By alex lubarsky
In a recent commercial espousing the benefits of the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (or the PP Act), the late Andy Griffith put
his credibility, and hopeful-enthusiasm behind this little piece of legislation
designed to help ‘fundamentally transform’ the United States of America.
“Nineteen Sixty Five”, Andy began, “la’da good things
happened that year” he said in his friendly, cowboy-English twang, “like
Medicare”, he continued with the confidence, fluid delivery, and sincerity as
that of a paid actor. “Free check-ups, lower prescription costs and better ways
to protect Medicare and us from fraud”, he promised, while pointing his authoritative
finger at the viewer. I did not know
Andy and never saw any of his shows, because growing up in the 70’s my TV
watching was limited to 3 channels of state-controlled news with ‘grandpa’
Brezhnev espousing the benefits of our Lenin-style social utopia. It was kind
of like your version of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, but different.
The first time I came across an example of a warped-reality inflicted
by media misinformation, I worked in an auto repair shop. After years of seeing
the insides of engines, I clearly noticed the difference between one that used
quality, high-octane fuel, and those that used cheap gasoline. I mentioned to a
customer that the rumbling and pinging was the result of residue build-up on the valves
and spark plugs because the cheaper, low octane gasoline did not burn as well,
or as clean. The expression on the face of this ‘mass-media intellectual’
changed noticeably, as he began to explain to me why what I was saying was
clearly ignorant, mendacious and wrong.
The PP
Act is not a new idea. It’s not kinder or more progressive. It’s not cheaper or
more efficient. It does not take better care of the elderly or the young and it
is not somewhere for us to get to but an ideology for us to get away from. But
don’t ask me, just talk to many of my Russian-speaking doctor friends who
actually practiced medicine in a government-run system of care, eerily similar
to the one that you are about to embrace. Talk to their patients, read the
countless books on the topic, and perhaps you'll see what I see. Although sadly, to get the feel of this medieval
whip on your naked back, you’ll probably have to experience it for yourself.
Back in 1949, in his book “Compulsory Medical Care and the Welfare
State” Melchior Palyi wrote that “In democracies the Welfare State is the
beginning and the Police State the end. The two merge sooner or later, in all
experience, and for obvious reasons … all modern dictators have at least one
thing in common. They all believe in Social Security, especially in coercing
people into governmentalized medicine.”
If it wasn’t so tragic, perhaps I could say it was
paradoxical that Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini were history’s biggest proponents
of socialized, free, single-payer, universal, government-controlled, (or
whatever sobriquet you would like to assign this menace) public health care.
Clearly these men did not have the health of their subjects in mind, when they
pumped their fist and rhythmically rhapsodized the benefits of putting their
party in charge of your health. Captivating the enchanted, fawning masses, and
like the Pied Piper leading the gullible crowds to a future that they could not
possibly want or imagine.
Please don’t misunderstand, I think it’s important that we
as individuals help others who are in need of our help. I don’t think my family
would have survived a year, when we first immigrated to the United States in
1979, if not for the generosity, kindness and proactive empathy of the American
people. There are indeed many examples of this kind of munificence throughout
this country by those who have made and gave away great fortunes: Andrew
Carnegie, J. Paul Getty, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates to name a few. Of course those who made lesser fortunes, yet gave no less generously every day of their
lives are people you can easily find in your immediate circles, perhaps in
your own home, or mirror.
My warning, more to affirm my own beliefs than to try and
change anyone’s mind, is that the more power we place in the hands of third-party
systems and self-perpetuating bureaucracies, the less health we will ultimately
enjoy. And since our freedom to live life on our own terms is in direct
correlation with whether we can think clearly, move fluidly, and have the
strength and energy to pursue our dreams, we must become vigilant to the veiled
treats to our independence, and cognizant to the structures of wellness and the
roads to optimal health.
A society that embraces wellness, allowing it to permeate
its culture can only be created by a free-market system that educates people,
inspires them and ‘sells’ them on the benefits of a lifestyle that circumvents
many of the chronic diseases that have become the norm. We don’t even question
it anymore, we’re just sitting there, sipping and bathing in the toxic swamp of modern
chemicals that unravel our DNA strands, hoping against hope that someone will
come up with another chemical that will reverse that insidious process before
it’s too late.
You and I are smarter than that, we set our own course, we
examine the facts, vet our allies and seek out the knowledge with which to
build the foundations for optimal wellbeing, lasting beauty, fabulous fitness
and inspiring longevity. I think Andy would like that.
Alex
Lubarsky is the founder of Health Media
Group, Inc., host of the weekly Health Media Live radio program, and one of the
organizers of the NAVEL Expo. He was born in Moscow, Russia, during the reign
of the former USSR. His passion is to inspire personal responsibility and the
freedom that it fosters.
