Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:08 pm
On his radio show today Glenn Beck invoked Jesus and God in his argument against universal healthcare. He said, “God doesn’t give healthcare. Man provides healthcare, so how can it be a right? If you are endowed by your creator with certain inalienable rights, how can a God given right be healthcare?” But is the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness also in the Declaration of Independence?
Here is the audio courtesy of Media Matters:
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Beck said, “Fall to your knees and decide. Is this country, has it been founded through divine providence? Is this country a sacred land? Who is the one that gives us rights? A universal health care system, we have a right to healthcare, really? God doesn’t give healthcare. Man provides healthcare, so how can it be a right? If you are endowed by your creator with certain inalienable rights, how can a God given right be healthcare, unless Jesus comes down and starts to open up a clinic and heals us himself, there can not be a right to healthcare because rights come from God.”
See what Beck did there, he parsed the Declaration of Independence and interpreted it to mean that all of our rights come from God, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Notice that the Declaration doesn’t mention God, but Beck claims it does. It can be argued that if the consent of the governed is in favor of healthcare reform, then people are entitled to it. Most importantly, what about the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? One can argue that universal healthcare is a right because without it interferes with the basic rights to life and the pursuit of happiness.
Healthcare is a right, and invoking Jesus and God is a ridiculous argument against reform. God has nothing to do with heathcare, and Beck is just trying to distort and distract, while enraging his listeners under the banner of God. People like Beck don’t get it, they aren’t winning the debate. They won’t stop healthcare. A healthcare reform bill is certain to pass, and I want to see how he spins it after Obama signs the bill into law.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
