Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing will be defending individual and religious freedom in hostile territory when he appears on the KUNM Call-in show to discuss the Supreme Court’s recent Hobby Lobby decision which impacted the provision of certain birth control products under the health care law known as “ObamaCare.”
The KUNM Call-in Show will air live from 8 to 9am this Thursday morning on 89.9FM.
The call-in number is: 277-5866 or toll-free 877-899-5866
Gessing plans to argue, in part, that:
• The “original sin” of American health care involved placing corporations in between health care consumers and providers. This was done during WWII and the employer tax deduction for health care was enshrined into law shortly thereafter;
• I agree with opponents of this decision who don’t want businesses/employers making health care decisions for their employees. Individuals should purchase their own health care, not their employers;
• Individuals don’t give up their rights by being a part of corporations. If you are forcing me as a business owner to pay for something, I should at least have a say in what is purchased. Congress has gone a step further, specifically passing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to protect religious liberties. The Court simply held that the law applied to private business and not just individuals;
• Even the very liberal Congress of 2009–10 never explicitly decided, or even really debated, whether to force companies to provide contraceptive coverage. HHS used the authority the law gave it to impose the mandate.
• Hobby Lobby provides 16 kinds of birth control for its employees;
• Analogy: Hobby Lobby not providing specific birth control options is equivalent of a Muslim or kosher Jewish company refusing to offer pork and beans in the employee lunchroom. Employees could bring their own or go elsewhere to eat.
• Putting government in charge of health care purchases through a “single-payer” plan could result in a religious conservative president/congress outright banning certain procedures or products. Canadians are frequently forced to cross the border into the US in order to obtain various health care services. Only a few years ago, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that individuals could purchase health care services through private providers as opposed to the government health care service;
I listened to the supposed debate this a.m. and found it a pretty poor creature. Two people, who are against the Hobby Lobby decision, against Mr. Gessing who received far less airtime. They brought in several points which were distracting and/or not pertinent to the discussion. I had hoped for a real discussion of the issue.
Why are you participating in these events which are stacked againt you from the beginning?
Just my rant. Try to keep getting the word out.
This is Paul. I agree with you that having two against one is not fair. Also, as the show went on, the host increasingly ignored me. I attempted to jump in, but the host let the women have much more airtime. KUNM is a liberal news outlet. I don’t expect to have even numbers in representation especially given that the Church and corporate advocates were not willing to appear. I’ll give the host a benefit of the doubt (it was his first time hosting the show) in terms of giving me the same airtime, but I felt the discussion was not very focused as you said.
I understand your statement that I should not appear on such an unbalanced program, but my view is that at least presenting an alternative is important even if the situation is stacked against you.