Thursday, March 25, 2010

Fidel and Rush

A number of conservative commentators are making much of the fact that Cuba's Fidel Castro has praised the health care revision legislation just signed by President Obama. I guess the reasoning goes like this: if someone I don't like favors a particular policy or activity, then I must oppose that policy or activity.

I'm not sure this makes sense. For example, Fidel Castro and Rush Limbaugh both like cigars, as does Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yet a group of people whose policy preferences are more different would be hard to assemble.

I don't like the health care revision just passed into law, but whether or not Fidel likes it is irrelevant. Presumably he likes any policy that involves the government controlling society. I like some such policies, and dislike others.

Presumably both Fidel and I dislike a normal citizen killing his neighbor, we both agree this should be against the law. Does him liking this policy make it wrong? Most would say no.

Chances are we both favor safe drinking water, even if his government doesn't always succeed in providing it. So we agree about that, so what? Government control of safe drinking water isn't an automatically socialist agenda.

My point is this: whether or not Fidel or Hugo Chavez or any other bad guy favors or opposes a policy isn't the criterion by which to judge that policy. The criterion is whether or not that policy is good or bad on its own merits. Obamacare is mostly bad on the merits.