Who Would You Believe?

Mrs. Knight and I recently rented the movie 'Thank You For Smoking.' It's the story of Nick Naylor who works as a lobbyist for the tobacco industry. In one scene, Nick is at his son's school where the class is learning what it is exactly that their parents do for a living. When Nick's turn comes up he explains that he helps promote cigarettes and smoking. This gets the class' attention and sparks some dialogue.

Kid: My Mommy says smoking kills.
Nick: Oh, is your Mommy a doctor?
Kid: No.
Nick: A scientific researcher of some kind?
Kid: No.
Nick: Well then she's hardly a credible expert, is she?

It's actually a pretty funny scene.

When you're 5 or 10 years old, you believe what your parents tell you.

'Brush and floss or you'll lose your teeth.' 'Bundle up so you don't catch a cold.'

Their intentions are in our best interest. We believe them because they're our parents and we trust them, not because we think that they are experts on every subject.

But when politicians tell us something, many are quick to believe them because they're politicians, not because they're experts.

Take for example former Vice-President Al Gore. He tells us the dangers of global warming, and to his credit, he has done his homework on the subject. But is he an expert?

I'm more interested in what a seasoned meteorologist or a climatologist has to say on the subject because they're the people who study weather for a living. Even if some do believe in global warming and its dangers, they're more likely to have based their theory on hard data and their years of experience. They stand to gain little by their stance on it. That's key, too, because they don't have something that a politician does: The ability to use the force of government to restrict the way we live our lives.

A meteorologist or climatologist can't introduce legislation. A politician can and probably will.

Global warming is just one example. How many times have we heard a politician tell us how a new government program or legislation is going to help our economy? Would you be more inclined to listen to a politician explain economics... or an economic professor who stands to gain nothing from his explanation?

People want their elected officials to have answers and provide solutions. But politicians aren't experts on everything. They make our lives worse when they pass laws that deal with things they know little or nothing about. Luckily we have an established set of rules that restricts what our politicians can do to us. It's the U.S. Constitution.

Unfortunately, politicians aren't experts on that either.

Hospital Wars

There's a battle going on between two hospitals in Huntsville to determine which one will be able to place a 60 bed facility in the nearby city of Madison.

Huntsville and Crestwood Hospital both want to build hospitals in Madison. Only one will be able to. They've been in this fight for more than five years.

Madison needs a hospital. It isn't a small town and it's growing. Fast. Depending on where you live in Madison, the closest hospital can be anywhere from 20-30 minutes away. Maybe longer.

Standing in the way and preventing a hospital from being built now is the Alabama state government. A judge is going to have to make a recommendation to the state's 'Certificate of Need Board' to determine who wins the rights to build a hospital in Madison.

Put that on the back burner for just a second.

Not long ago I was in Madison with Mrs. Knight shopping for a new refrigerator. We didn't see what we liked at one home improvement store, so we left and went to another where we finally got our refrigerator. I'm glad there are at least two home improvement stores in Madison because it would have been inconvenient to travel 20 minutes in another direction to search for a refrigerator.

Later that day we stopped to get lunch. Thankfully there are dozens of restaurants in Madison to choose from. If you want mexican, there are mexican restaurants. If you want pizza, burgers or sandwiches... Madison offers it.

We do our grocery shopping in Madison as well. If we weren't satisfied with where we get our groceries, there are at least three other businesses that could possibly meet our needs.

Had there only been one home improvement store in Madison, we would have had to have either bought our refrigerator there our make a journey elsewhere to get it. I'm also glad that we had so many choices as to where we could eat, too. If there were only mexican restaurants in Madison and we wanted a pizza, we wouldn't have been able to do it in Madison.

That's the beauty of capitalism. It creates competition, lowers prices and everyone benefits.
Businesses have to compete for your business! If they can't or don't, they'll close shop.

The same holds true for hospitals. They have to work for your business as well and part of that includes getting the best doctors, surgeons and nurses. If you have a choice between hospital A or hospital B, you can choose what's best for you and your family. But if there's only one hospital, you're stuck with it no matter what.

Some argue that because having a hospital is so important, it's too risky to allow more than one because one could possibly close. But that's the reason it's so important to be able to choose which one you'll use! People don't want below par service when it comes to their health. Competing hospitals is the rising tide that lifts all boats!

Unfortunately, only one hospital is going to be allowed to build in Madison and the citizens will be stuck with whatever the state chooses. But why does the state government get to choose? The state certainly didn't determine which hardware store or restaurant won the right to open shop in Madison! If Madison is such a growing city that's big enough to support hundreds of businesses, why not allow multiple hospitals to open and serve the public as well?

Government restricts our choices under the guise of what's best for us. We pay the price.

The citizens of Madison have been paying that price for more than five years.