When the Constitution was written and adopted it carefully balanced the need for a strong central government with the need to restrict the power of the central government.  It’s genius is in striking that balance.

Rights were addressed in the form of protection of human freedom from the interference from government and the protection from the tyranny of the majority.  The founding fathers were very well read in the history and philosophical development of man.  Yet they saw past the mere problems of the day that they were addressing and created a structure that could change, yet protect the fundamental rights they held dear.

Those rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly were freedoms not granted by the government in power but human freedoms that were to be protected. These freedom only required respect of the authorities to exist.  This is vastly different from “rights” to healthcare, education, housing and other “rights” that require that transfer of wealth from one citizen to another.  Once these “human rights” first articulated by FDR but claimed by progressives today such as Jesse Jackson, Jr. become the province of government then the endless “right” to your money to pay for these rights turns the government into a tool of moral supremacist looters.  Elections then just become “an advanced auction of stolen goods.”

Health care is a market, not a right.  And government’s confusion on this issue amounts to nothing more than an intrusion into the market.  A market takes into account the wishes of thousands of participants, the government takes into  account the judgment of an elitist few.

When the government does interfere into the market it should be to maintain or improve the function of the market. Anti-trust legislation seeks to prevent monopolies to keep competition vigorous even though the outcome of much legislation and regulation is often to protect established enterprises from new competition. Some regulations seek to force transparency or accurate reporting, in belief that dependable knowledge is necessary for consumers to be able to make their own choices.

But these regulations are distinctly different from creating or claiming rights that require the government to spend money that is not theirs. We no more have a right to health care than we have a right to a car, a computer, a flat screen TV, books,  a new wardrobe, or cowboy poetry (see Harry Reid video).

It is the poor understanding of what a “right” actually is that underlies the financial mess we find ourselves in. It is the belief that by claiming such rights that do not exist that these political and economic morons believe that the government can solve any and every problem we encounter.

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