My Trip to the Doctor’s Office

Last week I went to Student Health because I was feeling sick.  If you think I’m about to launch into an impassioned critique of bureaucracy, Obamacare, or both, sorry to disappoint.  But nonetheless, in my semi-delirious musings I arrived at a few hopefully instructive thoughts about my visit.

I have a terrible gag reflex. I mean, just awful.  I gagged when my doctor tried to keep my tongue down just to look at my throat.  So when she told me that she had to swab my throat to test for strep, I was noticeably distraught.  If I gagged too early, she would just have to try again, leading to further gags.  She put the Q-tip in and I tried to hold my gag– it didn’t work. Ten minutes later, the test came back negative.  Now she had to swab me again to send the sample to the lab where they would test for other types of strep.  And I coughed in her face again.

So why am I telling you all of this?

Because sometimes, we need that doctor to force the Q-tip down our throats.  Sometimes, we need to be forced completely against our will to preserve our own best interests.  Lest you think I’ve turned progressive, I will say that this isn’t the case very often.  Government shouldn’t dictate to its citizens how to achieve happiness and well-being.  People value things differently, and that should be applauded.  But we cannot retain any credibility if we protest every single infringement upon our liberty.  Instead, we need to distinguish between trivial and important breaches of liberty.  In this way, we gain credibility without losing meaningful liberty.

Government isn’t always the answer, but it is foolish and imprudent to argue that it never is.