So many problems, So little time, All from one incident

I was particularly impressed (not in a good way) with the series of stories that broke following the recent snow storm in New York City.  The first reports were that the snow was so bad that ambulance service was interrupted and helpless sick people died at home and babies were delivered at home and perished as a result.  Certainly those are awful stories and I sympathize with the plight of those who suffered as a result.  But it wasn't long before the cacophony of malcontents from New York echoed throughout the news network coverage with their complaints of somehow being deprived of what they perceived to be some sort of entitlement to immediate ambulance transport and medical care at their nearest health care facility.  This sense of entitlement on their part somehow abrogates the right to safety of those who would otherwise be charged with transporting these people to said health care facilities.  It is a strange world we have created wherein average citizens can convince themselves that their need for the health care commodity is of such import that it trumps the right to safety of the EMT.  I'm no EMT but I do know that one of the first things the EMT is charged with when arriving on scene is to assess the scene for safety - THEIR OWN SAFETY!  If those who are supposed to be saving you aren't safe in their rescue operations then they can't possibly perform that SERVICE.  How exactly does one come to the point that they believe they are so important that their own personal needs outweigh the safety of others?  I just can't seem to reconcile that in my mind.  I am well aware that this situation represented life and death to a few of New York's citizens but even that cannot be permitted to goad us as a society into placing our EMT's and Medical Transport personnel into harm's way.  This situation in an oblique way outlines one of the undiscussed problems with health care (and indeed other social programs) in this country.  That problem is that there is a contingent of people in this country that view the health care commodity as a right or an entitlement.  It is not and can never be for the very reason that it requires someone else to provide that service.  Rights are things inherent and do not require someone to be put out to provide that.  A right can only exist in the negative sense (i.e. no one has to directly provide it) and not in the positive sense (i.e. someone has to directly provide it).  For example, one's right to liberty requires no one to actively provide it (though certainly it does require some level of protection via police or military force I suppose).  The right to life is another example.  However, health care has to be directly provided by someone and also has to be paid for by someone and therefore can not be a right.  This situation outlines the toxic entitlement mentality that unfortunately has come to be quite common in this country.

The second and perhaps more sinister issue that cropped up in news stories after New York's Big Snow Storm was that the unionized workers of New York City's sanitation department (not really clear why sanitation would be charged with snow removal but whatever) staged a slowdown of services and complete disregard for their duties in protest of demotions, cuts in the department and declining numbers of positions.  Anyone that has ever worked in business shouldn't have too much difficulty seeing the problems here.  Heck, anyone that has ever had a job shouldn't have any trouble seeing this isn't acceptable employee behavior.  If I ever did that at my job I would be vilified before being fired.  But since there is union "protection" in place these buffoons will keep their jobs and most probably the city will cave and re-create positions that aren't really needed and therefore continue to run over budget.  That is the problem with unions in both the private and public sector.  They put too much power and influence in the hands of people who aren't really qualified to have that kind of power.  There may have been a time when unions were necessary due to gross disregard of worker's rights and unsafe working conditions or unfair pay but does anyone think any of those conditions exist in New York City's sanitation department?  So why then do they need to have a union?  If these union workers are proven to have shirked their responsibilities to make a point (and based on news reports it is pretty much a proven case already) then they should be held criminally liable for those that were left to die in their apartments because ambulance crews could not perform their duties safely.  Anything less than prosecuting these idiots with a litany of crimes will be completely unacceptable.  This would also be a prime opportunity for New York to abolish the unions that are apparently holding the city captive as well.  It would be a great first step in ridding our fine country of union influence from top to bottom.