One of the favorite arguments of so-called libertarians is that tax money is their money that government takes under threat of force. Government, they argue, forces tax payers to surrender the fruits of their labor so that they can “give” money to the “underachievers” in society, and that by doing so, exert some sort of tyranny on behalf of the lower classes in society.
Some argue that government inefficiency is so endemic that the private sector can do things better in nearly every case. Extreme Libertarian views would have every road be a toll road, every police force paid for by private citizens, and every social safety net run by a charity or other private organization. Failure is met with the response “Tough Shit”, and to the victors go all spoils.
I’m going to tell you a different story.
I have a friend named Jay. Jay’s son, Tyler, was born just 2 days before 9/11. Just after Ty’s 3rd birthday, he started showing some symptoms of illness. At first, they appeared to be allergies. Then he started having headaches and nausea. The next diagnosis was Bell’s Palsy. After Jay pushed the doctors to give Tyler a CAT scan, they found a tumor on Tyler’s brain stem in June of 2005. After surgery and more than a year’s worth of chemotherapy, Tyler was symptom free.
In order to pay the expenses associated with his medical care, Jay and his wife went deep into debt. Insurance didn’t cover everything, and even his friends started a PayPal donation fund to help make ends meet.
When the symptoms returned later in 2007, Ty had to endure more chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Now it wasn’t just Jay and his wife being stretched past their financial limits. Their extended family and friends were pitching in even more money. The community around Jay and his family went to the mat for Jay and his brave little boy.
It wasn’t enough. Tyler Hibinger passed away last night. He was 7 years old.
Having adequate insurance would not have saved Tyler’s life, but the crushing financial burden of this unspeakable ordeal isn’t going away just because Tyler lost his struggle. There is no damn reason that this country and it’s people can’t get together and provide a safety net for families like Jay’s. There is no damn reason that “We the People” can’t chip in together and provide coverage for families who need it.
“Tough Shit” is not good enough.
If my taxes have to go up a few percentage points per year in order to make sure that no more families have to face a financial burden like this in order to save their child’s life, then I’ll fuckin’ pay it and be glad I could help. If others want to look at this and say that government is taking their money at the point of a gun, then let’s tell them “Tough Shit” and see how they like it!
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Our Union is pretty fucking far from perfect when citizens can, in good conscience, tell a family like Jay’s “Tough Shit”. We’re doing a pretty lousy job of promoting the general welfare when we tell millions of our fellow citizens “If you get sick, you’re on your own.”. There are no Blessings of Liberty to a family who will be in debt for a significant part of the rest of their lives because they had to take care of a sick child.
There will come a day, and I don’t think it’s that far off, when folks look up and see no perfect Union, no Justice, no general Welfare, and precious few Blessings of Liberty. The step after that will pretty much kill the notion of domestic Tranquility.
If we are the nation that we all say that we are, it is time to step up, pitch in, make sure your friends and neighbors aren’t left to the tender mercies of Social Darwinism and come up with a solution. Insurance companies aren’t going to do it. Doctors and hospitals aren’t going to do it. We have to do it as one nation, under God (or Allah, Buddha, Vishnu, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Insert the deity of your choice here), indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, not just those who can afford it.
R.I.P. Tyler. Uncle Grimmy loves you.
I love the “your” in scare quotes, as if property belonged to you after it was stolen at gunpoint. Classic!
http://www.juntosociety.com/patriotism/inytg.html
Thanks! I kinda thought the notion was silly that money that you pay in taxes somehow belongs to you, but money you spend in a store or in another business doesn’t.
Now if we can just get the talk radioheads out there to stop whining “It’s our money!” every time they talk about taxes, we might get somewhere.
Oh, and after reading the link you sent. (Thank you for that, by the way) I do not see a conflict of principles here. Government’s purpose is to do things collectively that cannot or should not be done effectively by the individual. “Provide for the common defense”, for example. As a general rule of thumb, I believe a government action to be just if it provides equitable (or “fair”, if you will) benefit, protection, or obligation to all. I don’t mind paying taxes as long as everyone else does. I don’t mind serving on jury duty as long as everyone else does. I don’t insist on an equality of outcome, but rather an equality of opportunity and responsibility. I wouldn’t ask someone else to carry a burden that I am unwilling to carry myself.
That said, I think there is an answer to the health care problem in this country. I think that it is in our own rational self interest to provide a certain level of basic services to all citizens in this country. Access to courts, access to education, access to the legal system. Our taxes go to provide a basic level of service to everyone. (“If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you…”) I think it is possible to put health care in that same category. Not necessarily by writing a blank check to pay for every doctor visit or prescription pill authorized by a doctor, but a reasonable standard of health care that is available to all Americans. If you can do better on your own, then have at it. But, using the legal system as an example, we can’t all hire Johnny Cochran. If you have the means then get the best that you can afford. If you do not have the means, then that does not necessarily follow that you are “out of luck”.
[...] a counterpoint to Brother Grimm’s bad argument for socialized healthcare I would like to point out that the reasoning behind his bad argument are [...]
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