Uncle Sam Wants You---Dead

Recruiting posters used to tell young men, "Uncle Sam Wants You" with the undertext directing enlistees to the appropriate armed services recruiting office. I fear that if some lawmakers in Washington have their way and new poster will be circulated in line with articles in the Health Care Reform Bill telling the elderly and infirm, "Uncle Sam Wants You---Dead," for ending one's life will be viewed as a selfless and patriotic thing to do.

The AP reported on Thursday that the latest House version of the Health Care Reform Bill retains provisions to permit Medicare to pay for services aimed at helping patients depart from this life by their own decision, and with the assistance of medical personnel. Obviously, someone has argued that it is really expensive to have to keep all these old and sick people alive, and those folks aren't really enjoying life anyway, so why don't we help them and cut medical costs?

I wonder what will be the most cost-effective life-ending measures Medicare will approve? A nurse holding a pillow over a patient's face until he smothers? Maybe injecting an air embolism into a lonely and bedridden widow's veins? After all, if the objective is to dispatch people as quickly and cheaply as possible, we don't want to go high tech.

Excuse me, I was just wondering, does any one else see the government's venturing into the euthanasia business as disturbing as I do? It's bad enough that our government has already sanctioned the murdering of millions of unborn babies, now it wants to give its stamp of approval to what amounts to exterminating the old and infirm. Sure, there will be provisions for patient and/or family consent, but what about the poor person who is no longer competent to make decisions for themselves, and has no family? Being the ward of a state that wants to terminate your life as quickly and cheaply as possible isn't that far removed from being herded into a gas chamber because your government has determined that you are an undesirable.

I realize that a faith argument is useless when trying to convince the government it is about to tragically err, but do our leaders really want to make this nation the target of God's wrath? God counts the life of every one of his children as precious, don't you think he might hold someone accountable for the murders of thousands in the name of "mercy?"

Any health care reform bill coming out of Congress in the near future is all but guaranteed to violate a physician's first rule, "Do no harm!" I see nothing but hurt resulting from our legislator's bungling attempts to correct a system government interference has only made worse.

Jesus said he came that we might have life, abundant life. (John 10.10) He argued consistently that it was always better to do good rather than harm, to give life rather than to kill. But when our President has proclaimed that we are no longer a Christian nation, why should I expect that what Jesus said and did would influence lawmakers in D.C.?