The Great Cost Of Government Reliance Over Self-Reliance

     Conservatives like myself do not advocate self-reliance only because we are against the expansion of government that is necessary to support those who are not self-reliant, but also because it engenders competition, lower cost, and conservation of resources. When individuals are self-reliant and pay for their wants, needs, and desires from money they have earned, they are much less likely to overuse and abuse resources. Any resource that is supplied to individuals by a third party tends to be overused, then rationed and limited. One can make the argument that the free market rations resources through the cost of supply based on demand, but this type of rationing is driven by individuals and not government bureaucracies.
     It was, after all, rugged individualism that built this country into the greatest and freest in the history of man, and not as Barack Obama and others on the Left like to say, social programs created by government. It was not government-sponsored social programs that settled this country and carved out cities from the untamed wilderness. Neither was it government-sponsored social programs that built the railroads, inspired inventors and innovators from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs, and created the most diverse and prosperous economy in the history of man.
     Car insurance is illustrative of how the free market keeps costs low and choices plentiful; health care insurance, under the new socialized scheme imposed by Democrats, is exemplary of the opposite. To insure my vehicle against costs related to an accident, I pay less than $30 a month. This is largely due to the lack of government interference in the car insurance industry. To insure myself against the costs of medical events under ObamaCare will cost me ten times what my car insurance costs. The reason is self-reliance. When individuals are left to make decisions for themselves, it creates choice which engenders the low cost of competition. I can choose car insurance that only covers my expense in the event that an accident is my fault, or insurance that includes fire and theft, and every combination in between.
     Health insurance has become the antithesis of car insurance, with government subsidies, individual requirements, and heavy-handed government regulations on insurance companies. Where individual choice drives (no pun intended) the car insurance industry, the government mitigation of choice imposed by ObamaCare has not only increased health insurance premiums and deductibles, but will inevitably lead to a reduction in the quality and availability of care. Increased cost for a dwindling supply is the result that can be accurately predicted as self-reliance is replaced with government dependence. All great societies eventually destroy themselves when the virtue of self-reliance is swallowed by the vice of voluntary dependence.