National opinion: American's healthcare system is not in business for your health

When one looks at the vacuity of numerous politicians and other government officials responsible for national and state health care, there should be a new, more honest, name for their policies: Social Darwinistic Eugenics.

Although many attribute the phrase “Survival of the Fittest” to Charles Darwin (who preferred the term “natural selection”), it actually came from Herbert Spencer, who endeavored to apply the processes of the natural world to artificially created institutions—a theory known as “Social Darwinism.”

Over the years, Spencer’s theory has been used to defend the idea that corporate monopolies were actually beneficial, because when one industry rose to the top by eradicating its competition, it was the “fittest” and thus most beneficial to consumers.

Of course, the problem is that competition can also be eliminated by sabotage, espionage, conspiracy, or underpricing — a practice where a larger company charges prices so low that their smaller competitors cannot match them, only to later raise these prices once the competition has been driven out of business.

But Spencer’s theory was also applied to the medical field by those opposing vaccinations, other forms of preventive care, and even sanitation procedures, based on the belief that those who overcame potentially fatal diseases without such precautions were the “fittest,” and thus the only people worthy of survival.

Although the complex and extensive writings of Spencer are said to mitigate such harshness, he did condemn (in his own words), “the multiplication of the reckless and incompetent”; stated that “the whole effort of nature is to get rid of such”; and contended that “if they are not sufficiently complete to live, they die, and it is best they should die.”

Eugenics took Social Darwinism even further, from forcibly sterilizing people believed to be inferior to outright murdering them. And such inferiority was not simply limited to disability or disease, but also race, religion, poverty, ethnic background, and same-sex preferences.

Sadly, we are witnessing a version of this today. While, like America’s so-called “justice” system, this nation has also always had a two-tiered medical system, one for the rich and one for the poor, the top-tier in today’s system (those viewed as “fit to live”) are primarily wealthy, white, self-proclaimed Christians, and heterosexual men.

The lower tier, by process of elimination, contains the middle-class and poor, nonwhite races, women, non-Christian faiths (and those having no particular religious beliefs at all), members of the LGBTQIA+ communities, and basically everyone whose background does not comport with the white, male triumphalist view of history.

Perhaps the most disingenuous aspect of this top tier is that while many profess to be “pro-life” in their words, they are frequently unconcerned about and dismissive of the plights of children who are victims of sex trafficking, and who prematurely die because of Medicaid cuts, inadequate prenatal care, defunding of reproductive health organizations, and/or from once preventable childhood diseases.

Thus, while it may seem karmic when people who refuse preventive health care, because of the rantings of some “influencer,” succumb to preventable diseases, the problem is that such people frequently have the authority to also make preventive health care decisions for minors and the mentally incapacitated.

So, there are two rules to remember about health care and other regressive policies in today’s America and several of its states.

First, none of them are intended to “make America great again.” They are designed solely to protect and enhance the political and economic power of the top tier, and everyone else, including children, are expendable.

Second, under the auspices of Donald Trump, the United States Congress, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his ilk, America's Department of Health and Human Services is no longer in business for your health.