Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The Rules

A few days ago, I happened to meet a doctor in our area who has an unusual background. He emigrated to America from Russia, and I heard from one of the nurses in his practice that he had to go back through medical school and earn a new degree in order to get his medical license in the United States.
"I came here," he said, "because of my son." His son is ten years old, and he moved to the US ten years ago.
"I grew up in the system, so I learned the rules," he continued. "But you ask yourself whether you want your child to learn the rules."

His overall summary of Russia's culture of authoritarianism is that "They do not value human life." This was his introduction to the subject on which he was most passionate: socialized medicine. A major part of the reason he left Russia was because socialized medicine is just as intolerable for doctors as it is for patients.

Do you want your children to learn the rules? Or do you want them to grow up as free men?