Both candidates articulated new fundamental rights last night
If you managed to stay awake during last night's presidential debate (I did, and live-blogged it over at The New Conservatives) you would have heard two very suprising assertions.

Senator Obama was asked if he thought that all Americans had a "right" to health care and he replied in the affirmative. He went so far as to call health care a fundamental right. Curiously he did not denote which Article of our Constitution conveys the right to health care to all Americans. Perhaps it comes from another of those "emanations from penumbras" favored by former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. Access to quality health care is a desirable characteristic of a modern free society but it is dangerous to accrete to it the status of a fundamental right. Protection of fundamental rights are of necessity the purview of the central government. Ergo Senator Obama is advocating that the full power of the federal government should be brought to bear in order to deliver health care to every man, woman, and child in America. That's a long way from Jefferson's vision of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".

Senator McCain used the debate to espouse his vision of a smaller central government, a point he repeated made. However when asked about the current financial crisis he inexplicably trumpeted a bold new government program to "rescue" homeowers facing foreclosure. He envisions the federal government stepping in to renegotiate mortgage loans in the event a homeowner cannot make his payments. A $300 Billion fund would be established to provide distressed homeowners with an FHA guaranteed mortgage via a refinancing program McCain has labeled the American Homeownership Resurgence Plan.

Details of the plan are sketchy but as McCain described it last night the government would be empowered to renegotiate mortgage loan terms in order to allow homeowners having difficulty making payments or facing foreclosure to remain in their homes. The way McCain described this plan makes it sound very much like he believes that every American has a right to home ownership. Why else would the government need to step in to rescue someone who has taken on too much debt?

But by far the most troubling aspect of this "renegotation" plan involves devaluing the amount owed on some mortgages. McCain said:

So let me get this straight. I could have run up a boatload of debt on my house, spent the money on anything I pleased, and then President McCain will order his Secretary of the Treasury to buy my inflated mortgage and tell the bank I don't have to pay them back because my house isn't worth that much money now? Why didn't I sign up for that!

Sorry Senator McCain, your idea is just plain nuts. You can't bail out the banks on the one hand (last week's $700 billion plan that you championed) and then turn around and tell the banks to take a haircut on diminished home values. It's not reasonable. For one they won't go for it, so you'll have to cover the difference with more tax dollars. And for two, why should tax dollars be used to subsidize people who didn't borrow responsibly? Are you really asserting that people have a fundamental right to live in the home of their dreams, even if they really can't afford that dream? Again, where do I sign up? I'll gladly go out and buy a house I can't afford if you'll force the government and my bank to eat the difference when I default on the loan.

We should be working to eliminate the victim mentality in this country. Too many people believe the solution to all of their problems lies with someone else, and more often than not that someone else is the government. Senator McCain has abandoned all pretense of adherence to conservative principles by now advocating that government should save irresponsible borrowers from the consequences of their actions. It is often said that ignorance of the law is no excuse. Senator McCain is now saying that ignorance of economics and basic finance is more than enough of a reason to deserve a government handout.

I had thought there was only one socialist in this race for president. Now I'm not so sure.

Posted at 15:54 by Chris   [/election]   | | | Email | del.icio.us | Digg | Stumble It! | Reddit | Link