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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 1993)
America confused about rights You do nothavc a right to health care. You do not have a right to an abortion. And, contrary to what you might think, you do not have a right to “privacy.” Privacy is a judicial con struct cut out of whole cloth. I speak here of constitutional rights, not of the statutory entitlements that have bloated our federal budget and sapped our national spirit and will. If one takes the lime and trouble to read the Constitution, then you will dis cover that the term “right” is used only once in the original text of the document, in Article I, Section 8, where Congress is given the power to protect patent rights. The Bill of Rights, added in 1791, tacked on new guarantees, but their interpretation has been rather selec tive. The First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth have come in for broad readings over the last quarter-century in particular, but the Second is under assault of late, being politically unfashionable. How many of you actually know what the Third, Ninth and 10th Amend ments actually say? (I’m not going to tell you. Look itup for yourself. You’re in college now). Our conception of “rights” has become skewed. Time was when it was pretty much limited to those passed in 1791, with a Supreme Court interested primarily in interpreting the law, not making it. Came the New Deal and Franklin Roosevelt’s court-packing scheme, the Court rolled over and played dead to programs with little, if any, consti tutional justification. Chief Justice Earl Warren confirmed the trend, in terpreting constitutional protections for criminal defendants broadly. The Great Society further debased the concept of “rights,” making them I’m not going to tell you. Look it up for yourself. You’re in college now. not God-given freedoms of speech, assembly and religion, but govern ment handouts. What began as tem porary largess in the 1930s became institutionalized dependency in the 1960s. None of it, mind you, is any where mentioned or authorized in the Constitution. But, unfortunately, tangible good ies mean more than abstract rights to the public today. Talk about restrict ing the Second Amendment, and only the NRA complains. Talk abouldoing away with the right of abortion pro testors to picket a cl inic—a clear case of content-based discrimination — and it is a good thing. But, God forbid, talk about cutting Social Security, scaling back welfare payments to women who have more than two children, or culling agricul tural subsidies, and you unleash a firestorm of protest of people talking about their “rights” being infringed. Mention restricting abortion and you’d think you were tearing up the original document itself. Americans arc so intent on grab bing all the goodies, and loudly com plaining about their rights to the ex clusion of others’ rights, and to the detriment of society, that they have lost sight of the original meaning of those rights. What is more disturbing is the tone of group warfare injected since the 1992clection. Young againstold, poor against rich, black against white, we are in serious dangerof Balkanization. It’s our own fault, when you gel down to it. Americans have always been individualistic to a fault. It used to be an admirable trait, perfect for conquering frontiers and overthrow ing tyrants. It fostered self-reliance and insisted on keeping government small. Big government pigeonholed us all, boosted class identification and gave rise to today’s class warfare. In the Federalist No. 10, James Madison warnedagainst“the violence of faction.” The most natural form of faction, he added, found its purchase in “the unequal distribution of prop erly;” no form of legislation, wrote Madison, provided more opportunity and temptation to “trample the rules of justice.” And what arc entitlements and tax programs, if not a means of redistributing wealth in this country? This would be an intellectual exer cise if we didn’t have a slick, snake oil peddler in the White House, trying to sell you on the notion that you have a right to things like health care, and that the government only need soak the wealthy, put price controls on doctors and rein in pharmaceutical companies to give you yet another wonderful goodie, free of charge. The only reason they can get away with it is that people buy into the intellectual vacuity that clothes class greed with the rhetoric of community. The real danger in this country is not the “greed” of the ’80s; it is the “gimme” spirit of the ’90s. Think about that the next time you cheer a tax increase on the rich. Kcpfldd is a graduate student In history, an alumnus of the L'NL College of Law and a Daily Nebraskan columnist. Uninsured contemplates health Some 250,000 Nebraskans don’t have health insurance. I wonder how things arc go ing for the other 249,999. I gave up my health insurance when I became a full-time student. It was no big deal at the lime. My policy had a deductible that was approximately equal to the amount of my annual medical expense. Everything else fell under the ‘Tm-sorry-ma’am-wc don’t-covcr-that” clause. My policy did cover “a physical examination every other year. This amounted to a couple of pap smears that cost an average S1.200 each in accumulated insurance premiums. ,■ While no policy covers everything, having no health insurance is kind of like shooting craps, except that in stead of chips, you’re gambling with your internal organs. Wagering that one’s body will continue to function seems astronomically riskier than buying a lottery ticket, but you don’t hear many protests regarding the so cial consciences of Nebraska’s uninsured 10 percent. In any ease, if I win a lottery, I'll probably buy health insurance, even though most policies arc limited to coverage for conventional medicine. I find conventional medicine the most gruesome and frightening of all scien tific landscapes. Ideally, I would like to pay a monthly foe to a medical cooperative where conventional medicine — i.c. knives, needles, antibodies—is used to complement holistic medicine — i.c. hcros, diet and structural align ment. Earth to Deb. Conventional medicine breaks the person down into organs, tissue, glands and secretions. Patients bocomc eases and parts become expendable. Cancer deserves a lot of credit for the dehumanization of medicine. Af The frequency of cancer may have something to do with the fact that it’s caused by every thing developed by humankind after the late 19th century. ter bank vaults of money have been spent for years of research and mil lions of examples, cancer treatment remains unaltered: Cut it off, bum it, throw chemicals on it — yours for only S9,999,999,999. Cancer is the big, mean monster under the beds of the uninsured. Oh, sure, there arc dozens of ways to spend a month or two in the hospital. There arc car wrecks, house fires and roving violent lunatics. Cancer, how ever, with its indiscriminate violation of human beings, is even less of a long shot than wrapping the Chevy around a tree. The frequency of cancer may have something to do with the fact that it’s caused by everything developed by humankind after the late 19th cen tury. We have industrial emissions, car exhaust, formaldehyde fumes and ra don gas to breathe; recycled, bleached water to drink and pesticide-saturated food to cal. As if that isn’t enough, we can light up a smoke and suck carcinogens directly into our lungs, cal foods that shellac the circulatory system, or re cline under simulated sunlight and cook our skin. The progression of lime usually increases the odds in favor of the disease. If yob continue to live on a diet of fried laid, your arteries will eventu ally shrink. Keep smoking cigarettes and your lungs will turn to ashes. Keep working on that rich, golden tan and you’ll end up looking like your favorite pair of old shoes. Birthdaysand theabscnccof health insurance can motivate people to manipulate their odds in order to pre vent disease. I’ve become something of a health maniac. I gave up cigarettes, liquor, meal, eggs and most dairy products. I take my vitamins, exercise every day and I sleep more now than ever before in my life. I don’t worry for at least 2 hours a week and my blood pressure is undetectable. I am the picture of health, except for a mysterious strain of other worldly bacteria that look up residence in my sinuses. It laid me out like hot asphalt under a steamroller. My eyelids weighed more than anvils. What kind of a chance do I have with a real illness if my immune sys tem can’t even handle a garden-vari ety sinus infection? Is the fun going to begin now that I’m uninsured? Why is it that my friend Evelyn, who is pushing 75, smokes like a chimney, has Bloody Marys for break fast and considers pinochle a physical activity, can still say with a rasp, “Oh, I’ve never been sick a day in my life! ” She’s probably always been in sured. i . McAdams Is a sophomore news-editorial major and a Dally Nebraskan columnist. UNL Scarlets Dance Team Informational Meeting 7:00 pm Thursday, April 15 Nebraska City Union Room will be posted. FUTO^OVER^I BIG SELECTION ^ $39.95 March of Dimes^ WalkAmerica* It s mends by your side. "It's hope in your heart." It's WalkAmerica. And when you do it, you help babies be born healthier. 476-0117 Sign up today! Call the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation now. Join Our Campaign for Healthier Batin Advanced Tickets available at City and East Union, The Fort, and Gateway Western.