John Kerry's "rights"

by Jim Babka
June 17, 2004

We hold these principles… that man is endowed by his Creator with certain inalienable rights… life, liberty, and healthcare.

Healthcare?

Yes, healthcare is a right according to John Kerry. Perhaps you've seen the latest Kerry for President commercial.

Here's the pitch.

• We're the richest nation in the world.
• It's inexcusable that there are people who can't get healthcare in such a rich nation.
• Healthcare is a right.
• And if you elect Kerry, he'll see to it we get all our rights.

Yes, he'll see to it we get all our rights. Like any tax-and-spend big government politician, he's got a list of "rights."

Selling these rights, at your expense, is how he intends to secure votes. It's money for nothing. And time will tell, but you might end up being a contributor for John Kerry's election to the presidency.

The only reason Kerry can get away running such commercials, let alone think it will help him win the race, is that we've long ago forgotten what a right really is.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are opportunities – not outcomes.

The concept of rights sprung from the idea that there's a natural law. And the founders believed that your life, your liberty, and your pursuit of happiness were your responsibility. In America, no one was allowed to take your life, enslave you, and plunder your property. These things were yours to dispose of as you chose.

But healthcare costs money. And some folks think they're better off without it. Perhaps they're young and don't feel they really need it – that it's worth the expense at this point in their life. They haven't chosen to buy insurance or sought a job that came with it.

Let's break it down.

• Life – you need it to enjoy all of your rights. Gotta have that one.
• Liberty – no one that I know of thinks that they'd be better off having someone else make their decisions for them.
• Pursuit of happiness – and no one that I've met recently believes that you should be allowed to walk into their house without an invitation and take their stuff.

We all want freedom to choose; to run our own lives. And even the hardest core liberals like John Kerry have locks on their doors and keep their account passwords in a safe place.

But millions of people don't have healthcare. And many of them don't seem particularly bothered by it.

• Maybe they were pursuing a college education, or saving for a new home, or starting a business.
• Maybe they took a job that didn't include insurance because they liked it better.

If healthcare was a "right," then these folks are insane.

I'm not kidding. They're acting against their own self-interest. Thank God we have John Kerry to save them from themselves.

And of course, he's doing even more than that. He's saving us as well, because, as he points out in his commercial, it's inexcusable that someone in a nation as rich as ours doesn't have healthcare.

Well, not exactly, because…

John Kerry is lying.

Every American has "healthcare."

Every single American can get a doctor to see them.

Any American can go to an emergency room and get treatment.

What Kerry means to say, in non-euphemistic (honest) language is that they don't have health insurance. Insurance means premiums.

John Kerry is selling an insurance plan. Here's how it works.

1. You pay the premiums,
2. Someone else gets their medical bills get paid.

In other words, there's no "right" unless someone else subsidizes it.

My life, my liberty, and my pursuit of happiness won't cost you a thing. But if you have to buy someone else health insurance, expect that to cost you a bunch.

So in review, John Kerry is using misleading language. A right is an opportunity, not a subsidy. And John Kerry is lying. Every American can see a doctor if they need to.

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