A child is born to poor parents. The child has a mental disability of whatever sort. The parents, for whatever reason are unable to support the child for life. Ponder for a moment the child's future without government assistance. Then consider the following statement.

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil. -- SARAH PALIN

Now zoom to the future of that child as an adult. Tell me what kind of health insurance a mentally disabled person without a wealthy family can afford. This is not a hypothetical situation in some brave new world of the future, rather it is reality as we speak. They are out there now. We call them homeless. Many were once like Trig, a beautiful innocent child. But they lacked parents who happened to be governors of states that receive huge per capita government support and now they sleep under highways exposed to crime and the elements.

Yet, a hardcore "work makes right" Republican mentality must ultimately reach the conclusion that such people are of no use to society and thus have no right to its support. The idea that being worthy of health care is based on one's level of productivity in society is actually the sort of idea that Ayn Rand ranted about. It is a conservative ideal. It is the reality of a profit based health insurance industry. One gets the kind of health care that one deserves based on one's financial advantage.

In the world that Sarah Palin would have us live in the children of the poor are condemned to brief painful lives with no purpose and no safety net. The hypocrisy of her words sickens me.