A Few Small Thoughts on Health Reform
Let me start by humbly admitting that I don’t know everything. Big surprise huh? It’s true. The healthcare debate that is in full swing right now deals with highly complex issues, and I won’t pretend to know all the details. These are just a few of my humble observations which are completely open for revision.
Let me also say this: The way I look at the world is shaped by my faith in Jesus. C.S. Lewis says it better than me:
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
— C.S. Lewis
I really do see both sides of this argument. On one hand I am really happy that my homeless friends and unemployed friends can benefit from medical attention. That a single mother can carry her child to term instead of aborting it because she’s worried about the medical fees involved in child birth, is fantastic. On the other hand, I am fairly certain there are better ways to reform healthcare. And make no mistake, I am always skeptical when large, powerful, governmental systems are involved in something (my Anarchic Theocratic stance). In essence, I think a lot of the wrong questions were being asked here, and accordingly, a lot of the wrong questions got answered.
Hopefully one thing everyone can all agree on is that Politicians and the Church people (Christians) seeking the Kingdom of God, have one main goal or task in common. That is to ask the question: How do we reduce suffering in the world? It seems to me that this Health Reform legislation will be doing that. Like I said, it’s by no means perfect, I don’t think anyone would argue with that. But I tend to view it in this way, as long as $.60 of every tax dollar I pay goes to the Pentagon to fund violent wars and bombings (among other things), something absolutely contrary to the Kingdom of God and which most are not outraged about, I am more than happy to help pay for my neighbor’s daughter to be treated for asthma.
This plan is morally wrong on so many levels. I'm surprised you are not outraged by this blatant theft from the American poor and working classes.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2_SsLut1Bk
M, Thanks for commenting! and Thanks for the link!I do love Ron Paul and I love a lot of his ideas. He says that people don't have a right to health care. I'll tend to agree with him there. I don't want the government taking anything from anyone, and like I said, I don't trust any empire including the American Empire. But as a Jesus follower it is my obligation to care for the sick, so in essence I'm obligated do what I can with what I have. Besides, what's mine is not really mine anyway...know what I mean?
from a conservative standpoint, the issue is really one of re-apropriating property- property which an individual has a right/ responsibility to generate/ accumulate. a pertinent question in the debate is the issue of who has the egitimate right or preropitive to re-apropriate that property. of course jesus, as well as jhvh in the ot initiated an ethic of redistribution; it was unquestionably written into the levitical law. it included the mandatory seventh day sabbath, the (also mandatory) seventh year sabbath, and the (also mandatory) fiftieth year jubilee (see Leviticus). yoder points out that jesus initiated the jubilee year when he initiated his ministry (see Luke 4: 18-19, Politics of Jesus, chapter 2). any political ethic derived from jesus' example has to confront the reality of his commitment to politics- a committment which made redistributive demands. the conservative concern for property is legitimate, but doesn't derive from jesus' concerns. the conservative concern for a too-powerful government is legitimate, but doesn't take seriously jesus' command not to worry about our economic wellbeing (Luke 14: 25-35). clearly, jesus is not asking the same questions conservatives (or liberals...) are asking.jesus makes it very clear that he does not come to offer us a "sustainable" political solution. he had the option of seizing political power, from the top, and ushering in change (Luke 22: 24-53). he decisively rejected this option, and instead offered us the ethic of a servant, who offers to die in order to subvert the powers, rather than kill to seize the powers.
if we actually want to engage this topic as christians, ardently committed to the method, means, and goals of jesus, than we have to consider the ethic he offers. in an oblique way, both the conservative and liberal agendas are parallel, or in some ways consistent with christ's ethic. however, that does not remotely make them the same. christ's ehtic exceeds the others by far. if we want to ask the right questions, perhaps we need to consider that jesus might not care about whether or not our rights are protected (they are not, nor have they ever been), but that he is only interested in whether or not our righteousness exceeds that of the pharisees and sadjucees. perhaps our righteousness needs to exceed that of obama and pelosi, et al; maybe we need to be askng how we can do better than this bill's proposals.
wouldn't it be a shame if the american empire really claimed the christian's prerogitive of righteousness? that is the government subverting christianity, when we should be subverting the government with our righteousness...wrong question: how is this plan morally wrong?
right question: how can i, as a christian, be more righteous than the claims of this empire?
"I don't want the gov't. taking anything from anyone" ...(the essence of conservatism?) Well, they take everything they have from US, and give some of it back to some people. I'm with you most of the way on this, but not the happy ending. As you stated, the wrong questions were asked and wrong answers resulted. And, yes, Gov.t is the wrong entity to find a solution. But, you're right, we need to move towards "reducing suffering" by any and all means, but better without assured negative attendant consequences (unintended, or not.) Lets hope this process will continue to evolve and mature as we go forward.
I normally roam all over the 'net because I have the tendancy to read a lot (which isn't always a good thing because most sites just copy from each other) but I have to say that yours contains some genuine substance! Thanks for stopping the trend of just being another copycat site! ;-)