Random Thoughts

            

             Imagine going to your family physician for your annual physical only to find out that you have cancer and need to see a specialist right away. Imagine further that neither you nor your doctor can find an oncologist who will see you in less than two weeks. With your life hanging in the balance, how would that make you feel? You would probably scream that this is unacceptable. Well, if you lived in Great Britain you would be among the many of patients who fall into this category. Why? Because there aren’t enough oncologists to meet the demand. This is only one example of what happens when medical services are controlled by the government. In Britain it’s called National Health Service. In the United States it would be called Medicare for All—if Democrats like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have their way.

            An old Belgian Philosophy professor of mine threw out a statement and challenged his students to prove him wrong. The statement was “Pas de pensées sans paroles.” Literally, it means no thoughts without words. Specifically, a language with words is necessary for thinking. Hmm. Are animals capable of thinking? They certainly have feelings: a dog wags his tail when he’s happy, he growls when he’s angry, he tucks his tail between his legs when he’s afraid. But do feelings qualify as thoughts? Animals are capable of communicating with each other; they have their own languages. They are capable of teaching and learning, too. And some animals seem to be able to plan in concert with each other and form societies governed by rules. But the languages animals use to communicate with each other do not have words, because words are abstract, representative. Even the large vocabulary of signs learned by some chimpanzees are not words: they are linked to actions, but not to thoughts. Only humans can formulate thoughts; only humans can reason in the abstract. And words are necessary for that. Come to think of it, my old professor was right.

            What good is having the perfect Constitution if no one follows it? Good laws don’t matter if the persons enforcing them are corrupt. What is the meaning of the right of free speech when conservatives are shouted down and prevented from speaking at our universities? How is the right to bear arms not abridged by a governor who is so intent on seizing the guns of his state’s citizens that they have no other recourse than to declare their towns Second Amendment Sanctuaries?