Physicians and other medical professionals have the power to bring down socialized medicine--socialized medicine as we know it, and as its expansion is being proposed. They can do so by simply saying, "Enough. Government does not own my skills. Government has no property rights over either myself or my patients. My competence depends on government being out of the way, not in the middle of my treatment and my procedures. If government wants to help, as our current President claims, then he should do everything in his power to lift any and all restrictions on health professionals. He can best do this by freeing up the patient to shop for medical care in an open market. This will provide the competition he claims he seeks. Stay out, and get out. Government does not tell farmers how to produce food, and government does not tell technological companies how to improve cell phones, iPods, and web browsers. Government did not until very recently own an auto company, and government had nothing whatsoever to do with the invention of the automobile, and even less to do with the development and expansion of life-saving medical pharmaceuticals. So why must government now become totally involved in my practice? Get out. You have no right to be here. You're bothering me enough already! I don't want you here. You're a big enough headache as it is, with Medicare and with the regulations on private insurers which are tantamount to Medicare in disguise. Leave me alone, leave my patients alone, and step out of the way!"

I don't know about you, but this is the kind of assertiveness I want my medical doctors to have. The American Medical Association won't do this. Instead, they give the President a bully pulpit from which to lie and rationalize about his planned government takeover of all things medical. For example, he says that America spends "too much" on medical care and government must "control costs" which can only mean: ration and control the nature of medical care. Imagine if the President said Americans spend too much on eating out--and government must control the cost. Or imagine if the President said Americans spend too much time watching television, or having sex--and government must control these behaviors. How is it any different when the President says government must control the amount of time and money Americans spend getting medical care?

Doctors applaud and show respect for this President even as he prepares to enslave them--and the rest of us. We're all told that government must control medical care because it's so important, because it's life or death. I don't understand. We don't let government totally control most other things, because we want those areas of human life to remain competent, competitive, rational and excellent--our telephones, our computers, our televisions. But don't we want medical care to be rational, competitive, excellent, even more than these things? If so, then why do we give government the green light to take over that area when we know, for sure, that government would ruin these other areas of life?

It's not merely wrong answers that kill the most people. Wrong answers based on errors can always be corrected. It's the questions never asked that kill people. It's evasion, denial and "heads in the sand" that lead to destruction. Nobody is asking or even raising these questions. Nobody. If doctors at the AMA won't do so--who will? On its current course, socialized medicine will pass into law without even a debate. That's not error--that's evil.

(Permission is granted to copy and send this to the AMA, to your own doctors and health professionals, or to anyone else you can think of--in fact, you are actively encouraged to do so!)