In an August 4, 2009, blog post, White House officials wrote: ” ….There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help.
In an August 4, 2009, blog post, White House officials wrote: ” ….There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.”
It’s the last sentence that is most bothersome.
Are Americans being asked to spy on each other?
Are U.S. citizens — of all faiths and all opinions — being asked to report any person, any website or blog post that calls into question or seeks to discuss any element of the proposed health care package?
Are Americans of all faiths expected to blindly accept — without discussion or questions or, yes, even complaints if that is a person’s freely chosen opinion — the entirety of the currently proposed health care system run by the government (regardless of whether or not it genuinely allows for the co-existence of private insurance companies) ?
Are Americans of all faiths expected to blindly accept all of the currently included bill components such as no conscience clause for doctors and other health care professionals who do not want to participate in the killing of unborn children, or who do not want to participate in the disbursement of contraceptives, or who do not want to participate in less than aggressive health care for the elderly?
Our U.S. Founding Fathers risked life and livelihood to fight for the freedoms we enjoy today—including the freedom to express our opinions. They put everything on the line to break from England and religious persecution.
Even more exemplary, great saints throughout the ages have done the same, and more, during challenging historical circumstances in which they found themselves—saints such as St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Joan of Arc, the Korean martyrs, St Augustine Zhao Rong and his fellow Chinese martyrs.
Whatever the intention of the aforementioned blog post, it would seem that any proposal for sweeping change — of any kind — which affects every man woman and child within a nation deserves the dignity of honest discussion and openness, on all sides of the issues. And any proposed component that limits a person’s right to free speech or to freedom of faith and faith-based choices is suspect.
Likewise, it only follows logically that an imposed limit on open and candid discussion, especially when it is a limit scrutinized and enforced by the leaders of a nation, ought to be viewed with grave concern, regardless of one’s personal opinion about, in this case, the current health care proposal.