Friday, March 06, 2009
Sloppy, Sloppy Thinking
ThinkProgress is denouncing Rep. Zach Wamp for arguing that healthcare is a privilege rather than a right. Without actually going through the bother of making the case that it is so, ThinkProgress' sneering expects the reader to assume that healthcare is, in fact, a right. Actually, both Rep. Wamp and ThinkProgress are both wrong here. Healthcare is neither a right nor a privilege, but a service. A right is a moral concept delimiting the extent of human interaction. To say that someone has a right to healthcare is to say that they have the right to demand others provide him with such care. But, fundamentally, there's no more reason to say people have the right to demand others provide them with healthcare than there is to say that they have a right to demand others provide them with food, housing, dry cleaning, or intimate services. But, neither is it appropriately a privilege. To the extent that there is a willing buyer and a willing seller for such services, it really isn't much of anyone else's business that the transaction take place.
ThinkProgress is denouncing Rep. Zach Wamp for arguing that healthcare is a privilege rather than a right. Without actually going through the bother of making the case that it is so, ThinkProgress' sneering expects the reader to assume that healthcare is, in fact, a right. Actually, both Rep. Wamp and ThinkProgress are both wrong here. Healthcare is neither a right nor a privilege, but a service. A right is a moral concept delimiting the extent of human interaction. To say that someone has a right to healthcare is to say that they have the right to demand others provide him with such care. But, fundamentally, there's no more reason to say people have the right to demand others provide them with healthcare than there is to say that they have a right to demand others provide them with food, housing, dry cleaning, or intimate services. But, neither is it appropriately a privilege. To the extent that there is a willing buyer and a willing seller for such services, it really isn't much of anyone else's business that the transaction take place.
