posted by Kyle on Jul 20
I became aware of Kent Snyder’s death only today; I’ve been wrapped up in my studies and haven’t been keeping up with the current happenings in the Libertarian movement as much as I’d like to have.
Kent Snyder was the chairman of Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, and he did a damn good job. He was actually the individual who persuaded Dr. Paul to run.
I spent a few days volunteering at the Ron Paul campaign headquarters in DC, where I met Kent Snyder, and handed him about $5000 in checks from a fund raiser that I held at my parents house. He was such a nice guy, and thanked me several times for my volunteer efforts, both with regards to the fund raiser and with regards to my work at the campaign headquarters. He was an asset to the libertarian movement, and a great guy.
I am rather surprised, though, that Kent Snyder’s death has provoked criticism of Ron Paul and of Libertarianism in general. Kent Snyder spent about two months in the hospital suffering from viral pneumonia. He did not have health insurance, and as such, has a $400,000 medical bill for which his estate liable. Those in favor of “universal health care” have actually gone so far as to insinuate that Snyder died BECAUSE he didn’t have health insurance, and they have criticized the Paul campaign for not offering it to their employees.
I am sure Snyder would have said the same thing that I am going to say: Snyder didn’t had health insurance because he chose not to. He could have purchased it for himself, but he made the judgment that it did not make financial sense to do so. Yes, his estate needs to pay the bills. They will do so.
Friends of Snyder have set up a website collecting contributions to help pay this debt. You can view it at www.KentSnyder.com
This is in no way a political issue, but our opponents are trying to make it into one. This is very unfortunate.
Leave a Reply