Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Even those on the left are beginning to see the Big Brother in this health care reform

Democrat leaders went ballistic over Sarah Palin's remark about "death panels" regarding the end of life measures in the health reform bill. But many reasonable people on the left are beginning to realize that she was right on the money:

This is the Big Brother nightmare of oppressive government that the shrewd propagandists on the right are always blathering on about. Except that this time, they could not be more right.

As HotAir points out:

The shading in of human particulars is what makes this so unsettling. A doctor guided by a panel of experts who have decided that some treatments are futile will, in subtle ways, advance that point of view. Cass Sunstein calls this "nudging," which he characterizes as using various types of reinforcement techniques to "nudge" people's behavior in one direction or another. An elderly or sick person would be especially vulnerable to the sophisticated nudging of an authority figure like a doctor.

Bad enough for such people who are lucky enough to be supported by family and friends. But what about the dying person who is all alone in the world and who has only the "consultant" to turn to and rely on? The heartlessness of such a scene is chilling.


Even I wondered why so many seniors were showing up at the townhalls from the beginning. They already knew what we are just beginning to learn. In this health care bill, it is the elderly that will pay the highest cost. And I'm not talking about taxes.