There's a reason C.S. Lewis imagined hell as a bureaucracy.
I was going to do a long post about socialized medicine. It was spurred by the following articles, which I suggest you read: here, here and then here. Then go throw up or cry or punch the wall or whatever it is you do in these situations. It's okay. I'll wait.
I had a whole treatise planned on the infernal nature of these developments, but I don't think it's fleshed out enough to be presentable. Instead, I'll just say this: Anytime something turns inward instead of outward, turns from the creative to the jealous, from positive motion to recursive stagnation, it eventually shrivels and dies. This is true on the personal level - crazy cat ladies and gaming addicts and paranoids peeking out from behind their curtains - but it is also true at the larger scale - trade protectionism and xenophobia and socialism. It's based on two things. The first is fear, from the guy who won't take a promotion because he can't stand change to the town that refuses to import new businesses because they like things the way they are to pacifists who would rather appease a dictator than risk a war. The second is arrogance, from the parent who corrects another's child (because their parents aren't doing it right) to the city government that outlaws trans fats (because people can't be trusted with their own health) to environmentalists who "preserve authentic cultures" at the expense of the people actually living there. It also stems from a disconnect with reality, where things like supply and demand and basic human nature are ignored as quaint, old-fashioned ideas, swept aside to make room for the new order of things. The problem is, the "new" order has been tried over and over and over again throughout history, and it always, without fail, fails. I would rather live under a dictator who let me order my own affairs than under a democracy full of well-meaning bureaucrats.
More to the point of the articles above: Modern medicine is one of the great triumphs of human history, in large part because it spares no expense in providing treatments and finding innovative new ways to do things. Dread diseases have been wiped from the face of the earth or severely limited in their spread; once-fatal injuries are now the work of a few days or weeks to recover from. Illnesses like cancer are no longer a death sentence, not just because of how we treat them but because of how we find them. The entire goal of medicine is to eliminate the word "hopeless." It is the great example of action's triumph over passivity, of curiosity over apathy and fatalism. To take that away, to place to focus on money instead of blazing new trails, will only lead to disaster. Who'll want to be a doctor when they can expect to have their hands tied by red tape and "they're too old/sick/hopeless to bother treating"? Who defines hopeless? Ideally, no one. Placing a hard-and-fast rule based on expense is the most appalling kind of arrogance.
If you want a far, far, far better treatment of this subject, I suggest you read "The Abolition of Man" by C.S. Lewis. It's short, it's to the point and it explains the ideas expressed here much more eloquently than I ever could. The crux of the argument is that inoculation against the nobler sentiments - courage, patriotism, unselfish affection, appreciation of beauty, etc. - will lead to a world where an enlightened, benevolent few rule over the soulless masses, helping them understand that no, this way is what's best for everyone, so come along and cooperate and we'll take care of everything for you. Place artificial limits on what individuals can accomplish and aspire to, and you place limits on their very humanity. Every school that does away with the honor code to protect the feelings of lower-achieving students is a part of this pattern. Every class warrior, every "social justice" fighter, every "down with the rich" agitator is part of this pattern. Any- and everyone who attempts equality by lowering the top instead of raising the bottom is a part of this pattern. Everyone who says "shut up" instead of "here's why you're wrong" is a part of this pattern. It's nihilism. It's destruction. It is the exact opposite of the creative spark. It is the antithesis of man. Religiously speaking, it is straight from the pit of hell. It sits in my chest like a lump, and it wears me out. I'm going to bed.
Oh, and if anyone wants to start contacting the media and making a stink about the medical stuff, get in touch. Maybe we can drum up a march on Washington. After all, it's changed the Democrats' minds before.
