Freedom Is Not a Singular Virtue. . .

. . .although many think and act as if it were.

Universal health care has come to the fore once more. This time director Michael Moore put things together into a movie, Sicko. Whether one agrees with him or disagrees, the logic of agreement or disagreement is rarely explored. People react--even intelligent people as well as people who asked for and received from the people the power to shape our futures. We call them politicians. Some of them and others

believe that the only language that can be used to argue for taking care of one another is the language of rights. But Jesus never mentioned rights when he commanded us to serve one another.

So Gordon Marino reminded readers in his recent, brief essay in Commonweal, the Catholic weekly. He aptly entitled it, "Me, Not We: What Ails Our Heath-Care System."

The loudest (and likely very expensive) recent rebuttals against universal health care in the United States distracted serious thought about it by enlisting people to holler about waiting for care. Who doesn't wait? Everyone waits, yes, sometimes too long. Very sad to say, some people die waiting. Pharmaceutical firms and profit-motivated health-care managers do not seem to be abhorred when people die waiting. People deserve quality health-care available to all, especially children, seniors and all rendered vulnerable because of preexisting conditions.