NHS "Debate"

I've been trying to avoid this health care "debate", largely because when politicians jump on the bandwagon you know it's a) getting hysterical b) in bad taste. I don't agree with Daniel Hannan's view point, yet he's not making policy he's stating an opinion, which he is perfectly entitled to do.

What bothers me about this "I love the NHS" campaign is now the word "unpatriotic" is being used, by all people a Labour MP Andy Burnham. It's a health service not the British flag, the founding principle however is something quintessentially British, a sense of fairness, something a little amiss now.

"Unpatriotic" is a word that gets used like a trump card by governments, it is irrational and feverish. Yet patriotism is not blind devotion it is as Alexander Solzhenitsyn said:

unqualified and unwavering love for the nation, which implies not uncritical eagerness to serve, not support for unjust claims, but frank assessment of its vices and sins, and penitence for them.

Criticism is not unpatriotic, the lack of criticism is.