Pope: “Health justice should be among the priorities of governments and international institutions”

Benedict XVI: “Health justice should be among the priorities of government and international institutions”; it's important to “establish a true distributive justice that guarantees to all ... adequate care.” In a November 15 message from the Vatican to the 25th international conference of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry in Rome -- the topic of which was “For Equitable and Human Health Care in the Light of the Encyclical 'Caritas in Veritate' ” -- Pope Benedict XVI declared that "[i]mportant also in the field of health, integral part of each one's existence and of the common good, is to establish a true distributive justice that guarantees to all, on the basis of objective needs, adequate care." He also said that “for the Christian community...the care of the human being is central, because of his transcendent dignity and inalienable rights.” Indeed, the pope went on to claim that “it is necessary to work with greater commitment at all levels so that the right to health is rendered effective” (emphasis added). Finally, the pope asserted that "[h]ealth justice should be among the priorities of governments and international institutions."

Right-wing commentators insist there is no right to health care, government involvement with health care leads to dictatorship

Beck has repeatedly said that “social justice” is at the core of Nazism and Communism. As Media Matters has documented, Beck has a long history of claiming that ideas about “social justice” such as those given in the Pope's message are “a perversion of the Gospel” and “not what Jesus meant.” He's also said, among other things “what I would call socialist or communist, they'll call just social justice or progressive,” and “Marxist code words” like “social justice” have “infiltrated” churches.

Beck: "[U]nless Jesus comes down," opens “a clinic and heal[s]” us “himself, there cannot be a right to health care.” On the August 13, 2009, edition of his radio show, Glenn Beck asked “Who is the one that gives us rights? A universal health care system? We have a right to health care? Really? God doesn't give health care. Man provides health care. So how can it be a right? If you are endowed by your creator with certain inalienable rights, how can a God-given right be health care? Unless Jesus comes down and starts to open up a clinic and heal us himself, there cannot be a right to health care - because the rights come from God.” [Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program, 3/2/10]

Beck found it “shocking and horrifying” Sen. Harkin wants health care to be a “right.” On the January 10 edition of his Fox News show, Beck played a clip of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) saying of the Senate's passage of the health care reform bill that it turns health care from a “privilege” into “an inalienable right of every single American citizen.” Beck responded to this by saying, “This is the most shocking and horrifying video; please pass this on to your friends. There it is. Let me take this a step at a time because you need to understand what Congress has just said through Senator Harkin. ... Health care is not an inalienable right or an unalienable right. It's neither.” [Fox News' Glenn Beck, 1/10/10]

Beck: “It's good old socialism ... raping the pocketbooks of the rich to give to the poor.” On the July 21, 2009, edition of his Fox News program, Beck asked a rhetorical question about whether health reform was socialism. He responded to himself by saying “Yup. It's good old socialism. You know, pretty much raping the pocketbooks of the rich to give to the poor. I think that's socialism.”

Beck: Obama's taken “the first step towards socialization: total government control of our health care system. In a segment where Beck ”tak[es] on Barack Obama's impossible challenge to find some evidence of socialism in his policies," Beck declared that “yes, he has taken the first step towards socialization. Total government control of our health care system. ... And you know, controlling the entire health care industry, it's only one-sixth, don't worry about that.” [Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program, 4/6/10]

Limbaugh: Health reform is like Italian fascists, Soviet Union, North Korea. On the August 10, 2009, edition of his radio show, Rush Limbaugh, in reference to White House criticism of comparisons between their health care plan and socialism, declared that “socialism is socialism, as I say. If you want me to, I'll go back and give you the fascists of the '20s and '30s. You don't like Nazi Germany? I'll give you Mussolini's Italy. Or I can give you the Soviet Union any time in the '70s, '80s, and '90s. Whatever you want, I can give you -- I can give you the North Koreans today. Socialism is Socialism, wherever it is and whatever you call it.”

Limbaugh: Lenin is “the father of the concept of national health care” On the July 15 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh asked, “Who is the -- the father of the concept of national health care? Who's the father?” He went on to declare that “it was Vladimir Lenin,” adding, “All you need to know about government run health care was that Vladimir Lenin had the brainchild.” [Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show, 7/15/10]

Limbaugh: Bismarck a “lefty,” government-run health care laid groundwork for Nazis. On the August 10, 2009, edition of his radio show, Limbaugh provided viewers with his own version of modern German history: “You want to know what happened in Germany? I'll tell you what happened in Germany. Bismarck socialized medicine in the late 19th century. In typical lefty fashion, he called it 'anti-socialist legislation.' ... The Weimar Republic naturally squeezed out any notion of health care as a private matter. This is what statists and totalitarians do. Everything seemed hunky-dory until post-World War I economic downturns, when doctors, who were now partners with the state rather than servants of their patients -- doctors started rationing available health care based on the state's cost-benefit analysis. ... What this did was lay the groundwork for Hitler's National Socialism ... all in the name of doing good. All in the name of some confused right to good health that people have.” [The Rush Limbaugh Show, 08/19/10]

Limbaugh: Health care is “the way totalitarian systems seek to cement their power. On the December 8, 2009, edition of his Premiere Radio Networks program, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh said ”...[i]t's all about the Federal government controlling every aspect of every human being's life in this country. That's what this bill is about. With health care and costs as the mechanism to achieve that goal. This is the way totalitarian systems seek to cement their power. They've all tried it with health care. The Nazis did it. Long before the Holocaust. We hear about the great health care in Cuba, do we not?" [The Rush Limbaugh Show, 12/08/09]

Bulls & Bears: "Are we really just one step closer to United Socialist States of America?" On the July 18, 2009, edition of Fox News' Bulls & Bears, host Brenda Buttner falsely claimed that businesses “will see an 8 percent tax hike” if they don't “sign on to government-run health care,” then asked, “Are we really just one step closer to United Socialist States of America?” She later asked a guest, “So we're using this term loosely, but really, are we turning into the USSA?” [Fox News' Bulls & Bears, 7/18/09]

Quinn compares health care reform to “what Hitler did.” Discussing cuts in the British health system and their implications for American health care, Jim Quinn said, “Socialism always runs out of other people's money eventually, and the only way to save the system, since you don't have the money, is to cut back and ration service. This isn't rocket science folks. It's only rocket science if you graduated from Ivy league schools. They can't figure it out. 'Looking at these kinds of trusts...it particularly worries me about how far they disadvantage the elderly and the vulnerable.'” Raising his voice, Quinn went on to say “you mean the dead wood in society? You mean the people that you'd like to get rid of? Excuse me, but this is what Hitler did. This is what Hitler did.” [Clear Channel's The War Room with Quinn & Rose, 7/27/10]

Thomas: “Great horrors don't begin in gas chambers.” In his November 24, 2009, syndicated column, Cal Thomas opined: “The '60s crowd ... is about to impose on this country a declaration of dependence in the form of government-run health insurance and treatment.” As the piece progresses, the rhetoric gets more colorful. Thomas says that health reform “is about liberal Democrats realizing their decades-old dream of complete control of our lives.” He went on to claim that "[g]reat horrors don't begin in gas chambers, killing fields or forced famines. They begin when there is a philosophical shift in a nation's leadership about the value of a human life....the consequences of government seizure of one-sixth of our economy and government's ability to decide how we run our lives (it won't stop with health care) are foreseen." The piece finishes with “Welcome to the U.S.S.A., the United Socialist States of America.”

Fox graphic equated health reform with socialism. On-screen text on Fox & Friends read: “Healthcare Overhaul: No support for socialism. Man quits AARP over healthcare reform.” [Fox & Friends, 7/30/09]

Hannity: Is “this very hour” when America turned “completely towards socialism?” Reporting on the night of the final health reform vote in the House on the March 21 edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity asked, “Are we going to look back on this very hour in American history, this hour. Are we going to look at this as the moment where America went down the path towards completely towards socialism?”

O'Reilly: The left “is trying to create a huge federal apparatus that will promote income redistribution and 'social justice.' ” In reference to health reform, Bill O'Reilly wrote in his syndicated July 16, 2009, column that "[t]he far left is trying to create a huge federal apparatus that will promote income redistribution and 'social justice.' Also, the left sees a major opportunity to knock out Judeo-Christain traditions, replacing them with a secular philosophy."

RedState: Health reform is like the bombing of Pearl Harbor. A November 25, 2009, post on RedState.com told the story of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The post went on to say that “the American people are staring at an attack on our nation. ... This attack is coming from within. The Obama/Reid/Pelosi healthcare bill -- in its various forms -- is an assault on the American way of life and an affront to all the generations before us who fought to preserve and protect our cherished freedoms. Why? Because the bill will eliminate your God-given ability to care for your family according to YOUR wishes and YOUR conscience.”