[Peace-discuss] Medicare for all

[Bob Illyes]

Like Claudia, and to my knowledge most of the folks on peace-discuss, I am 
an advocate of Medicare for all. And like Claudia, I'm not interested in 
the endless argument for its own sake that dominates this list. But I do 
want to make a few comments.

Much of this argument comes from proponents of "scientific" socialism, 
which is no more scientific than Scientology or Christian Science or for 
that matter Market Fundamentalism.

The thing that disturbs me in the argument from the socialist camp, aside 
from the unbelievable volume of stuff in my inbox, is the notion that the 
end justifies the means. The argument is that it is better to harm people 
who would be helped by the current imperfect bill rather than supporting it 
while continuing to work for a more just medical system.

If any of you think it is OK to kill people in order to achieve some 
claimed long-term benefit for humanity, which is what would have happened 
if the bill hadn't passed, think again. The right term for this approach is 
"human sacrifice". We can do better than this.

Davep and John W make good points, though I think Melodye is correct 
regarding the relevance of expanded Medicaid. It is going to take a while 
for the details of the law to emerge. But there is still a lot of work to 
do, to say the least. Although I am not an Anarchist, I very much agree 
with the Anarchist emphasis on the value of each person. This has to be the 
starting place for any moral solutions to our health care conundrum. Human 
sacrifice is not the way to go.

Bob


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