PrintJune 19, 2009
'Shock the Monkey' Healthcare
Many years ago, I took a class in behavioral psychology. The professor was a rather sadistic proponent of B. F. Skinner. He loved to experiment in behavior modification using various reinforcement schedules of pain and reward to change the behavior of monkeys. The monkeys were taught to pull a lever to receive a pellet of food. Later, he added the element of electric shock to the reinforcement schedule. Every time the monkey pulled the lever, he would get a shock along with his food pellet. As typical in behavioral experiments, the professor varied the schedule, in this case increasing the number of times required to pull the lever to get the food pellet. The monkey, unfortunately, would continue to get shocked every time the lever was pulled.
Eventually, Professor de Sade took away the food pellets altogether. To his amazement and delight, many of the monkeys continued to pull the levers and shock themselves into oblivion. He called them "masochistic monkeys". Mark Levin may refer to them as "statists", but I call them contemporary radicalized liberals, or "neolibs". They are found in all races and regions.
This experiment may help explain why neolibs in deteriorating cities such as Newark and Detroit continue to pull the voting lever for political leaders who perpetuate the same self-destructive liberal policies generation after generation. This will be the nation's fate as soon as the neolib reinforcement schedule of pain/reward, pain/reward, pain, pain, pain is fully implemented. President Obama's apparent solution to our ills is to increase the voltage.
To carry this analogy further, observe the neolib obsession with government-run healthcare. On the surface, it makes no sense that people would consciously desire poorer service at a higher price, but that will be precisely the outcome. With the exception of national defense (which is powered by patriotism rather than the economic bottom line), government cannot do anything better or cheaper than private enterprise in a capitalist system. Neolibs, however, will continue to pull that lever in the hopes that this time, despite all evidence to the contrary, government will be the solution to our problems.
Unfortunately for all Americans, government-run healthcare has more ominous components. First, it will be impossible to extricate ourselves from it once it is implemented. It will become like the alien in Spider-Man 3, weaving itself into our being, our culture, and our collective psyche. Any attempt from a conservative politician to undo or even modify it will be met by liberal accusations of trying to "deny healthcare to _____". Fill in the blank with "the poor", "minorities", "immigrants", or "all Americans", depending on the target constituency. This has been a very effective liberal fear tactic as used to preserve the imploding Social Security system from those evil Republicans who want to take it away from the elderly.
This foreshadows the truly horrific final destination of government-run healthcare. With prohibitive costs (over $1 Trillion in new taxes to start the program) on top of an already self-destructing economy sagging under the weight of $12 trillion in debt, the result is impossible to ignore. There will be rationing, just like in Jimmy Carter's gas station lines. Talk about "malaise", you ain't seen nothing yet.
In this environment, the elderly and near-elderly baby boomers will receive no care, except possibly a cheap generic substitute for morphine to ease their way into the next world. Forget heart bypass surgery, kidney transplants, hemodialysis, or any new lifesaving drugs or technology. This fits perfectly with the neolib propensity to use eugenics and late-term abortions as tools to regulate the population. It is also a convenient solution for preventing a Social Security and Medicare meltdown. No claimants, no problem.
In Tom Daschle's book, "Critical: What We Can Do About The Health-Care Crisis" (which is the blueprint for the Obama plan), Medicare will be modified from paying for treatments deemed safe and effective to a system of cost effectiveness standards applied by a federal council. The elderly will "bear the brunt" of healthcare reform. Per Daschle, they should accept their "hopeless diagnoses" and die quietly.
One additional mystery: Why does the supposedly nonprofit and nonpartisan AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) so strongly support government-run healthcare? Why are they lining up baby boomers like lemmings on a cliff? This seems to be self-destructive (i.e., masochistic) behavior. After all, doesn't having fewer members result in a loss of revenue? This puzzled me. After a minimal amount of detective work, it became apparent that AARP is very closely tied into the ultra-partisan (although they deny it) SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). "Divided We Fail" is the lobby jointly founded by AARP and SEIU to promote elderly lemming healthcare.
AARP has also enjoyed a long-running relationship with ACORN. Just Google "AARP ACORN" to see how many times the two groups have worked in tandem to twist local politicians' arms to sponsor bills preventing "predatory lending practices". The result of this effort has been the housing meltdown and bank bailout of the century. AARP's official mission is now stated as leading "positive social change".
The possible answer to this mystery comes down to one unobtrusive little run-down funeral home in the middle of corruption-free New Orleans, at 1024 Elysian Fields Avenue. This address houses the headquarters of ACORN, SEIU, and over 290 "community" front organizations. Nearly $1 million of Obama campaign funds were funneled to this address before the election, and now potentially billions of taxpayer dollars are going into this black hole as well. With the lack of accountability for these funds, it is hard to imagine that AARP is not benefiting in some way from its tight relationship with these groups.
But I digress. The central premise of my tome is that neolibs are driven by self-destructive tendencies popularly known as "moral masochism", and the desire for government-run healthcare is an outgrowth of this obsessive-compulsive craving. In a previous article on this topic, I used the textbook example of psychologists studying a group of self-destructive individuals who would compulsively bang their heads against a wall. The only way the psychologists found to stop them was with a 9000 volt cattle prod. Similarly, the only way to the current national masochistic orgy will stop is with a cattle prod of monumental proportions. This could reasonably take the form of a cataclysmic economic crisis as a direct result of the irrational policies now being implemented by dungeon master Obama.
Unless reality's giant cattle prod administers a shock quickly, Obamacare will become inexorably entwined in our culture. That is why Obama is working with such a sense of urgency. He knows it's a race against time before the consequences of his actions become apparent to the American public. We need to heed the advice of poet Dylan Thomas:
Do not go gentle into that good night,Old age should burn and rave at close of day;Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
p.s. I just received another good piece of advice from my chiropractor. He sent a
mass-mailed postcard with the following phrase on the front in big, bold letters:
"STAY HEALTHY".
Andrew Thomas blogs at Darkangelpolitics.com.
