Newt Gingrich on Danger of Communal Standards

Newt Gingrich appeared on George Stephanopoulos' show on Sunday arguing that the house healthcare bill allows for euthanasia. When Stephanopoulos pointed out that there was nothing in the bill allowing for this and might have added that euthanasia is currently illegal in the United States. Newt did not respond to this claim but continued, despite the fact that his claim was now agreed to be false, that some people in America wanted euthanasia and that the health care bill would allow for a system that could be used by euthanasia proponents.

This argument suggests a lot about Newt's objections to government. The government minimally provides a system or structure, and if any structure should be opposed if it could be misused, even directly against the intent of the creators of the system, then all government programs should be opposed. If Social Security provides a structure or system for guaranteeing a minimal income for retirees, then it could also be misused to bankrupt retirees. The Department of Education could be misused to teach children evils such as evolution.

I expect then that Gingrich, in the interests of consistency, will advocate repealing of the Second Amendment and taking apart the American military and the American Congress. The American military could be misused into starting an illegal war of choice against a nation that never presented a threat to the US. Similarly, the Second Amendment provides a legal structure allowing people to carry weapons. Those weapons could be used to harm others. And finally the Congress was misused when idiots such as Newt Gingrich were elected to it and, for example, shut down the government.

Of course, it's obvious that Gingrich does not care about consistency. To Gingrich arguments are not to be taken seriously or used consistently; they are to be taken up when useful and put down when not useful. So it goes . . .