Mother Teresa "stumping for 'single payer' groceries"

My favorite-- of many strong lines-- in a tidy little letter to the editor of the C-J from James Hill...

Count me as one Episcopalian disappointed that one of our local priests is advocating government-run health care under the color of religious authority. In “America's untouchable caste,” the Rev. Dr. Tim Mitchell plays the “What would Gandhi/Jesus do?” card in what is really a political and economic debate on how best to allocate a scarce resource, i.e., medical services.

The moral compulsion tack conveniently avoids addressing easy practical changes, such as having insurance companies compete across state lines or increasing HSA's so people can track how their medical dollars are spent. While the article ably extols our Christian duty to care for our neighbors, it doesn't follow that one coerces a free people through taxation and mandatory participation in yet another bureaucracy.

There's nothing “Christian” about forcing healthy and poor young people who don't want insurance to subsidize seniors who should have a lifetime of work and saving behind them. Nor does the article applaud the current abundance of medical service generated by our free markets or the role private charity has already played in extending its reach.

I fear my denomination engages institutionally in too many political debates, reliably advocating government imposed “solutions,” creating the perception that our mission of individual salvation is becoming secondary. I dread that next I will open the paper to find an article citing Mother Teresa while stumping for “single payer” groceries....