Socialized Medicine

We learned, a few days ago, that some of this nations largest employers are telling their employees that they must stop smoking, by a date certain, or be fired. This is not smoking on the job, or even at the place of employment, but… anywhere… at anytime. Even in your own home on your own time!

Ok, so where is that much vaunted “Right to Privacy”, we are assured the US Constitution grants each, and every, American citizen? Or, does it just cover women who wish to have an abortion, or the government, when it wishes to tap your telephone?

How far is too far?

The reason, they say, is to produce a healthier work force! The fact that the company’s medical costs are reduced is just a happy coincidence, right?

I am told that 21 states allow this and 29 states do not. Who is right and who is wrong and when will the Supreme Court rule on this, or, have they?

Forget tobacco and cigarettes. The overriding question here is where; exactly, do we stop employers and government from encroaching on our privacy? Where? So far as I am concerned… we have allowed them both to go entirely too far, as it is.

Now, if smoking a cigarette is unhealthy activity, which cannot be condoned by your employer, then what about the consumption of alcohol? What about riding a motorcycle to work? What about over eating? And speaking of eating, what about those extra pounds we men tend to carry around our waists as we get older?

So, now having a few beers while watching the Super Bowl, in your own home, can get you fired? No, but smoking a cigarette can!

Eating that extra helping at Sunday dinner…can that get you fired? No, but smoking the after dinner cigarette can!

Having a couple of drinks after work, at your favorite neighborhood bar, can that get you fired? No, but lighting up while having those drinks can, or stepping outside, for a quick smoke, as required by some of our larger cities, can!

Now, lets clear away the smoke. (No pun intended.) What we have here is a flagrant attack by the “smoking nazis”! They’re doing this simply… because they can!

We are continuing to lose our privacy at an ever-increasing speed. There is hardly a place in America one can go, these days, without being seen by someone’s security cameras. I recently stood in a parking lot of one of the Big Box stores and counted 22 cameras zeroed in on the parking area, and entrances, and exits, to the store. And that was just on the OUTSIDE.

The “no smoking at home rules” are just the latest invasion of our privacy. It will get worse, if we allow it.

If you think it’s bad now, wait until we have national health insurance. Our every move will be monitored, and we will be directed, by the government, in every facet of our lives.

Weigh too much? Lose weight… or the government won’t pay for your medical bills.

Drive too fast? Slow down or the government won’t pay for your medical bills if you’re in an accident.

Smoke? The government won’t pay for your medical bills, period.

Have more than (two) kids? Your medical bills will not be paid if you exceed the allowable limit on babies.

Pregnant with a third child and the government insists that you have an abortion, but you really want this third child? Well, either have an abortion, or that third child will have no medical coverage and the cost of the pregnancy, and delivery, will not be covered, either.

Didn’t finish High School? Your medical bills will not be covered if you do not get a High School Diploma.

Take the wrong courses in college? Well, if you didn’t check before you signed up for a course, and you signed-up for a course the government thinks is uncalled for, or that you do not need for your chosen occupation… then your medical bills will not be picked up by the National Healthcare.

Choose the wrong career, and you are on your own! No medical help from the government.

Get the picture? Almost total control. And you, and I, will have given that power to the government! (or your employer) After a while, there won’t be much difference, anyway.

So, next time you hear someone calling for National Healthcare, remind them of all the freedom they will give up for that cradle to grave care.

The founders of this country wanted us to live free. Healthy, if we can manage it, but free, in any event. Today, it seems we are prepared to give our freedom up for a form of modern day Marxism. Socialized Medicine.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, “Socialized Medicine by any other name, would still stink!”

Longstreet