williams has served on the faculty of George Mason University in
Fairfax, Virginia, as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics,
since 1980; from 1995 to 2001, he served as department chairman. He has
also served on the faculties of Los Angeles City College, California State
University Los Angeles, and Temple University in Philadelphia, and Grove
City College, Grove City, Pa.
Dr. Williams is the author of over 150 publications which have appeared in
scholarly journals such as Economic Inquiry, American Economic Review,
Georgia Law Review, Journal of Labor Economics, Social Science
Quarterly, and Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy and popular
publications such as Newsweek, Ideas on Liberty, National Review,
Reader's Digest, Cato Journal, and Policy Review. He has authored six
books: America: A Minority Viewpoint, The State Against Blacks, which
was later made into the PBS documentary "Good Intentions," All It Takes
Is Guts, South Africa's War Against Capitalism, which was later revised
for South African publication, Do the Right Thing: The People's
Economist Speaks, and More Liberty Means Less Government.
He has made scores of radio and television appearances which include
"Nightline," "Firing Line," "Face the Nation," Milton Friedman's "Free
To Choose," "Crossfire," "MacNeil/Lehrer," "Wall Street Week" and
was a regular commentator for "Nightly Business Report." He is also
occasional substitute host for the "Rush Limbaugh" show. In addition Dr.
Williams writes a nationally syndicated weekly column that is carried by
approximately 140 newspapers and several web sites.
Dr. Williams serves on several boards of directors: Grove City College,
Reason Foundation and Hoover Institution. He serves on numerous
advisory boards including: Cato Institute, Landmark Legal Foundation,
Institute of Economic Affairs, and Heritage Foundation.
Dr. Williams has received numerous fellowships and awards including:
Foundation for Economic Education Adam Smith Award, Hoover
Institution National Fellow, Ford Foundation Fellow, Valley Forge
Freedoms Foundation George Washington Medal of Honor, Veterans of
Foreign Wars U.S. News Media Award, Adam Smith Award, California
State University Distinguished Alumnus Award, George Mason University
Faculty Member of the Year, and Alpha Kappa Psi Award.
Dr. Williams has participated in numerous debates, conferences and
lectures in the United States and abroad. He has frequently given expert
testimony before Congressional committees on public policy issues ranging
from labor policy to taxation and spending. He is a member of the Mont
Pelerin Society, and the American Economic Association.
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Items of Interest
Who's To Blame? Freedom Watch article by
Walter E. Williams in The American Spectator February
2010
Global Warming: The Other Side This is another look
at manmade global warming and expose of U.S.
government data manipulation.
Truth About Global Warming: Weather Channel
Founder John Coleman
The House that Uncle Sam Built: The Untold Story of the
Great Recession of 2008
Liberty versus the Tyranny of Socialism by Walter
Williams, Second Printing is now available. Hoover
Institution Press
"Future Prospects for Economic Liberty"
"Good Intentions." Walter Williams, 1985 PBS
documentary. Examines the failure of the war on poverty
and the devastating effect of well meaning government
policies.
"State Against Blacks." Walter Williams, 1985 PBS
documentary. Another examination of well-meaning
government policies.. (Parts I, II, III, IV, V and VI).
• Update: More Than 700 International Scientists
Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims
• Global Warming Petition Project
• Great Myths of the Great Depression
• Milton Friedman "Power of the Market"
A series of brief lectures
• "Free to Choose" - Professor Milton
Friedman's award winning 10-part series
• Video of Milton Friedman On Limited
Government
• Economics For The Citizen by Walter
Williams - A ten-part series on basic
economic concepts
Wisdom of the Month
"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and
women; when it dies there, no constitution, no
law, no court can save it; no constitution, no
law, no court can even do much to help it."
-- Judge Learned Hand
________________________
Contact Dr. Walter Williams at:
Contact Information:
E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: (703)
993-1148 Facsimile: (703) 993-1133 Office: 333
Enterprise Hall Mailing
Address: Walter E. Williams
Department of Economics
MSN 3G4
George Mason University
*****
LET FREEDOM RING !
