An argument in favor of government intervention in health care is that many people simply cannot afford it. They want to “choose” and exercise their right but it is simply not within their financial means. They say the government should step in and provide the necessary funds for these people. They say the government should help make sure our rights are available to us. What good is having a right if we do not have the means to use that right?

I do not buy into this argument because of my beliefs about what a “right” truly is. One aspect of a “right” is that it does not impose on somebody else’s “right.” My right to free speech does not stop or hinder somebody else from having freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc. But, I cannot endanger people by starting a panic because I run into a building and yell “FIRE!” when there is no fire. I would be infringing on their right to life because people could easily get hurt or killed.

However, for the sake of argument, I would like to analyze this alternate belief of a “right.” Many people want to practice their right to keep and bear arms, but, they do not have the money to buy a handgun or a rifle. Many of these people are law-abiding citizens who live in dangerous areas of the city or country. Their right is not being met and they are in danger. Where are the politicians who want to buy these people weapons? Why aren’t the spokesmen for health-care also promoting and ensuring that all free citizens have access to their rights to bear arms?

I figure every citizen should have at least one good rifle and one good pistol so I worked some numbers of some high quality firearms. A standard AR-15 rifle costs about $900 and a standard Springfield XD pistol costs around $600. If the government would step in to ensure that “every citizen has access to the Second Amendment” then the price tag is only $1500. And that would be a one time fee per citizen. That is MUCH cheaper than the thousands of dollars per citizen the government would need to spend for health care EVERY YEAR! Health care is estimated in the trillions every year. The total for making every citizen armed with quality weapons would be a one time fee of 450 billion…not even half-a-trillion. They could easily add a shotgun, plenty of ammo, or cleaning supplies to the expenditure without even being close to the cost of health-care for a single year. (Keep in mind—this number will decrease when we minus people like children, felons, etc. The number will probably be closer to 350 billion.)

But we all know this is not going to happen!

This all comes down to one of my main points in all of the debate. It is all about power and control. Politicians are very selective about the “rights” that they want to champion. Control in health-care puts more power into the hands of government. An armed citizenry takes power away from government and that is why politicians do not want to defend that right.

There are other rights that are in serious danger such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, etc. The politicians pushing for control over health-care are also the ones trying to repress these. But people are willing to look past all of these in order to get health care. This is very dangerous and it will only lead to governmental domination.