The Conservative View: Pro Choice?

This week's 'Conservative View', from Russell Turner.

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

Pro Choice?

For years there has been a huge debate on the abortion issue in this country. There are two camps, one being pro choice and one pro life. The purpose of this column is not to debate that issue, but to put the heath care debate into a perspective that we can relate too. To me it is ironic that the biggest proponents of the huge government takeover are for the most part pro choice in the abortion debate.

The founders of this country created our form of government to have as little impact on the citizens of this country as possible. One of my favorite quotes was from Thomas Jefferson, “ the government that governs best governs least “. Have we forgotten that the purpose of government is to protect our freedoms that are endowed by the creator? I agree that the cost of health care has risen, but what hasn’t? The cost of autos and a host of other things have risen at a fast rate also, often because of the manufactures having to comply with government regulations. We Americans have a habit of being willing to pay any price for something we want and complain about the price of the things we need. Now that the government owns General Motors, I wonder if the American people would tolerate the government telling them what kind of car and what color they need. I will bet that there would be the biggest revolt you would ever see if that were to happen, but many are willing to set back and let the government decide life and death decisions about our heath care.

There may be a place for some government involvement in heath care, but it should be limited. One of the things that I found very offensive is the idea of end of life counseling. The patient, family and spiritual leader, not some government bureaucrat, should make those difficult decisions. Before any of us begin to place all of our faith in government just look at the track record. Social Security and Medicare are programs that were supposed to provide for all Americans, now both are a ticking time bomb that in my opinion will retire a long time before most Americans.

We Americans like to be able to determine our own destiny. If we want to remain pro-choice in that aspect, we had better take a hard look before we embrace socialized medicine.

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