Real Talk Part 7
(I don't know if there are actually 7 parts to this series, but I'll just pick this number because I'm too lazy to look up the rest.)
I hope many of you learn some things from me, or at least tell me if I'm wrong, or just think for yourselves. I'm glad you like this series. However, this topic may not be what you want to here.
This time, we're talking about rights.
Do men have rights? Women? White people? Black people? Homosexuals? Straight people? Majorities? Minorities? Kazakhstanians? The short answer: no.
Why? groups don't have rights. Individuals have rights. You don't have rights because of the color of your skin, or what's hanging (or not) between your legs. You have rights because you're a person, a living, breathing person, who acts and feels in accordance to improve your own life. We have rights because we're human beings, not because of some arbitrary identifying factor.
Now that we've established that people have rights. What are these rights? I say, and this is universal to all human beings:
1. the right to not be killed
2. the right to not be stolen from
Some of you may have heard pandering for "free healthcare" or "free college" and while that sounds good on the surface (and it is, for some), you can't accomplish this feat without first taking property (money) from somebody else.
There is a reason free health care is not a natural right.
Your two universal rights, as stated above, do not change because technology changes. If these two rights are, indeed, true, they must hold true in all circumstances. So the next time you wonder if someone has the right to free health care, go through a thought experiment.
If you and I were on a deserted island, all alone, and a coconut fell from the tree. You pick up the coconut. The coconut is yours. Why is the coconut yours? Because it belonged to nobody until you picked it up. What will you do with this coconut? You could eat it, pet it, swim with it, sleep with it, or wear it on your feet? Why? It's yours. But I recommend you eat it, just a suggestion, but its really your choice because it's your coconut.
If I were to try and forcefully remove your coconut from your possession, I would be initiating aggression against you. You have the right not to be stolen from, whether it's your coconut, your money, your car, your silverware, or your barely still working Nintendo 64 (hands up if you ever played one of those, you had a great childhood). It doesn't matter if we're on a deserted Island or in real life, theft is theft is theft.
Now let's run our desert island thought experiment again. Like last time, you and I are both on the island. I have bad kidneys. I desperately need a kidney dialysis machine to survive. If we decided that free health care was a right, I have a right to have a kidney dialysis machine.
But how would one get a kidney dialysis machine? I would have to force the other person on the island (you) to build one, and care for me. You can imagine how difficult it would be to find the parts and expertise to put together a working kidney dialysis machine, much less administer it effectively to treat my condition. Even if all the materials (and a building handbook) were available (miraculously) on this desert island, my right to health care would still force you to serve me.
Is this right? For me to force you into my service? If you said yes, because it is for a good cause, think about this: a good cause is a matter of subjective opinion. Good causes differ from person to person. Some people think that providing tax benefits for married couples is a good cause, because it benefits society. Whereas I think making sure everyone wears shoes that squeak when people step (it makes me laugh), so therefore, I believe we should provide tax benefits, or even free money (taken through taxation), because it makes society (in my own subjective viewpoint) better.
Given now that "good causes" are subjective depending on who you ask, in order to enforce one person's personal view on what a good cause is, requires force over others who may disagree with what a good cause is. One moves from subjective moral or personal values, to objective theft. The very definition of slavery, is in fact forced labor. And if I forced all of you to wear squeaky shoes, even if you didn't want to, to serve my desire to hear squishy squeakiness all day, I'm enslaving you.
Listen, I'm not trying to put all the poor, sick people down. I have come to you with a solution. The best solution IS cheap medicinal treatment. How do we get there? The answer: the market.
In the United States, the 1890's was the time when production really took off. Most historians agree this was the time of the most unregulated, lassaiz-faire type of economy (meaning, no ones hands are telling businesses what to do). What happened during this time? Competition between businesses was fierce. Innovation was at an all-time high. What was the result? Falling prices. Who benefits the most from falling prices (well besides everybody), the poor and middle class. In fact, a man named Andrew Carnegie revolutionized steel processing, cutting some prices up to 90%. Why is this significant? Steel is used in everything manufacturing, the fuel for mass production. Prices go down, down, down. You know how happy you get when gas prices fall? Yeah, that was the 1890's, except with everything.
The key to making health care and access to health care better, costs have to fall. However, the government kind of screwed that up in the mid 20th century. What happened? Medicare.
Remember, the government doesn't have to compete for your money. They just take. It doesn't matter. It sounded like a good cause, to give our elderly reduced prices for medical services. Demand skyrockets. Elderly citizens are being admitted to all kinds of hospitals, for all kinds of reasons, and they don't have to pay full price because the government is taking care of part of it.
Who pays, then? When demand goes up in relation to supply, prices rise. Who pays? The regular person. Out-of-pocket Medical costs start going up. Soon, the most viable way to pay for medical services that are needed is to buy insurance. Now, because people are able to, in a way, pool their money together (it's really more like gambling), it's easier for them to access medical care, and prices rise again.
Eventually (and through the advent of medical patent after patent) barriers to entry for doctors, nurses, appear. Pharmaceutical companies lobby the government for long-lasting patents, so they don't have to compete with someone who may be able to make their drug cheaper. Pretty soon, we have 20 ounce IV packets worth $40 (optimistically), and you can imagine how high other medical costs are.
The trick to health care is to deregulate. Keep the government out of giving special privileges to certain groups and companies. Let companies compete to see who can make the best drugs the cheapest, and pretty soon all of us will be paying a lot less for medical costs.
So bringing it full circle. What are your rights? To not be stolen from, and not be murdered. Your right is not to kill or steal from others, just because you subjectively think its a good cause.
And if you read the "broken window" post, you know that more money in your pocket means more money to freely and voluntarily spend on things that personally make you feel like squeaky shoes personally make me feel: happy.
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