As the health care debate drags on and Congress works towards a reform bill, I’ve pondered the thought: Is health care a right, or a privilege? I remember during the 2008 election, Obama was asked this compelling question. It’s truly a tough question, but it does not surprise me that the left-wing Obama believed it to be a human right.

He apparently forgot to read the Constitution and Bill of Rights, because not one article or amendment to the Constitution details health care as a right.

Once you make health care a right, two things happen. First, you mitigate the preciousness that the resource actually serves to the people. Secondly, the government must set guidelines and restrictions on the distribution of health care services.

Don’t believe me? Just go down the list of our Bill of Rights. First, freedom of speech isn’t entirely “free.” There are certain things we can and cannot say (i.e. protected, unprotected, obscene and offensive speech). The right to bear arms doesn’t mean you can purchase an automatic weapon and a bazooka, right? There are limitations to what we can say and the types of guns we can own.

This is exactly what would happen if health care becomes a right. Compare the right to health care to the “right to food”. There isn’t enough food in the country to ensure every single person gets enough food and water, right? Just how we don’t make food a right, we don’t make health care a right.

However, food and health care are also needed to survive, correct? This is when people are tricked into believing something should be a right because it’s necessary to survive. Conversely, it’s the lack of rights to the things that are necessary for survival that allowed this country to be so prosperous in the first place.

What I have been noticing is a perversion of the concept of our Constitutional rights. As I watch the mainstream media and as I listen to the president speak, I notice their regular misrepresentation of these rights.

Currently, politicians feel someone is entitled to something simply because they want it or need it. We all want and need health care, but does that mean health care should be a right?  We all want and need food, but is there a “right to food”?

The point I’m trying to make is we are entitled to the rights the Constitution grants us, one of which is the right to the pursuit of happiness. Politicians read this right but ignore the most important aspect of the right: Pursuit.

To pursue means you strive, hunt and work for something. We are not granted the right to something simply because we desire it. Our founding fathers gave us the right to work for the privileges that life has to offer, such as health care and food. The right to health care would grant us the right in which no earning, effort or action was required from the people to receive their health services.

The right to health care doesn’t need to be a special case; government-run services can be applied to any other privilege such as a home or vacations. There is no right to the homes we live in or the vacations we take. We work hard to live in our homes and earn the vacations we take. Those privileges are no different than the health care you and I receive.

By design, the Constitution gives us the right to free speech, to bear arms, and to pursue happiness without having to work for those rights. Being a citizen of this country automatically gives us those particular rights because it allows us to live our lives as freely as possible.

Ultimately, it comes down to your perspective; do you think of health care as a right or a responsibility? Making health care a right essentially grants the government power to decide who receives health care and what kind you of services you would receive. On the other hand, maintaining health care as a responsibility creates incentive for the individual to succeed and allows them to make health care decisions for themselves and their family.