The focus of news reports related to Obamacare stress the enormous problems associated with the exchange websites.

Wabash College student Christian Lopac thinks it is also important to address the underlying philosphy: Placing healthcare in the hands of the government is unwise because of the inefficiencies that government always brings with it

…Let us take this same task–relating the problem to the “average person”–to a philosophical level and consider it in this same manner. Say that one owns some sort of business: a lemonade stand, for simplicity’s sake. In one’s neighborhood and city there exist a vibrant lemonade trade, with the stand owners as a vital part. Then, based on the platitudes of “fairness” and “justice,” a group of armed men declare the implementing of their orders regarding lemonade on penalty of some force (whether it be fines, imprisonment, etc.). This is government intervention. What makes such an action right?

If anything relates to the individual’s experience, it seems that this analogous thought experiment does a better job than relating the issue back to experiences of losing one’s insurance or paying exponentially more for healthcare. For, while factual examples can bear great truth, statists may still use “facts” to refuting them. While one could disagree as to the basic or foundational principles behind the philosophical example, there is little there that one could actually refute.

In the next stages of the healthcare debate, the media’s attention will likely turn to government officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. This is directly tied to her testimony before the House. During this hearing, Sebelius “personally apologized for those failures [of the Obamacare website]” and continued arguing that the critics of the government were incorrect, especially in the promises of individuals keeping their insurance plans. Additionally, President Obama has clearly contradicted his earlier statements about healthcare reforms.

These are valid elements of the healthcare debate that any person claiming to support liberty must point out. But, at the same time, he cannot forget that Sebelius and Obama are not the heart of the problem. Government looms as a greater evil in this debate. Lovers of liberty must identify government as the core of the problem, not merely politicians from the opposing side. For, without such knowledge, government might continue destroying and pillaging its way through human history.