Are You a Clunker?

Watching the current Cash for Clunkers program has given me new insight into the federally proposed healthcare system. I am beginning to wonder if Cash for Clunkers is simply a trial run of the nation’s acceptance of getting rid of the old.

It’s not the incentive part of the program that concerns me, although paying taxpayer dollars to people to buy a new car does bring up a lot of questions. No, the greater concern for me is what they are doing with the old clunkers.

First, there is the definition of a clunker. The program divides cars, trucks, SUVs and vans into four categories, in most cases based on weight and length of their wheelbase. Vehicles must get 18 mpg or less and there is a list of how many miles per gallon your new car must get over your old one. Evidently, cars must be drivable. Guess those that are already dead don’t’ concern the government.

Secondly, all clunkers must be totally destroyed. First the engines are ruined with sodium silicate and then the car is crushed and shredded. No way, no how is that car ever going to be a problem for America again!

Now to the parallels with the healthcare system. It seems the government is very concerned about the elderly and how much care that segment of the population should receive. By their standards in two years my husband and I should start discussing our deaths with our doctors. Funny, I don’t feel like a clunker.

It makes me wonder how our taxpayer dollars will be used to eliminate the human clunkers of our society. First, no doubt the government will define what a human clunker is. Once defined, everyone who fits that category, just like the cars, will be managed in the prescribed fashion.

Doctors, like the current car dealers, will be instructed how to complete the final passage of each clunker in a neat and approved manner. No doubt the less than perfect clunkers will be considered first for elimination. The disabled, those with chronic illnesses, the extremely elderly—the list will probably be very specific and detailed. The ultimate goal will also be the same and those pesky clunkers will never again be a problem for America.

Unfortunately, the Cash for Human Clunkers federal healthcare system will not provide the family with a replacement for the clunkers they eliminate. Evidently not having to worry about carrying for an aging loved one will be reward enough.

Sound impossible in our great land? Then wake up. Years ago we heard of a book written in Germany in 1920 by two doctors arguing that the compassionate thing to do was to end a life that was substandard. Doctors for years bought into this philosophy until all Hitler had to do was define lives that were substandard. He started with the disabled, the “less than perfect” individuals and progressed to ethnic groups. Surely no one could have anticipated where that would take their nation.

There’s a lot going on right now in our government. Almost too much to focus on consistently. That helps when you are getting rid of clunkers. All I can say is, if you are 65 or older, ever think you will be 65 or older, or know and love someone who is 65 or older, pay attention to what is happening.

Just as with a magic show, look for what you are not supposed to see. Or before we know it, all the old clunkers may just disappear.