If you're a conservative in America, you've had little reason to smile recently. Filibuster proof majorities of Democrats in the Senate and significant majorities in the House combined with possibly the most liberal President to hold that office make for a bleak outlook.
However, all is not doom and gloom. Slowly, the populace is starting to rise up and the Democrats just don't get it.
Pat Buchanan in his latest article draws from recent polls, best selling book lists and what we've all seen reported on the nightly news to forecast a better day for the GOP coming up.
Now, the Democrats insist they will go it alone at healthcare if neccessary. I say, go for it boys! Americans are already steaming mad about the possibility of nationalized healthcare. Even a watered down version of the current propositions would face tough resistance from voters who don't even trust their congressmen to read the bill, let alone understand it.
It was healthcare that doomed the Dems in '94 and it will be healthcare that will doom them again in '10. I can only hope that this happens every 16 years.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Reagan's Socialized Medicine Speech
I know this clip has been played ad nauseum but you gotta love how Reagan's words seem to reach through time and still be relevant:
The Public Option or the Public Ultimatum?
None of the noise surrounding the healthcare debate matters if you intend to keep your private coverage, right?
Wrong.
Wrong.
The Party of No?
Democrats have been hitting the TV and radio waves to strike back at their Republican counterparts. We have been told by liberal after liberal that the Republican party is the party of no. We have been told that the real tragedy here would be to do nothing. But who is saying to do nothing?
John Mackey's The Whole Food Alternative to Obamacare offers free market solutions that could lower the cost of healthcare immediately while making wiser consumers out of us all.
Some of the ideas he suggests:
• Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits. Now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible, but individual health insurance is not. This is unfair.
• Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state and we should be able use that insurance wherever we live. Health insurance should be portable.
• Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.
• Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. These costs are passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.
• Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last doctor's visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?
• Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.
• Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren't covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
As with anything else, the answers are there in the free market. Healthcare is one of the most regulated industries we have. Some of the regulations, such as not allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines, serve no one but the insurance companies who are free to act without competition. Others such as the complete lack of tort reform in any of the current bills is a sop to the trial lawyers that donate so much money to the Democrat party.
When housing was determined to be "too important to be left to the free market" we created Fannie and Freddie, and with them the seeds of our current economic crisis.
With healthcare now comprising 16% of our economy, is it any wonder people are skeptical that the government has now determined that it is also "too important to be left to the free market"?
John Mackey's The Whole Food Alternative to Obamacare offers free market solutions that could lower the cost of healthcare immediately while making wiser consumers out of us all.
Some of the ideas he suggests:
• Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits. Now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible, but individual health insurance is not. This is unfair.
• Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state and we should be able use that insurance wherever we live. Health insurance should be portable.
• Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.
• Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. These costs are passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.
• Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last doctor's visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?
• Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.
• Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren't covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
As with anything else, the answers are there in the free market. Healthcare is one of the most regulated industries we have. Some of the regulations, such as not allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines, serve no one but the insurance companies who are free to act without competition. Others such as the complete lack of tort reform in any of the current bills is a sop to the trial lawyers that donate so much money to the Democrat party.
When housing was determined to be "too important to be left to the free market" we created Fannie and Freddie, and with them the seeds of our current economic crisis.
With healthcare now comprising 16% of our economy, is it any wonder people are skeptical that the government has now determined that it is also "too important to be left to the free market"?
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
American Spectator Founder Says Birther Conspiracy Untrue
Robert Emmett Tyrrell, Jr says Birther conspiracies are unfounded
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Taking it to the Streets
It seems liberals are always marching for something. Whether it's opposing the war, a women's right to "choose", animal rights, gay rights, etc. we are barraged by images on the nightly news of liberals seeking redress of their pet grievance.
Conservatives, on the other hand, rarely seem to organize in a public way other than the occassional abortion clinic protest. When they do, the nightly newscasts either ignores them or maligns them. Who can forget the CNN reporter arguing with the tea party member over Obama's policies?
Has a mainstream reporter ever argued with a pro-choice marcher?
The tea parties were the first big exception to the rule that liberals are more activist than conservatives. The tea parties showcased conservative anger over what they saw as government encroachment on steroids. TARP, stimulus, and nationalized medicine topped the list of monstrosities the tea parties rallied against.
When talk of a second (actually third) stimulus package was heard, even liberal senators publicly opposed it. Now that nationalized medicine is on the table, the Democrats are wary but tempted to revert to form. Nationalized medicine is the gateway to the complete control of a nanny state, a lofty goal of liberals.
Once again though, conservatives (and some independents) are coming out in force to the townhall meetings of their representatives and letting them know they risk their careers by supporting this boondoggle. The anger is at possibly an even higher level than the last time our government tried to go around us, the amnesty bill.
Even the mainstream networks are starting to pick up on these outbursts even if they do ridicule those involved. But that is OK in my book. They ridiculed the tea parties but it was settled that there would be no further stimulus. Enough people are wary of nationalized medicine that they will make up their own mind about the story regardless of what Katie Couric tells them to think.
Conservatives, on the other hand, rarely seem to organize in a public way other than the occassional abortion clinic protest. When they do, the nightly newscasts either ignores them or maligns them. Who can forget the CNN reporter arguing with the tea party member over Obama's policies?
Has a mainstream reporter ever argued with a pro-choice marcher?
The tea parties were the first big exception to the rule that liberals are more activist than conservatives. The tea parties showcased conservative anger over what they saw as government encroachment on steroids. TARP, stimulus, and nationalized medicine topped the list of monstrosities the tea parties rallied against.
When talk of a second (actually third) stimulus package was heard, even liberal senators publicly opposed it. Now that nationalized medicine is on the table, the Democrats are wary but tempted to revert to form. Nationalized medicine is the gateway to the complete control of a nanny state, a lofty goal of liberals.
Once again though, conservatives (and some independents) are coming out in force to the townhall meetings of their representatives and letting them know they risk their careers by supporting this boondoggle. The anger is at possibly an even higher level than the last time our government tried to go around us, the amnesty bill.
Even the mainstream networks are starting to pick up on these outbursts even if they do ridicule those involved. But that is OK in my book. They ridiculed the tea parties but it was settled that there would be no further stimulus. Enough people are wary of nationalized medicine that they will make up their own mind about the story regardless of what Katie Couric tells them to think.
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