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Were The Wisconsin Doctors Practicing Civil Disobedience?

A minor firestorm has erupted regarding those doctors in Wisconsin this week who were handing out fake “sick excuses” to demonstrating teachers, Fox news producers, Andrew Breitbart, and, apparently, anyone else who had some use for one.

Indeed, there has been more outrage about this episode than DrRich would have thought. Conservative commentators, of course, were predictably apoplectic about the sight of these callow youths, preening in their white coats, abusing and debasing the sacred trust which has been granted to them by virtue of their profession. There’s nothing surprising about that. But even most of the more mainstream commentators expressed at least a slight bit of discomfort about the actions these doctors were taking, even if they were doing it for a very good and noble cause.

Only a very few seemed to endorse their actions completely, explaining that these doctors are engaging in classic civil disobedience, and that, by standing on street corners in their white coats repeatedly committing felonies with the cameras whirring, their behavior is every bit as deserving of our approbation as the actions we admire so much of Thoreau or Gandhi. DrRich is open to this explanation.

Civil disobedience, of course, is to a) openly and non-violently disobey a certain law that you consider unjust, b) to admit to the operative authority, upon apprehension, that you intentionally broke the law specifically because you consider it unjust, and finally c) to passively accept whatever punishment the authority hands out to you. These doctors have executed step “a” flawlessly, and DrRich waits with interest to see whether they will successfully complete steps “b” and “c.” Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at The Covert Rationing Blog*

What The Founding Fathers Would Say About HR 3962

DrRich has not read the healthcare reform bill (HR 3962) passed by the US House of Representatives late Saturday night, and he does not plan to. He spent far too much time this summer wading through the prior version of the bill (HR 3200), only to conclude that it did not say anything in particular, but rather, was intentionally vague on most key points. The new bill, being nearly twice the length of HR 3200, must necessarily be twice as vague.

So that anyone hoping for DrRich’s analysis of the new bill won’t go away disappointed, he offers here an observation on the new bill, which, he asserts, you can take to the bank.

The observation originates from James Madison, the primary architect of the US Constitution (and ironically, a founder of the Democratic Party). It is an observation DrRich quoted this past summer in reference to HR 3200. It holds doubly well here:

“It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood…” – The Federalist #62 Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at The Covert Rationing Blog*

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