govt health care: "back to the plantation"

Ouch! A racial angle on a government expansion in health care...

That's the title of an essay by the Acton Institute's Anthony Bradley.

Black leaders constantly remind Americans of our racism. Should not these same leaders protest the expansion of government control contained in the health-care reform bill currently working its way through Congress?

Here’s why. Notwithstanding their rhetoric of freedom and empowerment, many prominent black leaders appear content to send blacks back to the government plantation—where a small number of Washington elites make decisions for blacks who aren’t in the room. Why do minority leaders not favor alternatives that demonstrate faith in the intelligence and dignity of people to manage their own lives?

Rev. Jeremiah Wright: “Racism is alive and well. Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run....[America is] a country and culture controlled by rich white people.” But if racists and “rich white people” control America, why do those sympathetic to Wright assume that those same people will look out for the health of blacks?...

If Princeton religion professor Cornel West was right...

If Georgetown University sociology professor Michael Eric Dyson is correct...

If CNN analyst Roland Martin was right...

Many black leaders seem confused on this point. If America has a race problem, then it will manifest itself in both public and private sectors....Economic empowerment and returning health decisions to black people are the only way to eradicate concerns about structural injustice....

Black leaders should encourage policymakers to make health more affordable by giving individuals absolute control over their earnings with concomitant power to choose their own health plan. Instead, they are conspiring with Congress to lead us back to the plantation.