Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (Health Care Edition)

There is a strong strain of anti-happiness in the American tradition. Near as I can figure, it comes from the notion that humans are worthless worms of creation and deserve to burn in eternal hellfire immediately. Any discomfort less severe than that is righteous and almost kindly by comparison. I’m drawing that particular narrative from Jonathan Edwards’ 1741 famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. You can hear echoes of this sermon in the debates over sexuality — aversion to measures that would reduce pregnancy and STDs combined with hostility to abortions makes a bit more sense if one sees communicable diseases and pregnancy as righteous punishment for sinful lust.

Anne Laurie at Balloon-Juice notes a related meme making its way through the media in the health care debate: We’re fat pigs who don’t deserve quality health care because being sick is righteous punishment for our gluttony and sloth. Our desire to have the kind of health care enjoyed by others is evidence of greed and envy. (Opponents succumbing to wrath can, therefore, be excused presumably.)

Ms. Laurie:

Looks like the new Media Village talking point has been distributed: Americans don’t deserve a decent health care system because we are disgusting fat pigs.

There’s a point (around 3:00) in the MSNBC clip John posted earlier where Taibbi talks about America’s relatively high infant mortality rate and low life expectancy, and Maria Bartiromo interrupts to snarl, “We’re OBESE!” with the same combination of loathing & denunciation that a televangelist would use for “We have sinned!” Bartiromo, of course, is not obese—her television contract is based on her meeting certain standards of attractiveness, and I’m sure it includes clauses covering the personal trainers, gym memberships, nutritionists, and whatever other outside assistance is required to keep Bartiromo up to those standards. But the rest of us, well, how can we expect our babies to stay alive if we insist on being willfully, knowingly “obese”?

Then, in the WSJ op-ed John linked later in the evening, anesthesiologist and anti-happiness crusader Dr. Ronald Dworkin complains that Obama’s threatened health reforms will drive skilled professionals like himself out of the medical business, because taxes are too high and Medicare compensation is too low and frankly, smart people don’t want to work that hard. Also, “Americans have grown very fat. This complicates anesthesia tremendously. Putting in IVs, spinals and epidurals is harder. Inserting breathing tubes is much more dangerous. “ True enough, but then, he’s getting paid somewhere north of $300k a year to deal with those complicated fat people. “Quality of care will inevitably decline. That decline will come first in obstetrics… “ Go away, fat people, or the laboring mothers and their babies will suffer!

Now, it’s entirely possible I’m reading more into this than necessary. The anti-happiness strain in American thought certainly makes us receptive to the message, but all Occam’s razor probably requires for our receptiveness is that obesity is a simple scapegoat and easier to blame than the bewildering interlocking pieces of the health system. When confronted with the cascading failure presented by the relationships between general practitioners, specialists, network doctors, non-network doctors, co-pays, contract adjustments, deductibles, hospital charge masters, premiums, pre-existing conditions, diagnostic testing, HMOs, PPOs, health insurers, and everything else; well, it’s easier to just blame the fat person.