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July 16, 2007
An Idea Worth Considering
Abolish the office of the Surgeon General.
When the position of surgeon general, then called supervising surgeon, was first created in 1781, the appointee actually had something tangible to do. The first supervising surgeon, Dr. John Woodworth, was actually in charge of his own troops. According to the surgeon general’s website, he was in charge of “a mobile force of professionals subject to reassignment to meet the needs of the Public Health Service (PHS).” Since then, the duties of the surgeon general have been demoted so many times he’d barely be a buck private if his title kept up with the changes.In recent administrations, the surgeon general has either been a towering super-nanny or a political embarrassment.In 1968 President Lyndon Johnson took away the responsibility of overseeing the PHS and made the position of surgeon general into one of a glorified adviser who is answerable to the assistant secretary to the secretary of Health and Human Services. So while the former surgeon generals were complaining of the road blocks they faced with the respective presidents they served, there were, in fact, a few levels of bosses in their way before they reached the Oval Office. Meaning that these levels of government bureaucracy actually protect its citizens by stopping implementation of some of the cockamamie ideas coming from the surgeon general’s office, including drug legalization and universal health care paid for on the backs of U.S. taxpayers.
Posted by slublog at July 16, 2007 12:17 PM
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Comments
Unfortunately, I think the current nominee is getting a raw deal. Opposed because he thinks homosexuality is unnatural? The PC police are getting quite bold.
Posted by: Hal at July 16, 2007 01:09 PM