Of mice and men

Of mice and men

Re: Health care reform

Behavioral Science deals with human actions and generalizes about human behavior. Big manufacturers have practiced human behavioral methods for years to supply markets.

For instance, you want to purchase a car so you go to various dealerships to find one that pleases you. Your dream car in not available because only certain vehicles are marketed. If there were only one auto dealer with one model at one price, that is what you would buy, because choice is eliminated. You are forced to behave in a specific manner, that is, to buy a specific car because it is the only one available.

Visualize a mouse in a box with a comfortable bed in one end and food and water in the other end. You put two tubes in the box allowing the mouse to reach the food, one tube is straight, the other curved several times making it longer. By preference, the mouse chooses the short, straight path to food. He is persuaded by manipulation to satisfy himself the short and easy way, similar to human behavior.

There are people in Washington D.C. who favor this kind of manipulation in every factor of our lives. Health Care reform legislation now before the Congress, heavily supported by the President and his associates, is designed to fit the behavioral formula. Conceivably a government plan costing individuals less, (except those who will pay heavy taxes) thereby competing with, and jeopardizing private insurance companies, would attract persons seeking a health insurance policy because of the money factor. The problem is you become a mouse in the hands of bureaucratic mandates. My vision is to allow Americans citizens more freedom rather than manipulate it away from them. Hopefully,  freedom and liberty will prevail.

Kirby Kline

Montrose