“This week Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared that his chamber’s health care bill ‘demands for the first time in American history that good health will not depend on great wealth.’ Reid said the legislation ‘acknowledges, finally, that health care is a fundamental right — a human right — and not just a privilege for the most fortunate.’ Since more than four-fifths of Americans already have medical insurance, and even those without ‘great wealth’ have been known to enjoy ‘good health,’ Reid was laying it on a little thick. But his premise, which is shared by President Obama, explains the moral urgency felt by supporters of the health care overhaul that is making its way through Congress. It also reveals a radical assault on the traditional American understanding of rights.” (12/23/09)