Ed Storms wrote on 4-21-08: "This is indeed a sad story, Jed, that is repeated many times each day. The basic problem is that the American people have accepted the idea that life in this country should be based mainly on the individual effort, with socialism being un-American. Liberalism, which tries to use the state to protect the individual, is considered a dirty word. These ideas are accepted by the ordinary working person even though this is not in their self-interest to do so ..."
Hi All, Unfortunately, using "the state to protect the individual," as evidenced by our current military adventure in Iraq, founders on human greed and egotism. I have chronic Lyme disease, a condition which is claimed not to exist by powerful elements in the medical and pharmaceutical establishment. The disease is suppressed as long as I take antibiotics (which are relatively cheap when compared with the antibody destroyers used to treat, for example, multiple sclerosis and other so-called autoimmune diseases.) I know that I would not be able to legally obtain antibiotics with a centralized health care system in the United States, regardless if it fascist or socialist. Benjamin Rush, M.D., Physician to George Washington and signer of the Declaration of Independence wrote: "Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship ... All such laws are un-American and despotic and have no place in a republic. The Constitution of this republic should make special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom." Source: "The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush" My fear of the power of the state, which inevitably leads to corruption and despotism, compels me to work for medical freedom despite the arguments of compassion and efficiency. Jack Smith
