Dr. Michael Bauman | On March 11, 2016

Bernie Sanders says that all persons have a right to health care because they are human beings. But as a pro-abortion advocate, Sanders won’t say that they have a right to life because of their humanity.

Think about that:  To Sanders, your humanity guarantees you health care, but not life. But unless you are alive, of course, you have no need of health care, so your rights in this regard are simply irrelevant. As a human being, you have no claim to life, only to health care. In fact, in Bernie’s world, the health care to which you are entitled as a human being might possibly be used to end your life. Our health care system kills thousands of us human beings every day — because humans have no right to life, only to health care. Socialism is the death of reason and of babies.

No doubt you think of 9/11 as a great tragedy.  It was.  But we lose more human lives to abortion every day than we lost on 9/11. The health care to which you have a right is more deadly every day than terrorists at their worst.

If you have a right to health care, then you are, in principle, entitled to command doctors to do for you what you wish to have done and to do it for free. If you cannot pay for it, you still have a right to it. A right does not depend upon your ability to pay; it’s a right. Your right to free speech does not depend upon your ability to pay. It’s a right. It’s free. Use right now, if you wish. That’s how rights work.

In other words, if you have a right to health care, you have a right to make doctors your slaves. You do not have to pay them. You can’t be refused your rights because of money and you can’t be refused your rights because of peoples’ reluctance to comply with them. If you have a right, they have a responsibility. They must serve your needs. They cannot suspend your rights at will. That is not their prerogative. Your rights are exercised at your discretion, not someone else’s. They are YOUR rights.

Do you have a right to food? Does a restaurant have an obligation to serve your rights whether or not you pay, or, might they refuse, if they wish, to meet your rights to food? Can you command them to supply you food as your right, like you command doctors regarding your right to health care? If you have a right to food, must a grocery store give you food if you invoke your right to it? Are your rights to be suspended at will by other citizens?

If freedom of speech is a right, you cannot be refused it. If self-defense is a right, you cannot be refused it. If health care is a right, you cannot be refused it. If food is a right, you cannot be refused it. Rights are legitimate and irrefutable claims.

To be straight-forward with you, I deny that you have a right to health care or to food. You are free to purchase a health worker’s work, if you and the health worker agree on the service and the price; and you are free to purchase food, if you and the grocer agree on the items and the price. But you have no right simply to demand such things from others. They are your fellow citizens, not your slaves.

Dr. Michael Bauman

Dr. Michael Bauman is Professor of Theology and Culture and is Director of Christian Studies at Hillsdale College, where he has been since 1988. He also is Scholar in Residence for the Summit Semester program of Summit Ministries. He is a former inner city pastor in Chicago, an honorably discharged Marine, and a former cycling world champion.