It seems American businesses are getting tasked with doing more and more these days...and less and less of it has to do with "business."
Liberals in our government, who believe the average American is too stupid or otherwise incapable of doing anything for themselves, seem determined to make business the surrogate parent of the American people.
Why would I say such a thing? Think about it for a minute.
Our government has decided that employers and employees are incapable of negotiating the value of labor, so we've set a minimum wage standard so people have been relieved of this responsibility.
In many cases where unions have formed, our government has decided that businesses are incapable of rightly deciding whether they will negotiate with unions, and so forces businesses to deal with unions, whether they want to or not.
Our government has also decided that if a business is big enough not to be totally crippled by it, the business must give unpaid medical leave to an employee for up to three months...and hold a job for the person when they come back.
Now, according to the Family Research Council, socialists, er, Democrats in Congress are pushing for passage of HR 1424, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act.
This bill would require business offering group coverage to not only provide medical care for tangible illnesses, but for mental health problems.
While there are those who have genuine mental health problems, this is an area which is notoriously susceptible to fraud and abuse. In other words, it isn't that hard for someone to fake a mental illness. It's also pretty common to encounter people who suffer from an attention deficit (not that they lack attention span, rather they feel not enough people are paying sympathetic attention to them) and an unwillingness to simply pull their heads out of, uh, the sand and get their act together.
The FRC post lists some of the "mental illnesses" covered under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV):
- Circadian rhythm sleep disorder (jet lag type);
- Caffeine intoxication;
- Sibling relational problem;
- Substance-induced sexual dysfunction;
- Gender identity disorder;
- Necrophilia;
- Transvestic fetishism; and
- Pedophilia.
So if you're an employer, I'm sure you'd be thrilled at the prospect of paying for someone's "caffeine intoxication" syndrome.
Are you thrilled to pay for the counseling sessions (or surgery?) for someone who can't look between their own legs and figure out which sex they are?
Or getting the hots for corpses?
Or how about paying to treat someone's tastes for little boys or girls?
And who among us doesn't have "sibling relational problems?"
Even if you consider these "ailments" to be legitimate need for "care," since when paying for it become someone elses responsibility?
And even if you're only an employee, this concerns you, too. Why? For every dollar your employer has to spend on unnecessary costs, that's one less dollar available to you in the form of a raise, break-room goodies, or other benefits you might have received. Or in an economic downturn, the extra cost of paying for this might mean the difference between your company (and your job) surviving, and being in the unemployment line.
If an employer wants to provide benefits such as these to their employees, then let them have at it. But to have the power of government mandate coverage, for something that in many cases is the own sufferer's fault and could be avoided by discipline and mature behavior, is completely un-American.
When did we become such a nation of babies? When did we turn from a people who could brave a vast ocean trip, endure the cold and deprivation, build a modern civilization where no roads or infrastructure existed...when did such a people turn into a people who can't think for ourselves or even figure out if we're boys or girls on our own? How we managed to settle the colonies and then the West without a legion of counselors, I'll never know.
Does a nation so incapable of adult behavior deserve to go on much longer? Can it?
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