The concept of a worldview is not new, although most people with whom I interact appear to have little or not interest or awareness of the topic. Then why do I think that it's important?
I happened to watch CNN for a few minutes today. The program participants were discussing the latest machinations in Washington (DC, the crazy place, not Washington State, the truly lovely place) regarding the attempts by the US Senate to do something with Obamacare. Underneath all of the rhetoric about eliminating and replacing the former president's health care legislation versus tweaking and preserving it, and how this is linked to political ideology, and how this rules out bipartisan cooperation, and on, and on, and on, one thing became crystal clear to me:
A large percentage of the American people appear not to see health care as a public good. Adequate minimum universal health care is not a human right.
Americans would never pass legislation that let people opt out of an adequate minimum education. They would not permit people to withdraw tax support for police and fire services, or defence, paving the interstates, or having a functioning government. These are seen as sufficiently important that all should receive such services and pay for them whether they want them or see them as necessary or not. The strong (some might say, hyper) American focus on the freedom of the individual to the contrary notwithstanding, certain services are deemed to be so important to a properly functioning society that all should participate at least to the extent of helping pay for them. These are what are called public goods. Some might even call them human rights.
But in the US, health care is not a public good. Therefore, able bodied individuals (or anyone else for that matter) who don't feel the need for health care and are willing to take the risks of not having access to it except at huge costs, are allowed to make that decision. People with certain pre-existing conditions are denied coverage in many instances. Millions and millions are left uninsured. And the remainder pay for coverage at much higher prices than would otherwise be the case if everyone were contributing.
In Canada, health care is a public good. We all contribute via the tax system and the provincial governments run the health system. Rich and poor alike have access to our public system, most of it at no additional cost. No one is allowed to opt out. The man seen as the father of our public, one-payer system, former Saskatchewan premier and NDP leader Tommy Douglas, was chosen as the greatest Canadian ever in a CBC poll. While political parties debate whether the public system should be supplemented by private participation to reduce wait times, no party across the political spectrum disputes the fundamental principle that universal health care is a public good. This principle is part of the Canadian worldview.
And this brings me to the concept of a worldview. My rough and ready definition is that a worldview is what we use to make sense of what we see around us, what we read, hear, and experience. Upbringing and parental values, our education, the views of our friends, and above all the culture or subculture in which we are raised, are formative in developing a worldview. Which is why no two worldviews are exactly alike. There may be wide areas of agreement on what makes sense in terms of a healthy worldview, but there are many differences as well. In the US, seeing health care as a human right is far from universal; in Canada is the reverse is true.
But which worldview is correct? Is there such a thing as one correct worldview? That comes next.
A large percentage of the American people appear not to see health care as a public good. Adequate minimum universal health care is not a human right.
Americans would never pass legislation that let people opt out of an adequate minimum education. They would not permit people to withdraw tax support for police and fire services, or defence, paving the interstates, or having a functioning government. These are seen as sufficiently important that all should receive such services and pay for them whether they want them or see them as necessary or not. The strong (some might say, hyper) American focus on the freedom of the individual to the contrary notwithstanding, certain services are deemed to be so important to a properly functioning society that all should participate at least to the extent of helping pay for them. These are what are called public goods. Some might even call them human rights.
But in the US, health care is not a public good. Therefore, able bodied individuals (or anyone else for that matter) who don't feel the need for health care and are willing to take the risks of not having access to it except at huge costs, are allowed to make that decision. People with certain pre-existing conditions are denied coverage in many instances. Millions and millions are left uninsured. And the remainder pay for coverage at much higher prices than would otherwise be the case if everyone were contributing.
And this brings me to the concept of a worldview. My rough and ready definition is that a worldview is what we use to make sense of what we see around us, what we read, hear, and experience. Upbringing and parental values, our education, the views of our friends, and above all the culture or subculture in which we are raised, are formative in developing a worldview. Which is why no two worldviews are exactly alike. There may be wide areas of agreement on what makes sense in terms of a healthy worldview, but there are many differences as well. In the US, seeing health care as a human right is far from universal; in Canada is the reverse is true.
But which worldview is correct? Is there such a thing as one correct worldview? That comes next.
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