The Importance of Voluntary Exchange

One of the things which has been emphasized in our Declaration of Independence and protected in our Constitution is the blessing of voluntary exchange. It is a blessing to be able to make choices as to whom I will exchange with, what will exhcange for, when I wish to make a voluntary exchange, and for how much I am willing to enter into voluntary exchange for. It's what makes our economy work. Ultimately, people are willing to exchange goods, services or monies in order to exchange with others for things which they feel will give them greater benefit or satisfaction. People, because of their self-conscious nature where they are aware of what their needs are, learn to make choices that will best benefit them. Governments part in this type of system is to protect a person's right to exchange with others in a free marketplace so others will not steal from them or deceive them. It is a wonderful system - it works.

However, we must be careful that government stays in a protection mode and not begin to take a control mode. Whenever this has happened historically, it has proved to be harmful to the private sector. Whether it has been to control wages - which has created unemployment, or control the flow of money - which has caused inflation, government intervention into the economy has proved harmful to the economy by limiting the choices that are available to people who are capable of making their own choices in the marketplace. There is the danger of making wrong choices, but it is the people who are personally responsible for the choices they make and not the government's place to bail them out of their troubles. We learn much quicker when we are confronted with the consequences of wrong choices than when we are bailed out of them. If I am truly looking out for my needs and the needs of my family, I will quickly learn from the mistakes I make and learn to remedy them. I don't need big brother government to help me out at this point.

And that is one of the concerns that I have concerning a national health care program - I believe that it takes away the fundamental right of the pursuit of happiness by limiting my choice of health care provider. I must learn to live within my means, to save, to invest, to look ahead and plan for the future. I want the choice of selecting the doctor I want to treat me, to go to the hospital I wish to be treated at, to take the medication that I feel is best for me after consulting with my personal physician and deciding what is best for me and my family. But the more government intervenes into the health care system the fewer choices I will have and the lower the quality of healthcare I will be able to receive. national healthcare provision is not working in other countries, why do we think it will work here. It sounds very good, very humanitarian, but at the bottom line it takes away more of my resources and limits my choices, thus limiting my freedom. I believe to the degree we would rid ourselves of government regulation in the medical field (that's regulation and provision - not protection) the more competitive the medical field would become - and the result? Better quality care at more affordable costs, new and better ways of treating various illnesses, more personable treatment of patients (if doctors are chosen based on their performance and treatment of their patients, I bet things would improve). Can this work? Absolutely, a free people, given the opportunity to make their own choices, always seem to make things better!