Promoting Universal Human Rights

"Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize an undercover dictatorship. To restrict the art of healing to one class of men, and deny equal privilege to others, will be to constitute the Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-American and despotic, and have no place in a Republic. The Constitution of this Republic should make special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom." abridged quote --Benjamin Rush, M.D., a signer of the Declaration of Independence

Update:

Reliapundit tells me that this is a bogus quote. It could very well be. However, it does in fact express something which has come to pass in America. The medical cartel through government regulation has effectively created a situation where medicine is controlled in America by private groups through government regulation. They restrict the supply of doctors through their trade schools and restict the medicines available through the operation of the FDA and control of pharmacies. No authorization from a doctor? No medicine.

The FDA will tell you how many lives they save by keeping bad medicines and treatments off the market. What they do not tell you is how many people die through the delay of getting good medicines and treatments through the FDA process.

At one time the job of the FDA was to prove that a treatment or medicine was not unduly harmful. Testing for that cost in the 10s of millions range and could be done fairly rapidly. Now the FDA requires proof that medicines work. This takes much longer and costs a lot more. Ten to one hundred times more. Medicines which treat diseases which do not affect large numbers of people no longer get developed because with the regulatory scheme now in place such development is not profitable.

Do the members of the medical cartel complain about this onerous regulation? Of course not. They can afford the costs and it keeps the little guys out of the market. As usually happens with government regulation it starts out purporting to help the people and winds up benefitting the regulated at the expense of the people. The history of the Interstate Commerce Comission (ICC) is instructive in this regards. It was originally put in place to prevent "predatory" pricing by the railroads and extended itself into the regulation of the trucking companies - competitors of the railroad. The ICC has been effictively abolished and what happened? Freight rates went down. Could it be that if we abolished the FDA and the requirement that only doctors approved by the AMA can practice medicine or grant access to drugs that the cost of health care would be determined by the market and not the government?

All this is the first step in the socialization of medicine. First a cartel gets hold of the regulatory mechanism and drives up prices. Then in order to combat the power of the cartel we are told that a bigger cartel (socialized medicine) is needed.

It amazes me that so many who are against socialized medicine favor heavy government regulation of medicine. The control disease for which only more control is the cure.

I'm not against the AMA or pharmacies that want to be governed by their rules. However, they ought not have a government license to print money.

From the Wiki on the AMA:

Critics of the American Medical Association, including economist Milton Friedman, have asserted that the organization acts as a government-sanctioned guild and has attempted to increase physicians' wages and fees limit by influencing limitations on the supply of physicians and non-physician competition [13][14]. They assert that these actions not only have inflated the cost of healthcare in the United States but also have caused a decline in the quality of healthcare.

Now all this came up because Reliapundit and I disagree about the usefulness of the drug war. Here is a list of some diseases for which there is evidence that marijuana is an effective treatment. My take is that the medical cartel loves the DEA. Imagine growing your own medicine and taking it without a doctor's approval. If that sort of thing started happening on a regular basis people might get ideas.

Further update:

The first attribution of the Benjamin Rush quote I could find is from: Rush, Benjamin & Corner, George Washington ; The autobiography of Benjamin Rush; his "Travels through Life" together with his Commonplace Book for 1789-1813, ed. with introd. and notes by George W. Corner. Now first printed in full from the original manuscripts in possession of The American Philosophical Society and The Library Company of Philadelphia. ; Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1948. Art and Medicine

Rational Choice

JR has posted some excerpts from a recent review of the Russian situation. Since I commented on that a few days ago I thought I'd add my 2¢s.

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Jeff Lukens writes in The American Thinker about the resurgence of Russia on the world scene and Putin's plan to revive Russia's fortunes goeopolitically, economically, and demographically.

Putin sees Russia's vast petroleum reserves as more than a means to economic growth, but as an avenue to superpower status once again. Last year, Russia was the second-highest oil producer in the world after Saudi Arabia. Their GDP has grown at an average rate of 5.5% since 2000, largely by energy exports.

So far so good. However, if oil prices fall as they surely will come the next recession, Russia and the oil exporters in general will be in a world of hurt.

Demographically, however, Russia is a nation that is slowly dying. The country has dwindling birthrates, and amazingly, declining life expectancy. That portends a bleak economic outlook unless they can leverage their energy resources to attain higher growth rates. This is Putin's strategy.

The demographic question is one that will not go away. In human society for a very long time children/family were a person's retirement and medical plan. With government's taking over that function the millenia long incentives we have had to live by are gone. Russia hopes to reverse the trend by improving economic conditions. I don't think it can work. However, we shall see.

In any case if they can keep raising their income for a while they will be at minimum a troublesome opposition.

So can we get along with the Russian Bear?

For its part, Washington may have unnecessarily provoked Putin as well.

Following 9/11, Putin agreed to allow Americans to stage the Afghanistan invasion from bases in former Soviet central Asian republics. Washington's reluctance now to depart from these bases has become troublesome to Moscow.

Overreach by NATO hasn't helped either. With China to the east, radical Islam to the south, and NATO's advancement from the west, Putin fears Russia is being threatened and encircled.

When the Soviet Army departed former Warsaw Pact countries in Eastern Europe, they were not expecting NATO to expand eastward. But that is exactly what happened. Not only did Poland and the Czech Republic join NATO, the former Soviet republics of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have joined too.

I believe the NATOization of the former satellites caused anger more due to the loss of military sales (loss of volume production/profits) than to the politico/military aspects. Of course loss of military sales also restricts the sphere of influence, so there are probably multiple aspects.

Ultimately Russia will hold whatever ground it can. Holding on to the former satellites was never an option.

All through Russian history the people have prefered authority over liberty as Jeff notes:

Most Russians would rather have a strong and secure nation than one that guarantees personal freedoms. This sentiment, and the growing economy, is the basis for Putin's broad popularity. A recent poll found only 16 percent of Russians surveyed want to see Western-style democracy remain in their country. Predictability is perhaps the greatest comfort to the average Russian.

Since winter time living in Russia is so precarious, perhaps trading Liberty for Security is a rational choice. It could also be a bargain with the devil who is now calling his note due.

Cross Posted at Power and Control