Editor,
In response to the Progressive Solutions opinion column "Ensuring the uninsured" in Monday's Daily Lobo, Colin Donoghue describes in his first paragraph how he should give up drinking and smoking because he does not have health insurance.
This is the exact reason why we need to stay away from his progressive solutions. He has made an individual and important choice for himself, one that affects only him - to try to stay healthy. But what is driving him to make these good decisions?
Would these same good decisions be made if all of the rest of us were floating the bill? If the government is going to blanket us with health care, a sacrifice will need to be made by all of us to support whatever unwise decisions Donoghue makes. Imagine that, times a couple hundred million.
Polls show that millions of Americans want free health care. Well, I hate to break it to you, but millions of Americans want to win the lottery as well. And it may take a lot of money to keep those millions of people immortal.
Oh yeah, pharmaceutical companies hoard a lot of money, but since when has it become your right to their money? And does Donoghue believe the government should impose force on them if they do not pay up for your mistakes? I wouldn't expect any new Tamiflu to be of aid if you happen to catch the most recent strain of bird flu. Most of the money used for their research and development is probably tied up in the anti-trust lawsuits, as well as payouts for the lobbyists.
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Observe the shallow statist ideas like socialism imposing the morals of "collective-good" on you, and join with me and say yes to individual choice and no to politicians.
Mark Erasmus
UNM student
