[Gritty]

[Ouderkirk]

To take one more example: the right to the pursuit of happiness is precisely that: the right to the pursuit--to a certain type of action on your part and its result--not to any guarantee that other people will make you happy or even try to do so. Otherwise, there would be no liberty in the country: if your mere desire for something, anything, imposes a duty on other people to satisfy you, then they have no choice in their lives, no say in what they do, they have no liberty, they cannot pursue their happiness. Your "right" to happiness at their expense means that they become rightless serfs, i.e., your slaves. Your right to anything at others' expense means that they become rightless.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

[LurkedLongEnough]

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke today warned lawmakers to immediately address Social Security and Medicare reforms.

[timsbella]

I might agree if not for the corruption in insurance and the litigation driven methods of medicine these days.

[JennysCool]

The insurance racket over the past 40 years is a perfect example of how well fear-marketing works.

[RobRoy]

Who is John Galt?

I am putting that on the back window of my Scion xBox, in 1.5" lettering.

I have so had it with our looters culture.

[sasafras]

Health insurance is not a right UNLESS you are an illegal alien then you get free medical care. Average ER waiting room time in Tucson - 5 hours. If you go to one you see very quickly why. If you want free healthcare denounce your American citizenship.

[calcowgirl]

Ping!

Another good one.

[Cheesel]

Ya gotta love the Rand people...

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Now our only rights, the American viewpoint continues, are the rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. That's all.

I call BS.

What the Declaration of Independance says is:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The Declaration of Independance uses the phrase "among these are", not "these are limited to".

False premise to base this argument on.

[Publius Valerius]

Bookmark.

[goldstategop]

The Objectivists are right on principle but deaf to political reality. People don't like extreme selfishness embodied as a philosophy of life.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[IrishCatholic]

Bookmark for later printing.

[PGalt]

C'mom now Piekoff, everyone knows we are endowed by our Creator with the inalienable right to insurance/medical coverage. It's right in that there Constitution thingy. It's in the "among these" clause. (Read the finer print underneath the fine print, in the penumbra clause.) /sarcasm

[mjp]

One group receiving the unearned and undeserved from another group forced to provide it. Only leftist and liberal statists could approve of such coercive altruistic and collectivistic ideas.

[SierraWasp]

Hey! Look what I found! A link to something positive so we can do something besides grumble!!!

[meyer]

Free access to somebody else's earnings for any reason is not a right. Including for health insurance.

[Ethrane]

Thanks calcowgirl...this is an oldie, but a goodie. It gets posted here about every 6 months or so (I've posted it previously myself). It deserves reposting.

I've said this on other threads of this ilk....as a physician I believe I do, like Peikoff notes, have a moral obligation to stand against the federalization of the health care system, and voice that objection. Usually it falls on deaf ears.

I'm approaching 50 and have practiced medicine for about 20 years. I've managed to save a pretty good chunk for retirement (I'd like to save more), and in 4 years I'll have both kids out of college...an early retirement is not out of the question.

People who think that all the MD's etc are just going to fall in line with whatever is thrown out there are mistaken.