Healthcare: The unconstitutional juggernaut

"Healthcare is your basic right."  Sure sounds good as a political promise, but I couldn't find it in the Declaration of Independence.  That dusty, old document says something antiquated about God being the one who gives man his rights.  Among them, it avers, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (which has a far different meaning in the minds of the peripheral coasts than it did in the minds of our founders).

Since the Big Three are "among" those unalienable rights, there must be other unspecified rights "among" which the Big Three find themselves.  Healthcare must be one of those, loitering in some unspecified location between the penumbra of the Declaration and the Constitution.  So if healthcare is "among" the rights alongside the Big Three, surely there must be other important rights that have not yet been brought to the fore of congressional or presidential minds. 

That got me thinking.  (Cue the ominious "Twilight Zone" music.)

Shelter's pretty important.  I should have a right to shelter.  And since we've already noted the high standing of healthcare with the "among" rights, my home should be toasty in the winter and nicely chilled in the summer.  That means it should have good insulation and energy efficient windows.  To save American money, I'd be willing to take a hit for the team and live in San Diego where the temperatures remain at 75-degrees give or take 3-degrees throughout the year.  It's my right, afterall.

I need to work, too.  Therefore, employment is a right.  But I'll need to take care of my kids, too, so I'll only be able to work between 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. because I need to drop my kids off at school and pick them up in the afternoon to get them to play practice, football practice, bassoon lessons and their Feng-Shui classes.

If I'm going to work, because it is my right, you know, I'll need to get to work.  Therefore, with the logic of a Sicilian when death is on the line, having a car must be a right, too.  Since there is some question as to whether or not the environment is in jeopardy, nuts to the green cars.  Gimme a hot Porsche.  And since I'll be pooling my kids to school and all events extra-curricular, I'll need a family vehicle.  How about a Yukon with DVD's for the kids (educational videos, you know).

I must certainly have a right to eat as well.  Since I'll be so busy commuting my kids all over town, I'll need someone to prepare the food.  I guess that means I have a right to live-in home service, too.  Perhaps a personal cook and maid and a masseusse to take care of the stresses of my day.

And...and...and...

Whoa.  Hey, was I sleeping? 

You get the idea, though, don't you?  If we take "healthcare as a right" to its logical conclusion, we will be required nothing.  We will be handed everything.  My rootbeer induced delusion speaks of human needs NOT human rights.  The rights (and God-given they are) provide us the freedoms to live our lives as we see fit to meet our needs.  Success or failure?  They are up to us.

When Ma and Pa Ingalls headed out of the big woods and onto the prairie, they didn't lean on the hope or change of Grover Cleveland to bail them out if their buckboard sank into Plum Creek.  Their success came about because of the blood, sweat, and tears of Charles and Caroline.  What role did the government play?  It stayed completely out of their vittles.

Healthcare is not a right, it's a need.  And thereby, it's no business of the government to provide it except to protect my God-given rights to try and procure a livelihood for my family and me.

I don't think Congress or the President will listen to me.  Maybe they'll listen to US?