Tuberculosis Guy Repercussions (And Freedom)

A report I caught tonight, on CNN, about Tuberculosis Guy concluded by saying - and I paraphrase: There's little immediate danger to the public as a result of Mr. Speaker's actions, but one thing is clear. There are some big problems with the process, and the way things are handled.

Why does this sound funny to me?

Because the lesson learned here, according to the sonorous bullies at CNN, isn't about personal accountability, about the need to be selfless despite our personal misfortune. Instead it's some kind of breathless "can't the government protect us?" appeal to collectivism that seems to crop up with every public health danger from Katrina to random shark attack on Florida beaches.

Are we really such helpless children? Can't anyone fathom the notion that society is better - not when mamma government protects us from every remote contingency - but when most autonomous citizens are responsible, intelligent, and compassionate towards others? Neither possibility is flawless and perfect, but in the latter scenario, whereby most of us feel obliged to be virtuous - we preserve more freedom, more rights, more range in our individual actions.

That's conservatism to me, in a nutshell. There are plenty of ways to innovate, to change, to even be quite progressive, provided the onus of responsibility - the moral burden of acting in the best interest of others - is wighted more with the people, not the collective government.

Meanwhile, I hope this fella is sued left, right, and sideways.