Bumper Sticker Tales, Part Two

A friend of mine is very proud of the bumper sticker he found the other day and intends to order. It says something like, “So you support the war in Iraq? Suit up and ship out, soldier.”

I love this argument. If you’re not going to actually fight the war yourself, this line of reasoning says, then you shouldn’t be allowed to support it.

Well how about this line of reasoning? You don’t pay taxes, you don’t get to vote to put the people in office who decide what we do with the tax money. What a world that would be, where the politicians have to pander to the taxpayers rather than the people who they like to promise the tax money to.

Like that will ever happen.

But seriously, along the same lines, if you say you support government-provided health care, then how about you be the first person to start paying for everyone else’s doctor visits and medications, and start letting a third party pick the cheapest, though most likely not the best, doctor for you to visit when you are sick. I got a big kick out of Kerry talking about how no one would be forced to go to the government provider. That’s right. But only the very wealthy would be able to pay their share of the national plan in addition to paying for their own coverage, and why should they have to pay twice?

I don’t have health insurance right now (though it looks like I may be able to finally swing it this semester), but I sure as heck don’t want the government providing it for me. Cause I’ll be paying for it just the same, but getting much lower quality care, as will we all. Just look at all the countries that do have national health care. If you find an honest study, you will see that this is a BAD IDEA. I would rather play the roulette game of hoping nothing bad happens until I can afford to pay it myself than see the government switch to providing it for everyone. They say free, but it’s not free. Someone has to pay for it.

But back to the topic. In this country, you’re allowed to support ideas and causes without being directly involved. Right around the time I was steaming about this topic, Ben Shapiro wrote about it this week. He puts it pretty well, so rather than my reiterating most of his points, you should just go read his article.

I just want to add that the people who are actually over there fighting this war pretty overwhelmingly expressed their support for the president in the election last November. They put back in office the person who sent them there to fight the supposedly pointless and evil war, so if they don’t have a problem with what they are doing, why shouldn’t I and likeminded others express my support for what they are doing?

I’d be a crappy soldier, but I hope that I help somewhat by trying to save a few freshman souls from brainwashing by their liberal professors. My favorite technique to teach them: just ask for some evidence. Works every time.