Jun 29, 2012

A Response to Obamacare




On Thursday morning, the US supreme court upheld the controversial program for universal healthcare known as Obamacare. The president is no doubt, relieved by the court ruling, since healthcare reform was one of his major campaign issues. I rarely involve myself in political discussions, but today I'd like to share a few observations.

The argument for Obamacare comes from those who believe that everyone should have health insurance, even those who don't feel they need it. Obamacare would mandate health insurance for everyone - even those who don't want it. There would be penalties for people who did not carry health insurance and its this part of the program that I disagree with most.

The first problem with Obamacare is one of priorities. I know they have good intentions, but supporters have prioritized health insurance over a freedom US citizens have  always enjoyed - we have the right to purchase or refuse to purchase whatever we want, without government interference. Under Obamacare, the government would have the right to force us to buy something, whether we want it or not. Sacrificing constitutional liberties for the sake of federalized healthcare seems to be a poor trade off.

I'm opposed to the idea that the people I elect as my representatives should have the power to tell me what is best for me. When government is granted such power, a host of problems will result. Not the least of which is the question, "What will be the next thing that we're required to buy?"

A federalized healthcare program will necessitate the creation of administrative and regulatory agencies. Government bureaucracies are neither responsive nor efficient and if Obamace is allowed to do what Government programs do best - we can expect substandard healthcare at a very high cost.

People are worried about their health and I suppose they should be. But creating more government agencies isn't the solution. Jesus modeled the solution for us.

Jesus didn't expect Rome to solve the problems of human suffering and sickness. Wherever He went, He healed the sick and set the oppressed free and taught His disciples to do the same.It's actually the responsibility of His disciples (that's us) to care for the poor, the sick and the outcast.

If I've taught you anything, I hope I've demonstrated the fact that a simple, untrained person like myself can make an impact in the lives of people who struggle with health problems. Healing the sick is easy once you believe God will actually heal the people you pray with. I'm not particularly gifted. I've never taken formal training for ministry. I'm just an average disciple with an extraordinary God who is able to do more than I could ask or think. And so are you.

Programs like Obamacare are becoming more popular because the body of Christ has failed in it's mission to relieve suffering and heal the sick. We are the solution to the healthcare problems of the world. If you don't want to see this trend continue, perhaps you'll consider becoming a part of the solution.



3 comments:

  1. You're required to buy and use seat belts like it or not. You're required to build fire escapes on buildings like it or not. There are all kinds of zoning laws in place. You can't keep chickens in your suburban backyard. I can give you a thousand such restrictions on your so-called personal freedoms. You're required to buy car insurance like it or not.
    Social Security is mandated like it or not. So are taxes mandated like it or not.
    You don't have a constitutional liberty to buy whatever you like, you should read the constitution before you make such a foolish statement. Speech, religion, the right to assemble but I don't see anything about what you can or cannot buy.

    You don't have the legal right to buy fermented apple juice in West Virginia. You don't have the right to purchase certain drugs that are banned by the FDA. How many examples do you want. I have about 10,000 more.

    Like, you know, in Australia there are penalties if you don't vote, gee whiz, you mean you have to do the democratic thing and vote or you get fined? Great idea, that's a wonderful way to ensure they do get the representatives they deserve, by demanding more than a 35% turnout on important elections.
    Hey, guess what? you didn't have the right not to go to school, it's mandatory though I'm not sure you learned very much.

    Perhaps you should look into what a "commonwealth" is you might learn something about the common weal and the responsibilities of government.
    Maybe big corporations should have the right to pollute and no one should tell them they have to invest in pollution control though some of it is expensive. But that's part of their responsibility, it's called the common weal.

    The people you elect don't have the power to tell you anything, you are their constituent and you put them in power. The Health Care Act was voted on in Congress it wasn't declared by fiat.

    And please, this has nothing to do with Jesus. You need to quit dragging Jesus into everything. Jesus is about salvation pure and simple. Whether you eat organic food or not has nothing to do with Jesus, whether you believe in capitalism or socialism has nothing to do with Jesus. His kingdom is not of this world.

    And please don't call it "Obamacare" that's very infantile and snotty-nosed. If you want to be treated like an adult use adult vocabulary.

    Your whole post is filled with unthought out, and faulty ideas, and non sequiturs because I'm afraid you like so many people don't seem to have the capacity for logical entailment of ideas, nor to see the larger context of history, nor to do their homework. You emote, and your emotion feels so real, it must be true.

    Lastly to claim "healing the sick is easy once you believe in God" is about as ridiculous a claim as I've ever heard. Well, so is walking on water easy if you believe in God, so okay let's see you walk on water, Mr. Easy-To-Believe-In-God.

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  2. We haven't been a free country no matter what people may think. Many have realized that neither Repub OR Democrats are looking out for us, ad have left the Left-Right Paradigm completely for either Libertarianism or even Anarchism ("Volunteerism" nowadays..the word anarchy has too much baggage)
    Jesus Christ is our only leader. Government is just a formality. All the things that Sancuary listed is proof of tyranny. Too many believe the government has our best interests in mind and we are unfit to chose for ourselves, hence no freedom.

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  3. Thanks for the post. Jesus heals, not money or government or politics or socialism of commonwealth or universal healthcare. Jesus is so good. Jesus is boundless freedom. Jesus is love. Jesus is the answer. Your a blessing, be blessed :)

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