Really?

No matter what Beck says, he's trying to scare people with talk of eugenics. Trying to brush it off later and say that the discussion is relevant because Nazi Germany started cutting health care to handicapped people because of budget constraints and that the U.S. will too is, frankly, idiotic. The supremacy of the "master race" and the elimination of "undesirables" is a fairly central doctrine. It had nothing to do with budget constraints. The Germans were taking over the world at the time. There was plenty of money/resources.

Also, can we please stop portraying Nazism as a "left-wing" political movement? There is of course the slight issue that Hitler arrested and killed left-wingers (communists, socialists) along with all the other dissidents who opposed his policies. But more broadly, most if not all comprehensive moral philosophies (political, religious, social, whatever) have a sort of built-in totalitarian/dictatorial instinct that tries to force people to conform to it. This is why liberal institutions (like separation of powers, referenda, direct election of representatives, civilian control of the military, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, etc.) are so important.

It's interesting to me that Beck justifies the whole thing based on the assertion that it is likely that the Federal Government is in danger of defaulting on the national debt (through hyper inflation). First of all, Large deficits are desirable during recessions. Once we have a recovery, taxes need to be raised and spending needs to be cut. If Congress can't/won't do this, we have a problem. As of right now, this doomsday scenario doesn't seem likely if interest rates on government debt mean anything.



I feel like I say this a lot (probably too much for someone as young and inexperienced as I am), but there are intelligent reasons to oppose the kind of health care reform being portrayed (Megan McArdle makes some especially good arguments and links to many others). Familiarize yourself with what credible people have to say before you make a up your mind.