Middle-of-the-Road Healthcare Leads to Socialism: A Commentary by Ron Paul

Middle-of-the-Road Healthcare Leads to Socialism

by

Ron Paul

Reprinted from The Foundation for Rational Economics and Education (FREE)

© 2013 Ron Paul

Note: As of today, I will start posting Ron Paul's weekly commentaries on Tuesday.

The ever-expanding role of government in healthcare provides an excellent example of Ludwig Von Mises’ warning that “The Middle of the Road Leads to Socialism.” Beginning in the 1940s, government policies distorted the health care market, causing prices to rise and denying many Americans access to quality care. Congress reacted to the problems caused by their prior interventions with new interventions, such as the HMO Act, ERISA, EMTLA, and various federal entitlement programs. Each new federal intervention not only failed to fix the problems it was supposedly created to solve, it created new problems, leading to calls for even more new federal interventions. This process culminated in 2010, when Congress passed Obamacare.

Contrary to the claims of some of its opponents, Obamacare is not socialized medicine. It is corporatized medicine. After all, the central feature of Obamacare is the mandate that all Americans buy health insurance from private health insurance companies. And, as with previous government interventions in the marketplace, Obamacare is not only failing to correct the problems caused by prior federal laws, it is creating new problems.

Consider the almost weekly stories about how Obamacare is causing health insurance premiums to rise, causing employees to lay off workers or reduce their workers' hours, and causing doctors to leave the profession. Also, consider the problems the administration is already having administering the federal exchanges and other parts of the health care law.

I fully expect the implosion of Obamacare to continue, and the supporters of nationalized health care to use Obamacare’s failures to push for a Canadian-style “single payer” health care system. Unfortunately, some Obamacare opponents fail to see that the problem is not just Obamacare, but all government interference with health care. These Obamacare opponents advocate replacing Obamacare with “Obamacare lite.” But economic law teaches us that “Obamacare lite” will be no more successful than Obamacare.

In order to win the battle for health freedom, those who oppose nationalized health care must have the courage to advocate for a complete free market in health care. Enhanced individual tax credits and enhanced use of Health Savings Accounts (HSA) are just two polices that could help restore a free-market in health care by putting control over the health care dollar back in the hands of the people. A good place to start would be to repeal Obamacare’s restrictions on HSAs.

Long-term group insurance contracts could ensure that those with pre-existing conditions could obtain coverage. Under such a contract, individuals could pool resources to purchase a group policy that would cover any and all problems any member might develop over time. Businesses, churches, community organizations, and even fraternities and sororities could offer these types of contracts.

Negative outcomes insurance, where patients waive the right to sue for medical errors in exchange for guaranteed payouts to those harmed, could reduce the burden of malpractice litigation.

Other free-market health care reforms that could make the health care market more competitive and lower the cost of health care include allowing individuals to purchase insurance from across state lines, removing restrictions on physician-owned hospitals, and reducing the regulatory power of the Food and Drug Administration.

Some will say it is unrealistic to advocate replacing Obamacare with a pure free-market system, but in fact it is unrealistic to expect anything less than a true free-market to provide quality health care for Americans at all income levels. Continuing on the “middle of the road” in health care by mixing free-markets with government spending and regulations will only continue to take us on the road to socialized health care.

Why Conservatives and Libertarians Shouldn't Vote Republican

Jack Kerwick gives us some wise advice on why conservatives and libertarians should not vote GOP, and he also responds to those who do defend this type of thing.

I particularly liked this comment from Kerwick when he responds to those who claim that we must choose between the "lesser of two evils":

While I’m unaware of them, perhaps there are some ethical traditions in the world that command their adherents to consciously select evil—even if the evil in question isn’t as evil as the alternative(s).  But the ethical tradition to which most conservatives subscribe is Christianity.  According to the latter, it is never, ever permissible to deliberately commit an act—any act—of evil.

Again, it isn’t “imperfection” per se that repels disenchanted conservatives, but intolerable imperfections that give rise to their repulsion.  The “lesser of two evils,” being still an evil, is, obviously, intolerably imperfect. As such, it should repel decent people everywhere.

And I particularly liked this section where he replies to the nonsensical claim that those who don't vote Republicans in effect vote for Democrats:

To this criticism, two replies are in the coming.

First of all, when the Republicans raising this criticism are those politicians and pundits who persist in their support of just those policies, like his foreign policy, say, that resulted in our last (Republican) president leaving the office with a 30% approval rating while his nemeses assumed command of both houses of Congress and the White House, it sounds more than a bit hypocritical, for it is they who have provided their opponents with more than enough support.

Yet no one is blinder in this respect than those Republicans who endorse amnesty, a policy that is sure to establish Democrat supremacy from this point onward.

Secondly, the conservative’s decision to refrain from voting may very well result in Democrats winning elections, but he is no more blameworthy for this than is a terminal patient blameworthy for suicide who refrains from availing himself of extra-ordinary measures that will buy him just a few more weeks of life—and suffering.  The patient knows that his decision to “do nothing” will hasten his death, but his intention is not to kill himself. In fact, his intention isn’t even to shorten his suffering but, rather, simply not to add to it.

In fact, as Samuel Francis reminded us, the GOP is the Stupid Party. Laurence Vance had it right when he said this: "The Republican Party is hopeless statist and interventionist at home and abroad. It cannot be reformed. It cannot be made libertarian. It cannot be re-branded. It cannot be trusted to form a coalition with libertarians. It is the enemy of the Constitution, fiscal responsibility, limited government, economic freedom, and individual liberty; that is, everything it claims to stand for. And why would anyone want to bring the party back to its roots? The roots of the Republican Party are intertwined with Abe Lincoln and his senseless war, bad economic policies, attacks on civil liberties, and violations of the Constitution. It is, after all, the Party of Lincoln." Tom DiLorenzo (see here and here) and Clyde Wilson also have some helpful material on this issue.

Thus, I have some tips on how to kill the Republican Party:

1. Evangelicals must leave the party in droves. When people think of the GOP, evangelical Christians come into mind. And some are so stupid as to claim that the GOP is the party of Christianity. Thus, the evangelicals must see through the fraud that the GOP is and leave it. They should read websites such as LewRockwell.com, Mises.org, Antiwar.com, FFF.org, LFB.org, LibertarianChristians.com, and ReformedLibertarian.com, real websites that teach true politics. They should ditch conservatism and become libertarians (see here, here, here, and here). I will post something soon as to why this is true.

2. Liberty lovers should leave the party. Yes, that's right. Limited-government libertarians and conservatives should leave the party. They need to recognize that the GOP was never a small-government party from the get-go. Their roots were in nationalist, interventionist, and big-government ideology. And don't forget the unnecessary Civil War, which was not needed to abolish slavery, as other countries ended slavery without a civil war. The work of Thomas DiLorenzo is vital in this area, particularly his two books The Real Lincoln and Lincoln Unmasked, which I have yet to read. And don't forget Joseph Stromberg's brilliant article in the Journal of Libertarian Studies entitled "The War for Southern Independence: A Radical Libertarian Perspective." The Civil War was the root of the evil doctrine known as American exceptionalism, as DiLorenzo has shown.  And if anyone brings up Reagan, I would direct them to this article by Murray Rothbard which was published after Reagan left office. For more, I would direct them to here, here, here, here, here, here,  and here.

3. Learn about the philosophy, theory and economics of liberty. There are many resources out there on the Internet through which one could learn about the ideas of libertarianism. I have listed some of the resources in a previous blog post of mine, such as LewRockwell.com, Mises.org, Antiwar.com, FFF.org, ReformedLibertarian.com and LibertarianChristians.com. And don't forget that the second website has a wealth of e-books, PDF articles, audio and video, and much, much more on the Austrian school of economics, libertarian political philosophy, classical liberalism and much more.

So there is it, readers: the three steps vital to the destruction of the GOP.

Letter of Liberty News Edition (8-27-2013)

Here is my Tuesday news edition.

"Local Boy" Michael Alford on why we need a new pediatrician

Michael Scheuer's observation on King Obama's Syrian madness

Ted Snider on Iran, Egypt and America

The "click-and-print" revolution is here to stay, says Ray Blanco.

Gary North on Milton Friedman as "Professor Voucher"

Kelly Vlahos on sending broken men into Afghanistan

Bill Sardi on how much of our "reality" is actually a "grand illusion" created by the State

This week's Mondays with Murray deals with Murray Rothbard's views on libertarian populism, in light of a recent article by David D'Amato on the issue.

Kurt Nimmo on why a cruise missile attack is not going to take out Bashar al-Assad

Anthony Gucciardi gives us a flashback to when Yahoo! News revealed that the US was planning to launch a chemical weapons attack and blame it on Assad.

Foreign Policy reports that America helped Saddam Hussein as he gassed Iran. So much for "spreading demoracy and freedom."

Walter Williams on reeducation and discrimination at George Mason University (GMU).

William L. Anderson asks whether Milton Friedman was right on Rothbard's views on collapsing banks.

Jerome Corsi on the evidence that the Syria gas attack was really a work of US allies rather than Assad.

It seems that inspectors in Syria were forbidden into investigating who used the chemical weapons in Syria.

It seems that Americans will still oppose war with Syria even if it is confirmed that Assad did indeed use chemical weapons.

John Kerry is preparing WMD pre-text in preparation for war with Syria, reports Kurt Nimmo.

Some reports are now showing that America-backed rebels entered Syria before the attack, maybe suggesting that the whole chemical weapons attack could be a false flag.

J. Dana Stuster on the strangest detail of the CIA's 1953 Iranian coup

John Glaser on why the use of chemical weapons in Syria is ultimately irrelevant

Tom Mullen on how Egypt is a metaphor for American foreign policy

Radley Balko on the greatest and most ignoramus of moments in drug-war propaganda

Tom Mullen reviews the new blockbuster movie Elysium from a libertarian perspective. His rating is one freedom thumb up, two thumbs down.

Documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras on how the detention of David Miranda and the destruction of the hard drives containing important files constitutes an attack on press freedom

James Bovard on the bogus "anti-terrorist" crackdown on financial freedom

Mac Slavo on how the US government is preparing for a cruise missile attack on Syria

Mac Slavo on an ex-soldier's survival plan "to hit preppers"

Jay Rosen on how the surveillance state is trying to make journalism harder, slower, and less safe

Laurence Vance writes on the stupidity of Christians who think that the State is a gift of God as he reviews Ronald Sider's new book Just Politics.

Ron Paul on how middle-of-the-road healthcare leads to socialism.

Jonathan Turley on the real cover-up at Area 51

Scott Lazarowitz on how health fascism results from a society in need of healing

An American civil war is coming soon, as is shown by an interview on Russia Today with Kevin Barrett, Anthony Gucciardi, and Gerry Celente.

Brian McWilliams on how government is selling personal data to mail marketers

Eric Blair on government's lust for blood and why Americans don't want a war with Syria

Michael Snyder on the 72 types of Americans that are considered "potential terrorists" by the government

It seems that the new Google glass app will read people's emotions, says Jon Rappaport.

Snipers just fired on UN inspectors. Is that a rebel crime?

Jon Rappaport asks, "Why do they try so hard to end freedom?"

Jon Rappaport on how the NSA is a new member of the UN

Jon Rappaport on the heartless, cold super-soldier being created

Anthony Gucciardi reports that the Pentagon is preparing for a large-scale economic breakdown. It seems that the Pentagon will start a military dictatorship to crack down on those who oppose the State's doings.

Joseph Mercola on the unseen benefits of (some) viruses

William Jasper on how the government and environmentalism is causing catastrophic fires in the West

Jack Kerwick on why conservatives and libertarians shouldn't vote GOP, Oprah Winfrey and five racial double standards, and conservative voters vs. the GOP

James Altucher's ultimate "cheat sheet" for running business

Chris Rossini on why Keynesians will be caught off guard again

Paul Craig Roberts on how Syria is another Western war crime in the making.

Paul Krugman and Brad DeLong smack down on Austrian economist Robert P. Murphy. Robert Wenzel offers us his very own answer to why Murphy shouldn't act like a non-Austrian to advance Austrian economics.

Robert Murphy on what it feels like to be square

Paul Rosenberg on freedom and servitude