"The essence of government is control, or the attempt to control."
(Benjamin Tucker)

There is no better way to describe the so-called  health care plan than Tucker's quote. It is not about improving health care; it never was. Oh there may be some dim bulbs in Congress that truly believe they have improved the country and the health system with their latest efforts. But sincerity is not an excuse for stupidity. Reality does not give a damn about good intentions.

The majority in Congress knows exactly what this bill means for them and medical care in this country. For them, it opens up the potential for total control of the citizenry. For health care it means continued deterioration in our health care system, but in a way that is "fairer" than before. It provides for broader insurance coverage at the expense of the quality of medical care. But for idealogues who worship at the altar of equality, that is a reasonable trade-off. Winston Churchill described socialism's value thusly: "its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."

For the rest of us, it means the continuing deterioration of health care that commenced with government's involvement in Medicare. For a full discussion of this point, see Scott Gottlieb's article in the New York Post on Obamacare.

Perhaps more important than the effects on the quality of health care will be the effects on every aspect of our lives. Ayn Rand's warning long ago has finally come true under the Trojan Horse known as health care reform: "We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force."

The reach provided by health care "reform" is virtually unbounded. Congress or its bureaucratic arms will begin invading not only every aspect of traditional doctor-patient relationships, but every aspect of individual freedom. Food content, diet requirements, exercise, living style and much more will soon come under attack. There is no aspect of human behavior that a motivated and imaginative mind cannot link to health. The public nuisances and busybodies in government have more than the requisite motivation to "improve" your life. Now they have a set of tools that enables them to do so. They literally will be able to invade every aspect of human behavior under the guise of improving your health.

The concept of American individualism, freedom and greatness has Obamacare as its pallbearer.

Monty Pelerin www.economicnoise.com montypelerin@gmail.com