The Patriot Post® · Friday Opinion

Today’s Editors’ Choice

• Michael Barone: Cultural Appropriation: A Modest Proposal
• Jonah Goldberg: Is Empathy a Distraction in Health Care Debate?
• David Harsanyi: James Comey Didn’t Sink Hillary. Hillary Sank Hillary.

To view all of today’s opinion, click here.

Opinion in Brief

Jonah Goldberg: “[E]mpathy alone is dangerous and can distract us from rational thought and meaningful compassion. Which brings me back to Jimmy Kimmel. His story about his son aroused a riot of empathy across the nation. And he used that response to make an argument about health care policy that was largely devoid of any consideration of the facts, trade-offs or costs of what is the best way to deal with people, including babies, who have pre-existing medical conditions. He was largely wrong on the facts: Babies with dire medical conditions are covered by their parents’ insurance, and when their parents are uninsured, doctors don’t just let the baby die on the table. That doesn’t mean there aren’t inequities in the system or that the current health care regime is anywhere close to perfect. But it is very difficult to have a rational discussion about the trade-offs inherent to any health care system — including socialized medicine — when all anyone can think about is the ordeal of a newborn baby and his loving parents.”