Review of “Policies and Pain” by Dr. Spencer Dayton

Score: 91/100 (9.1 out of 10)

Policies and Pain by Dr. Spencer Dayton is a comprehensive exploration of societal issues through a philosophical lens. It delves into various domains, including healthcare, economic inequality, environmental justice, and workers' rights, with a focus on actionable reforms guided by moral and ethical principles.

Philosophical and opinion pieces are bound to be controversial. And you don't have to like or agree with everything the author says (heck, we didn't). However, that's not to say there isn't value in what the author says. Nor is this to say that the words in this book don't come from a good place.

In fact, this book come from a very good place. The author genuinely seems to care about the life, safety, and welfare of others, as well as the greater good of society and the future of humanity.

This book was directly expired by Dr. Dayton's own experiences, particularly his battle with cancer. Through this battle with cancer, Dayton had an epiphany about the human right to life-saving medical care.

Dayton proposes that not only is healthcare a universal human right, but so are equity, justice, a healthy environment, economic security, a right to participate in government, education, opportunity, and dignified work.

It's hard not to jump up and cheer when you read this list of universal human rights, but... not so fast, my friends.

You can't force people to work when they don't want to work. You also can't force people into a house when they want to live on a beach (and, yes, people exist who would prefer to live on the beach). You can't force people to go to college when they don't want to go to college. You also can't force people to go to the hospital if they don't want to go to the hospital.

A lot of this list of human rights operates under the assumption that all people want the same things, and that's simply not true. Look at Afghanistan, for example. No matter how hard the United States tried over 10 years to turn Afghanistan into a constitutional democracy/republic akin to us, it failed. Why? Because not everyone wants to be exactly like America.

Not everyone wants a utopia in which everyone is equal. Some people want to be RICH. Some people want to be POWERFUL. Some people want to be bigger, better, smarter, and wealthier than everyone else, and that's perfectly normal.

It's human nature.

To deny these truths is to deny human nature.

We know this sounds cold and callous, but it's true.
Human beings operate better when given a CHOICE.
It's in a human being's nature to CHOOSE.

This is why the United States of America—for all its faults—is great. It's because of choice.
You have the right to live on the streets, it's not a crime to be homeless. You have the right to refuse medical treatment, it's not a crime to refuse medical treatment. Key of all: You have the right not to work a conventional 9 to 5 job, and instead because an inventor, an innovator, and/or an entrepreneur. That's why we're the world's leader in innovation. That's why we're the world's leader in film, music, and popular culture. That's why we're the wealthiest country in the world with the strongest economy and military. It's because of CHOICE. Choice leads to creativity and innovation. Creativity and innovation lead to newer, better, and more improved things—the Internet, telephones, smartphones, mass-produced cars, airplanes, etc.

Far and away, this book's biggest weakness is its over-reliance on using Marxism and communist/socialist concepts to defend his arguments. Let's be blunt: Marxism—and the socialism that came from it—aided in the deaths of about a hundred million people in the 20th century, primarily in China and the USSR, but also in places like Cambodia.

You can't take a large population of people and force them all to work. You can't force them all into housing. You can't force wages on them. If you do that, you're setting yourself up for disappointment and worse.

Human beings aren't mindless worker bees who do everything for the good of the queen and colony. They're individuals. And perhaps that was one of the key things that upset us about Empathic Evolution by Jennifer Elizabeth Moore as well: the idea that human beings are just like cells in a body—cogs in the machine—bricks in a wall. It's the Marxist idea that everyone exists to serve the greater good of the whole.

Yeah, it sounds good (just like a lot of this book sounds good), but it usually falls apart in practice. In fact, not only does it usually fall apart, but the implementation of Marxism usually has disastrous consequences. Again, look at mid-20th century Russia and China.

We're not saying that America didn't have problems back then (or that it doesn't have problems now), but we didn't have tens of millions of people dying due to mismanagement under Marxist ideals.

Now, in all fairness, Karl Marx isn't the only philosopher whom Dayton draws inspiration and support from. He also references thinkers like John Rawls (famous for his theory of justice), Amartya Sen, and Martha Nussbaum.

At the very least, this book is a reminder of how we can do so much better as a society to provide for the marginalized, poor, homeless, and others in need. 

If you're open to more left-leaning philosophical talk, you can check this out on Amazon!