Bryan Caplan, one of my favorite bloggers, will sometimes write a short review of a book he has read with a small snippet. Whenever the book involves communism, it is always a treat. His latest post, on Nothing to Envy: The Ordinary Lives in North Korea, is no exception.
Socialized medicine is like a love potion. The government can treat you like dirt, but as long as it slips a little of this potion into your drink, you'll probably think "How wonderful - the government loves me so much that it takes care of me whenever I'm sick without asking for a thing in return." And who would be vile enough not to love such a government back?
My point: Whatever you think about socialized medicine, it's not that great. It's not remotely enough to, say, redeem North Korea. The fact that anyone would imagine otherwise reveals a strong human tendency to judge socialized medicine like a bad boyfriend - with our hearts instead of our heads. When someone says, "Dump him - he's just not good for you!" we really ought to calm down and listen.
Sadly, the sentiment matters more than the results in most politics.
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What the hell? Who cares what happens in North Korea relative to healthcare? It isn't representative of anything other than North Korea. Geez!
ReplyDeleteI always wondered why the USSR put such an effort into saving Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's life from cancer when he had already been doomed at Novy Jerusalem's brick-making plant and later at the gulag in Book 3. It puzzles me to this day.
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