Comparing rights: gun ownership vs. health care coverage
Recently, a friend posted a comment on her Facebook to the effect that no one should die from lack of health care, and furthermore, no one should go broke from health care expenses. Discussion ensued, and one person posed the question, “Why is there a right to bear arms in the Constitution, but not a right to health care?”
I’ll post my answer in a couple days. In the meantime, please post your thoughts on this question in the comments.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:06am
The Bill of Rights was meant to guarantee what the government could not take away rather than what it would provide. Amendment 2 says that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed, not that the government will give you those arms.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:40pm
I love Brian’s point. Freedom of Speech doesn’t mean you are guaranteed column inches in the local newspaper.
A friend of mine on Facebook posted the same thing (in shouting all caps, by the way). It made me think of housing. If proponents of socialized health care think that people shouldn’t die because of lack of health care, what do they think about the homeless? Does everyone in the United States have the right to housing, even if they can’t afford it? I don’t even know if that is a valid comparison, but this question of health care being a supposed “right” makes me think of all the things some people have and some people don’t. Why do people think they have rights to something when they haven’t earned the means to afford it?
September 12th, 2009 at 7:49am
The COTUS also provides a person the right to be ignorant and stupid if they wish. Anyone who can’t understand the basic difference between a right and an entitlement is likely one or the other, and perhaps both. A direct reflection on our existing public education system, also a derivative of the country’s progressive entitlement mentality.
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:25pm
I love what I heard the other day: You can’t make a weak man strong by making a strong man weak. 85% of Americans have health coverage. We have the best health care in the WORLD. Why do we want to change that? There is definitely a solution that doesn’t take away my health care choice. It is not the government’s job to take care of us!!!!!!