Liberal Vision

Worst decade ever?

Reason.com thinks so. Or at least since the ’90s.

Warning: very American.

Happy 2010, from everyone at Liberal Vision.

Why Health Care Shouldn’t be a “Right”

A very good report from Jacob Mchangama on why health care should NOT be considered a “right”:

The idea that governments should be legally obliged to provide healthcare for their citizens has become mainstream. The “right to health” forms the basis of policy for the UN, many international NGOs and development agencies, and exists in the constitutions of many countries.

‘If the development community is serious about human rights and improving health, they would switch their focus away from the “right” to health and toward the fundamental rights currently denied to hundreds of millions of people in poorer parts of the world,’

There is no evidence that “the right to health” has actually improved healthcare anywhere in the world – in some cases it has undermined it by imposing huge burdens on already over-stretched judicial systems.

The “right to health” also serves as a convenient way for authoritarian governments to deflect attention from violations of the most basic civil and political rights.

In reality, the rights which are really fundamental to improved healthcare are those which underpin prosperity and economic development – such as the right to own and exchange property and the right to free speech. Such rights are denied to millions, yet are vital for creating the prosperity needed to pay for good healthcare, Mchangama concludes.

Makes for a very interesting read.

Should We Execute Kate Moss?!

I thought the day would never come.. but here we are. The Daily Mail is commending a socialist regime:

Yet for all this orchestrated wailing, is it not possible that China is right to put Shaikh to death?

No, no it isn’t…

Indeed, I would argue that Britain’s enfeebled, self-destructive approach to narcotics has been graphically highlighted by China’s ruthlessness in tackling drug pushers.

In contrast to New Labour’s policy of appeasement and surrender, the Chinese Government acts vigorously to defend its people from the misery caused by the drugs trade.

My regret is not over tough action by Beijing, but the fact that we in this country do not possess the moral clarity or strength of purpose to deal ruthlessly with drug peddlers and other enemies of our society.

I beg your pardon? A policy of appeasement and surrender is exactly what we don’t have. We have prohibition. A factor that augments the misery caused by drugs by not acknowledging the fact that people take drugs because they want too. Britain’s current policies on drugs create and empower “the enemies of society” in the same way Al Capone was created and empowered by prohibition in the 1920s.

Vacuous supermodel Kate Moss was caught using cocaine by undercover reporters, most of the fashion world rallied behind her with a sense of moral indignation, protecting her lucrative contracts and behaving as though she were a victim.

British officialdom now adopts a simpering indulgence towards drug abuse. Politicians line up to boast how much cannabis they smoked in their youth and downgrade the criminal classification of substances.

Who Would Have Thought?!

Lib Dem Voice is currently counting down the most read Opinion pieces of 2009…

and the seventh most popular piece this year was MINE! I don’t usually like to brag about these things but since you asked ; -)

Oh Dear…

I don’t quite know what to make of this:

“You may follow Compass as well by clicking on the “follow” button on their profile. <<– I’d rather not…