Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Listen to Nat Hentoff

Nat Hentoff is among America's foremost civil libertarians. He wrote for the Village Voice for decades. He has hammered just about every administration since Eisenhower for civil liberties infractions. But he was never afraid of any White House proposal. Until now.

Hentoff has a column today entitled "I Am Finally Scared of a White House Administration". He sees these health care proposals for what they truly are: government control of basic health care decisions, the rationing of health care, and end of life decisions decided by government bureaucrats.

Money quote:

I was not intimidated during J. Edgar Hoover's FBI hunt for reporters like me who criticized him. I railed against the Bush-Cheney war on the Bill of Rights without blinking. But now I am finally scared of a White House administration. President Obama's desired health care reform intends that a federal board (similar to the British model) — as in the Center for Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation in a current Democratic bill — decides whether your quality of life, regardless of your political party, merits government-controlled funds to keep you alive. Watch for that life-decider in the final bill. It's already in the stimulus bill signed into law. - Nat Hentoff

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/hentoff081909.php3

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