Norman — This national health care debate is in a gridlock. There doesn’t seem to be an answer that satisfies everyone’s desires. The debate rages on television, radio and just about everywhere else in society.

Some shout, in opposition, that there’s not enough money for the overhaul. Others shout, in favor, that health care is a necessity in life or even that it is a “right” that people deserve.

While I feel I can understand both sides of the argument, this last sentiment that somehow cheap, affordable health care is a “right” boggles my mind.

When I think of a “right” I think of these:

Life. Liberty. The pursuit of happiness.

These famous words were penned long ago (1776) in the immortal Declaration of Independence by one of the perennial Founding Fathers: Thomas Jefferson. Less than 100 years after its ratification and publication, the truths that “All men are created equal … and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” (unalienable basically means that it can’t be taken away) were finally recognized as true to “all men” and not just white property owning men.

With the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution about 60 years later, “all men” was politically recognized as including women as well. While some rightly point out that this was too slow of a process, there has never been an emerging nation or civilization in history to emancipate slaves and women faster than America.

Freedom, the way we enjoy it now, is such a priceless gift. We can live the way we want, dress the way we want, work the way we want, and still have food and money to spare. It didn’t used to be that way. In fact, our prosperity that we enjoy today is on a level never before imagined or realized by any other prior civilization.

When Jefferson penned those famous lines about rights and freedom, he knew that not everyone was physically or economically free. But Jefferson and the other Founders also rightly knew that no government could directly ensure an economically free citizenry. Instead, they felt that government could only protect the people’s natural born rights as human beings and thus ensure everyone has an equal chance to economically and politically improve him or herself.

About a decade after the Declaration of Independence was written and adopted, the Founding Fathers came together again in a time of crisis. This time it was not war that brought them together, but rather an economic and political mess, which was, more than likely, even worse than the economic mess we find ourselves in today.

As a result of that gathering, the Founders established a new government whose likeness history had never before seen (the Roman Republic is about the closest comparison). The ruler’s power was split up between three different branches. Checks and balances were placed on that power so that the government could not easily encroach on a individual’s rights as a human being. After the Constitution was adopted by the states, the Bill of Rights were subsequently added to the Constitution, which put further chains on the ability for the federal government to interfere in an individual’s life.

These delineated rights were not meant to be interpreted that government was the author of these rights. Instead, they were meant to remind government that these rights are inherent to being human. Therefore phrases such as “Congress shall make no law respecting…” appear in the Bill of Rights which place a multitude of constraints on the federal government’s actions. The federal government could not bother itself with passing legislation that interferes with someone’s life unless specifically allowed by the Constitution.

So, is a healthy life a “right”? Is it an unalienable right that was given to people by their “Creator” and that government must protect and cannot take away? What about affordable health insurance? What about affordable education? What about affordable houses? What about affordable computers, automobiles and other luxury items?

The answer to all these questions in one word: no.

Instead, people are entitled to pursue the life they want. If someone wants to pursue an uneducated, unhealthy and unhappy life, that is his or her prerogative and should not be punished for that desire, unless it impedes on someone else’s rights.

Is there a place for health care reform? Absolutely. But it does not involve forcing people to have insurance. Nor does it involve trying to control and regulate every aspect of the industry by a committee of bureaucrats.

Instead, the proper role of the federal government is to stand back and encourage the people to solve the health care problems in the way they feel best. Some of the ways government could do this is to allow health insurance to be sold across state lines, tort reform, and lessening some of the centralized restrictions placed on the industry.

This would not cost any money, but would change the playing field drastically. Could there be doctors who abuse the situation? Absolutely. But don’t tell me that public servants don’t abuse their own power any less than those in the private industry, because public bureaucrats are just as corrupt, if not more so, as those in the private industry. Does that mean we can’t trust anyone since all men and women are fallible? No. It just means that we should not trust any human institution to solve all our problems.

We should, however, put our trust in the will of the people. The people, as a majority, are usually right and cannot be fooled in all aspects all of the time. After all, it is the people who really rule. Government just rules at the blessing or consent of the governed. The people are the employer and the government is our employee. But what happens when an employee thinks he or she ought to be the boss instead of the employer? Answer: nothing good.

Which brings me to another reason I am against the government health care quick fix (as it is basically being peddled): I simply do not trust a public bureaucrat sitting comfortably behind a desk (who may wrongly think he or she is the public’s employer) to understand and fix all of the health care problems with the people’s best interest in mind.

John Walker 366-3527 jwalker@normantranscript.com