Sarah on Current Health Care Debate

Sarah Palin's comment below are like words from my own heart (that is not unusual and is one reason I urged candidate McCain to pick Sarah for his running mate last year). You see, I am the father of a Down Syndrome child, a child that we tragically lost on November 21, 2005 in a freak accident. Our loss was only magnified by Daniel's disability. He is an enormously important person in the lives of my wife, kids, and many other who knew him, and his death left a void that cannot be filled. I will not accept anyone degrading Daniel's humanity and value, simply because he had an extra 21st chromosome and might not have turned out to become the most productive member of society. As the pop-culture commercial says, [the love of a human being is] priceless.

So the main problem I see with Obamacare (now isn't that an oxymoron?) is the focus on a utilitarian view of human life, rather than the idea that life is sacred. Do I want the President to fail in getting Obamacare passed. You bet I do. I hope he and all his leftist friends fail to castrate the heath care system in this great country through the imposition of Obamacare or any other Statist approach to health care that takes the care out of "health care" and treats people as statistics to be rationed to death for the sake of the collective.

There, I said it, and below are Sarah Palin's words:

As more Americans delve into the disturbing details of the nationalized health care plan that the current administration is rushing through Congress, our collective jaw is dropping, and we’re saying not just no, but hell no!

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion.

Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.

We must step up and engage in this most crucial debate. Nationalizing our health care system is a point of no return for government interference in the lives of its citizens. If we go down this path, there will be no turning back. Ronald Reagan once wrote, “Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.” Let’s stop and think and make our voices heard before it’s too late.

- Sarah Palin

Rep. Bachmann's speech (from 1 week ago) can be viewed here: