In 1974, one
Marc Lalonde, Minister of Health in Canada, published a paper titled ”A
New Perspective on the Health of Canadians”. Readers of the Forces pages may
be familiar with the title of this publication. But how many have actually read
it? Until recently, I had not.
Studying this
healthist manifesto allowed me insight into the fundamentals of the propaganda
that we are exposed to every day, through newspapers, television, novels and
other channels of indoctrination. ”A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians”
is a despicable medieval parchment. It reduces man to a pawn in a gigantic game
played by the directors of healthism.
A new
perspective?
As for the
newness of the perspectives presented in the document, let us examine them with
this excerpt from page 8 of the report:
“Nightly
rest and daily bread, the ordinary use of our limbs, and senses, and
understandings, are gifts which admit of no comparison with any other.”
Oh, really?
Millennia of experience speak to the contrary. Acting man has chosen to indulge
in opium, prostitution and alcohol. He has chosen to smoke tobacco. He has
chosen skydiving and mountaineering. All these things are supposedly monstrously
dangerous -- and they are also exhilaratingly attractive.
What do the
mindless healthists come up with to counter this? They resort to stating that
acting man is wrong! He is not aware of the wonders of hot porridge and cold
showers! He must be coerced into the right habits ways.... There is no inkling
of any new perspective here.
The fallacy of
public health
Next let me
poke the lance at a glaring fallacy. From the same page (page 8) we have the
following quote:
”Yet, when
sickness strikes, the patient expects rapid, quality care; all available
resources must be marshalled on his or her behalf with little regard for cost.”
Thus the
healthist elite speaks out in rage against acting man and his ignorance.
What is acting
man supposed to do? The robber barons of welfare statism, by offering these
services free of charge, have effectively stripped him of any incentive to
discover the costs of medical treatment. Through taxation, the welfare state
robs acting man of the means of providing himself with the services. Since
acting man has no incentive for studying life choices and their alleged health
costs, the welfare state throws more money into massive health campaigns in a
vain attempt to make up for its own shortcomings. It is a circular tyranny.
It is clear
that those at fault are the welfare-staters, who, armed with the pretence of
social correctness, attempt to run the lives of acting men.
The rule of
liberty
In a free state
acting man would have the liberty to choose as he sees fit. He could gather
savings for future eventualities. He could strengthen his family bonds in the
hope that his siblings might help him out in need. He could draw out insurance.
He could prepare in many ways.
When faced with
a medical condition requiring treatment, he would choose between services on
offer, and select the one he felt best served his needs and means.
In such a
world, the physician is not a tyrant. He is a servant of acting man. The
physician offers his services to paying customers. No parliamentary squabbles
are required as to how much money must be spent on health care. Nobody needs to
know. Acting man decides for himself.
Acting man
would then place health care along with all of the other services and goods that
he chooses between. He has the incentive to act, and the power to do so. Such is
the rule of liberty.
This is the
core of the problem addressed in ”A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians”.
No matter how many commissions are appointed, how many calculations are made and
how much propaganda is dissipated, the problems of public health will persist.
Why? Because public health is the problem. This problem can only be eliminated
by its abolition. |
