The 40th President Ronald Wilson Reagan

I am for health care reform.

It’s important for me to say that first before I get demonized as liking extremely high insurance premiums and outrageous co-pays. I think that there is a fundamental problem with the fact that children can’t get reasonable health insurance because they have a pre-existing condition without paying out the wazoo for deductibles. There are enough flaws to be talked about for days .

However, when it comes to the federal government I have always believed that less is more. That’s the Reagan in me. Show me something that the government does and I will show you how the private sector either does or can do it better. Now I don’t believe that the fed shouldn’t regulate some things, I’m not a libertarian. But as a rule, the more the government interferes, the more messy things are going to get. Point in case: Medicaid/Medicare and Social Security. Guess who’s paying into ‘em and probably will never benefit? (for those of you at home I’m pointing two thumbs towards myself)

Yet all these political talking points pale in comparison to the single most important issue that my blue dog counterpart and I both agree on. Abortion. Even with the President’s executive order, this bill is still not abortion neutral. Dean Burk of Boyce College consistently reminded us all via twitter that executive orders only last as long as the tenure and resolve of the sitting President. Scary thoughts when we think about the lives of the unborn. Quite frankly, I’m not comfortable with the resolve of a President who’s first executive order was to repeal the policy that his latest one is putting in place! And I don’t mean that as a cheap shot, but as the late Tim Russert used to say, “you’re entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts.”

All that being said, this is not a political blog. But the latest legislation that will be signed off by the President tomorrow will have implications on our theology and our lives. I’ve recently been challenged by a friend of mine who is much smarter than me to at least think about the fact that sickness and suffering are realities in a post-Genesis 3 world. Should Christians be for measures that reduce these realities? And if our churches aren’t taking care of the sick and the dying who will? The government? And if so at what cost? I don’t think such measures should come at the cost of unborn lives. There are a lot of questions that evangelicals need to think through, which is the point of this blog. But such questions will not be answered in a day.

Links for further reading
Dr. Russell Moore on Do Not be Afraid
Dr. Denny Burk on Bart Stupak