Alfie Evans, R.I.P.
ALFIE EVANS, R.I.P.
By Gene Comiskey
I have seen socialism's future, and its name is Alfie Evans (*). Alfie Evans, just short of his second birthday, died in an English hospital on April 28th. He had suffered seizures and, according to his doctors, irreversible brain damage. The doctors determined that further treatment was futile and that they would remove life support. The English court rejected pleas from his parents and the Italian government to allow Alfie to be flown to Rome where he could receive treatment at the Vatican Hospital. He was removed from his ventilator and denied food or water, despite continuing to breathe on his own. The heartache, which Alfie's parents Kate and Tom suffered, was infinitely exacerbated by the socialist system. The people of Merseyside and the rest of the UK need to recognize the tremendous price they have paid for universal healthcare: their freedom. The freedom any parent should have: to make decisions concerning their children's, or their own, welfare.
Alfie Evans' prognosis was always irrelevant to the issue. Humanitarian issues are subordinate to the power of the state. The UK could not allow Alfie to escape their jurisdiction. As those of us who opposed "Obamacare" in the United States from the outset knew, socialized medicine is about power and control, not healthcare. The socialist state must always maintain its control. No exceptions to its rule. Once it has seized power it cannot allow dissent, much less loss of control. So Alfie Evans and his parents became prisoners of the state, Alfie's health subservient to the interests of the system. Limited resources means limited care. To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, "there is only so much of other people's money to go around." Many progressives push abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide as useful cost-saving measures.
The degrading of the rights of English citizens has been a problem for some time and it is worsening. They have lost their traditional right of free speech. "Hate speech" violations are punishable by up to seven years in prison. Commenting on immigration, terrorist attacks or rising crime rates puts the speaker at risk of fine or incarceration. Kate and Tom Evans need to be careful about how they speak about their tragedy. The results of this kind of progressive thinking are evident here in the United States. Large numbers of college students believe that speech should be limited to avoid offending certain groups; conservative speakers are attacked on campus; socialism is considered an attractive alternative to capitalism.
Free speech, free thinking and free markets are of one piece. As soon as you start restricting one, you are restricting them all, going down the road to "1984". Big Brother is a progressive watching your every move, controlling what you think and telling you what you need and don't need. Sign up for Bernie Sanders' guaranteed employment socialism and you have bought a ticket to "1984". Instead, honor Alfie Evans by learning the truth about freedom of thought, speech and free markets.
( *apologies to John Landau)