Government Subsidized Whoopee

Mark Steyn wrote an excellent article about Ms. Fluke (you know, the "co-ed" who testified before a faux congressional hearing in support of the idea that I should pay for her contraceptives, and whom Rush Limbaugh called a "slut", which sent the left into paroxysms of self-righteous indignation):

I'm writing this from Australia, so, if I'm not quite up to speed on recent events in the United States, bear with me – the telegraph updates are a bit slow here in the bush. As I understand it, Sandra Fluke is a young coed who attends Georgetown Law and recently testified before Congress.

Oh, wait, no. Update: It wasn't a congressional hearing; the Democrats just got it up to look like one, like summer stock, with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid doing the show right here in the barn and providing a cardboard set for the world premiere of "Miss Fluke Goes To Washington," with full supporting cast led by Chuck Schumer strolling in through the French windows in tennis whites and drawling, "Anyone for bull****?"

(Continue reading... go ahead, it's really amusing, and quite worth your time)

Now, since this all blew up on the national scene, one detail emerged that apparently changes everything: The contraceptives in question are for someone who needs them for treatment of a disease (right, like "medical marijuana" is usually used medicinally). Of course, off-label use might not be for the purpose of contraception. In which case, it seems that even a Catholic medical insurance plan might allow for something like that. I don't think anyone is quite that heartless.

The question remains whether I should be required by the government to provide medical care (or contraceptives) to anyone. A "great" society takes care of its less fortunate, but that doesn't mean government should be the mechanism to do it. No one should be forced to help someone else against his will. That's not a great society; it's pathetic. It's also a fraud magnet, it's inefficient, and it results in mandatory participation in programs to which you might be philosophically opposed, c.f., Catholics, birth control and abortions. We have an amendment to protect us against that. So important in fact, that they made it the first one.