48. bibio44 writes: “By that logic, police and fire protection are not rights for people too poor to pay taxes. After all it would violate the rights of those police and firefighters who produce it.”
Actually, the three main functions of the police are order maintenance, law enforcement, and service. Also, several court cases and statutes assert that the police have no obligation to protect an individual citizen. I’ve written a blog post with details on this. See here:
http://www.patientpowernow.org/2008/06/12/health-care-police-protection/
As for fire protection, people too poor to pay taxes are unlikely to own homes. If they rent, surely the owner of the property has homeowners insurance. I don’t think anyone would sell you a mortgage w/o proof of insurance. And I suspect the mortgage holder wants to make sure someone puts out the fire.
Also, the fire department – health care analogy doesn’t quite fit. Fire departments put out fires. They do not repair the damage, or pay for it. That’s why people buy homeowners insurance or renters insurance. Maybe the fire department analogy matches with emergency care and getting someone to stable condition. But not all medical expenses. For more, see here:
http://www.patientpowernow.org/2008/06/17/health-care-fire-department/
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