Opposing ObamaCare without understanding the plan

I have to admit that I haven't spent much time trying to understand the President's health care proposal, yet I feel completely justified in being opposed to it. To some of you, what I just said should exclude me from even discussing the issue... how can you oppose something you know little about? Some would think that I might be a staunch Republican opposed to anything Obama and/or the Democrats propose. Nope. I would oppose a similar plan from Republicans. What I do know about the proposed plan is quite enough to oppose it, and that's what I want to explain to you.

I know this... that it's a BIG, FEDERAL, GOVERNMENT plan that promises to improve health care through government control. No more information about the proposal is needed to oppose it. There is simply NO plan with those characteristics that can possibly improve life in our nation. Why? We've been through it a hundred times with other BIG FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLANS to save us from ourselves, and those BIG FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLANS always have the following results:

They get far bigger than expected.
They cost far more than expected.
They become entrenched because they eliminate alternatives.
They become untouchable because they create entitled groups.
They become seriously inefficient because they have no competition.
They become politically corrupt because of the big bucks being tossed around.
They present prime opportunities for fraud and cheaters.
They decay because they cannot adapt to changing circumstances.
They shift increasing cost burdens to future generations.
They always have serious unintended consequences.

In a nutshell, BIG FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLANS cannot work well, ever, regardless of who plans them. We need look no further for proof than to very similar BIG FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLANS such as Social Security and Medicare.

Be assured that those plans do benefit some people. I get a Social Security check every month. Medicare has covered some of my medical expenses. How can I complain? My first complaint is that I had no choice. I was forced to participate. There is no way for me to be satisfied with my personal "results". If I die too soon, I will not receive back what I was forced to contribute. Unlike private investments, the excess will not go to my beneficiaries. If I live too long, others will be forced to fund my future checks. No, I cannot delude myself into thinking that the "government" will be responsible if I live too long... government just passes the tab along to younger people, like my own children and grandchildren.

You think that's a pleasant thought to live with? I occasionally ask students I'm speaking to how they like the idea of supporting me, a stranger to them, in my old age. They get rather pained looks on their young faces. I go on to explain how much worse those plans are becoming, and that those plans could easily bankrupt our nation.

No, Social Security and Medicare are not just bad examples of BIG FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLANS... they are typical examples. BIG FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLANS cannot work well, which brings me to one more result of such plans that I hate with a particular passion.

Big plans have BIG cracks. Any oversight or error becomes magnified. Large bureaucracies inevitably have flaws and oversights, but they have BIG flaws and oversights. With such BIG FEDERAL GOVERMENT PLANS, however, those individuals who fall through the cracks can become ensnared in a pit from which there is no escape. The individuals have become dependent on the system working properly. When it doesn't work properly, their very lives can be put at risk while they wait for a massive impersonal system to respond... or not. They have no alternative.

Let me explain why I'm so sure about BIG FEDERAL GOVERNMENT plans. I've spent a lot of my life making and implementing BIG PLANS. It's an approach that comes naturally to me. I tend to naturally think "outside the box" and in broad scope. As a result, I'm very aware of the inevitable faults that all big plans have. The old truism "anything that can go wrong will go wrong" is quite true. But... there is a huge difference between a BIG PLAN from me and a BIG PLAN from the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. Ever notice that those in government don't take responsibility for anything that goes wrong? They deny problems for a long time, dismiss them as exceptions, blame them on somebody else, or simply throw still more tax money at the system to make you believe they're doing something. They're also expert at producing grand propaganda to control public opinion.

Of all the PLANS that can be conceived by anyone anywhere... of any size and scope... there are none more predisposed to disastrous results than a BIG FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PLAN, and ObamaCare is all that... in spades.