Contents of our Kit for Students
Each kit we give away contains the following materials. Over the long run, the kit may change slightly as organizations change media formats, publishers come out with new editions, or as items go out of print.
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(a) Medicine: Death of a Profession (1 DVD; 86 minutes)
This is a speech that was delivered by philosopher Leonard Peikoff at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston in 1985. Its theme is how government intervention in medicine is driving out quality medical care in the United States, and what is needed to restore medicine to a state in which doctors can practice their profession in a rational, productive way. It is an engaging, essentialized presentation that is still insightful over 25 years later.
(b) The Real Right to Medical Care vs Socialized Medicine (Pamphlet; 43 pages)
This is an essay by economist George Reisman, published in 1994. In it, Reisman upholds the real right of the consumer to purchase medical care in a free market as against its opposite: the pseudo-right of consumers to demand that medical care be provided by the state. He explains the concept of rights "not as an arbitrary, out-of-context assertion of claims to things or to obligations to be filled by others, but as pertaining to the actions an individual must take in order to live." This essay also includes an analysis of the attempted Clinton healthcare reforms of the early 1990s.
(c) The Forgotten Man of Socialized Medicine: The Doctor (Pamphlet; 15 pages)
This pamphlet contains two essays: one by Leonard Peikoff and the other by novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand. [UPDATE: As of February 2012, we have run out of this item and are saddened to learn that it is no longer in print. Until we find or create a permanent replacement, we will include another essay or pamphlet of interest in each recipient's kit. This will vary.]
"Doctors and the Police State," by Leonard Peikoff, was first published in 1962. In it Dr. Peikoff identifies the philosophic error and political injustice of the Medicare program—three years before the Social Security amendment was signed into law. Peikoff asks, "By what moral principle are the doctors to be deprived of their right to practice their profession as free men?" Drawing from several examples around the world, this brief article casts the political controversy of socialized medicine into concise, philosophic terms.
"How Not to Fight Against Socialized Medicine," by Ayn Rand, is based on an address that she gave to the Medical Society of New Jersey in 1963. In this article, Ayn Rand exposes socialized medicine as a call for self-sacrifice, and warns doctors to beware of political package deals that attempt to turn the medical profession into one of "service to the public." She writes, "Ladies and gentleman, you will not win your case until and unless you are ready to declare that you find [socialized medicine] degrading—as any man of self-esteem would find slavery degrading."
(d) The Economics of Freedom: Selected Works of Frederic Bastiat (Book; 86 pages)
This is a brief collection of writings on economics by Frederic Bastiat, an early nineteenth-century French economist and writer in the classical liberal tradition. Bastiat argues that government has neither the moral authority to intervene in the lives of free individuals, nor the practical ability to create prosperity through such intervention. In his brief but insightful essays, he argues that the difference between a good economist and a bad economist is the ability to trace out all the effects of a given policy, not just the effects that are immediately visible. This book contains Bastiat's famous account of the "broken window" fallacy. This volume was published in 2010 as a joint effort by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation and Students For Liberty.
(e) Noble Vision (Novel; 338 pages)
This is author Gen LaGreca's first novel. It is the story of a surgeon and his patient, living in a society in which medicine has come under state control. The protagonist is developing a revolutionary new procedure that could save lives. But in addition to having to contend with challenges in medical science (metaphysical obstacles), he faces the rules and regulations of the government (man-made obstacles). LaGreca dramatizes how it becomes impossible for doctors to think when faced with the arbitrary and conflicting edicts of dozens of government committees, boards, and programs.
(f) Atlas Shrugged (Novel; 1,069 pages)
Atlas Shrugged is author Ayn Rand's literary masterpiece and philosophical thriller. It is the story of an innovative genius living in a society of men who said that they did not need his kind, and the consequences they encounter when he withdraws his efforts (i.e., goes on strike) and grants them a world of their making. Encompassing a scope vastly more broad than just the field of medicine, Atlas Shrugged dramatizes the crucial importance of reason and rationality in all spheres of human life, ranging from industry to romance to politics to art. It is not specifically a work about healthcare, but philosophically it is the capstone to the kit.
(g) Pin and Ribbon (Black Ribbon Project)
The purpose of this ribbon is to raise awareness of the damage our government has caused to healthcare freedom and the integrity of the doctor-patient relationship. Under the new health reform laws, physicians will be compelled to base their advice and treatment on politically determined goals, even when in conflict with the best interest of their patients. We purchased several dozen of these ribbons from the Black Ribbon Project, and will include one in each kit while supplies last.