Don't Count on National To Fix Health

Libertarianz Deputy Stephen Berry thinks little of comments made by National Health spokesman Dr. Lynda Scott on obesity and District Health Boards. "It will take more than tinkering with DHBs and state bureaucracy to fix health issues in New Zealand. The change must be philosophical, not pragmatic," declares Berry, "and requires diminishing government nannying, not increasing it."

'Nanny Scott' criticises District Health Boards for being 'so intent on reducing deficits they cannot focus on community initiatives which address issues like obesity.' Berry demurs, suggesting instead that issues of obesity and the like will never be solved by a system that works only to increase spending. "Not withstanding the wishes of Nanny Scott and her ilk, health issues will only worsen unless a philosophical change occurs in individuals themselves - a change geared towards preventing and solving one's own problems. It's called self-responsibility, something for which the National Party once stood."

"Flashy campaigns in schools and on television - using money that people could otherwise have spent themselves to manage their own health - changes nothing," says Berry. "The problem gets worse even as state resources committed to the issue grow. Let people fight their own war on fat with their own money - if they wish to."

People would be able to manage their own health problems if, as the Libertarianz propose, government stopped taking their money from them at gunpoint. "Just give people's money back, Lynda, instead of taxing them to publicise your favourite issue. Cause-and-effect will work better than a nannying grab-and-spend. When people start suffering the negative consequences of their bad choices instead of a getting handout, they will be more willing and able to look after themselves."

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>