Patty Murray

I received an email from Patty Murray's office, asking for personal stories about why the need to move to socialist medicine is the path to a better future.

Here's how I obliged:

As a 33-year-old Type I diabetic who has had his condition for 22 years, the importance of health is plain. For that reason, I believe personal responsibility for one's own health is nothing short of absolute; each of us has a duty to take care of him or herself. If the choice is made not to, through obesity, smoking, lack of exercise, etc., the individual rightly earns the diseases nature provides. It is not incumbent upon his peers, however, to fund his poor choices; only to protect his freedom to make those choices.

America has always been a country of individual freedom. With that comes individual responsibility. If the freedom to select one's own medical plan is removed by a monopolistic, totalitarian, government-run system such as England's or Canada's, that responsibility then falls to the politicians to dictate.

Who will get care, at what stage of disease, and at what age, will all be dictated by a faceless committee of politicians who receive payment from the government: a perfect recipe for disaster. If my neighbor is paying for my bills, my neighbor has the right to demand that I maintain a low body fat, low cholesterol levels, to not smoke the occasional cigar, and to certainly stay away from sweets.

This represents a staggering loss of freedom which Americans will not tolerate.

I will continue to maintain a healthy life, continue to pay for my own care, and I will not ask my neighbor to provide for my requirements. As long as I am not further overtaxed, I will donate to causes which assist those unable to provide for their own care.

Russell Craber