What Is Freedom – What Is Liberty
According to democrats, freedom is being able to live off the labor of others:
Democrats aren’t buying a Congressional Budget Office report finding that President Obama’s healthcare overhaul could cost the economy millions of jobs over seven years.
The nonpartisan office said the loss of the equivalent of 2.3 million full-time jobs could result from Americans adjusting their hours and employment in response to new healthcare options.
While Republicans said the findings show Obamacare is damaging the economy, Democrats argue any reduction in jobs would reflect the greater freedom the bill gives Americans.
“What we see is that people are leaving their jobs because they are no longer job-locked,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters after House votes Tuesday afternoon. “They are following their aspirations to be a writer; to be self-employed; to start a business. This is the entrepreneurial piece. So it’s not going to cost jobs. It’s going to shift how people make a living and reach their aspirations.”
Pelosi said she hadn’t “fully” seen the report, but, “this was one of the goals. To give people life, a healthy life, liberty to pursue their happiness. And that liberty is to not be job-locked, but to follow their passion.”
Democrats have jumped the shark.
Just so that we’re clear, the 2.3 million jobs the report talks about is 2.3 million FTE – Full Time Equivalent. So, if 4 people each cut back their work by 2 hours a day, that represents 1 FTE. Similarly if 2 people working 20 hours a week decide that they no longer wanna continue that practice, we lose 1 FTE.
Additionally, this 2.3 million represents individuals opting out of the workforce, this is not employers reducing positions or jobs.
With all of that said, the effect of this law is to take what otherwise were productive citizens and turn them into wards of the state. And democrats are referring to this as “increasing freedom and liberty“.
And it won’t stop here. After all, a more fundamental human need than medical care is food, clothing and shelter. Why would we not allow people to stop working to provide for those needs? Why not pass legislation that creates the perverse incentive to quit working or to reduce one’s hours?
No, the democrats have tied themselves into such a knot over this legislation that they are now on record supporting programs that redistribute not only money but responsibility. They are on record waging a war on responsibility, hard work and discipline.