Other reasons to oppose national health care

a href="http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/07/a_long_long_post_about_my_reasons_for_opposing_national_health_care.php"Megan McArdle:/abr /br /blockquoteI know, most of you have already figured out why I oppose national health care. In a nutshell, I hate the poor and want them to die so that all my rich friends can use their bodies as mulch for their diamond ranches. But y'all keep asking, so here goes the longer explanation.br /br /Basically, for me, it all boils down to public choice theory. Once we've got a comprehensive national health care plan, what are the government's incentives? I think they're bad, for the same reason the TSA is bad. I'm afraid that instead of Security Theater, we'll get Health Care Theater, where the government goes to elaborate lengths to convince us that we're getting the best possible health care, without actually providing it.br / br /That's not just verbal theatrics. Agencies like Britain's NICE are a case in point. As long as people don't know that there are cancer treatments they're not getting, they're happy. Once they find out, satisfaction plunges. But the reason that people in Britain know about things like herceptin for early stage breast cancer is a robust private market in the US that experiments with this sort of thing.br /br /So in the absence of a robust private US market, my assumption is that the government will focus on the apparent at the expense of the hard-to-measure. Innovation benefits future constituents who aren't voting now. Producing it is very expensive. On the other hand, cutting costs pleases voters this instant. This is, fundamentally, what cries to "use the government's negotiating power" with drug companies is about. Advocates of such a policy spend a lot of time arguing about whether pharmaceutical companies do, or do not, spend too much on marketing. This is besides the point. The government is not going to price to some unknowable socially optimal amount of pharma market power. It is going to price to what the voters want, which is to spend as little as possible right now.br /br /It's not that I think that private companies wouldn't like to cut innovation. But in the presence of even rudimentary competition, they can't. Monopolies are not innovative, whether they are public or private.br /br /...br //blockquoteThere is much more, but she has put the left back on their heels with her opening. There is nothing like stripping your opponents of their favorite weapon from the git go. Her arguments about innovation and competition are ones that the Demcorats have not really addressed either. With Canada and the UK free riding on our innovation, it is hard to see where it will come from if we go their route.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5051247-4029199696714439049?l=prairiepundit.blogspot.com'//div

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The ad hoc approach to foreign policy

a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/28/AR2009072802110.html"Michael Gerson:/abr /br /blockquoteThe Obama administration lacks a foreign policy ideology as a matter of ideology. a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/july/126071.htm" target=""Speaking recently/a at the Council on Foreign Relations, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asserted, "Rigid ideologies and old formulas don't apply." The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- tempered by pragmatism, proud of its ad hockery and willing to consider everything on a case-by-case basis.br /br /p But even lacking an ideology, the administration does have a doctrine. The defining principle of President Obama's foreign policy is engagement with America's adversaries. Much of the president's public diplomacy has been designed to clear a path for such talks -- expressing respect for legitimate grievances, apologizing for past wrongs and offering dialogue without preconditions. /p p Six months on, how fares the Obama doctrine? Concerning North Korea and Iran, the doctrine is on its deathbed. /p p North Korea responded to administration outreach by a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/24/AR2009052403054.html" target=""testing/a a nuclear weapon, a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/04/AR2009070400061.html" target=""firing missiles/a toward U.S. allies, a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/13/AR2009061300636.html" target=""resuming plutonium reprocessing/a and threatening the United States with a "fire shower of nuclear retaliation." During a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/25/AR2009052501961.html" target=""congressional testimony/a, Clinton admitted, "At this point [it] seems implausible, if not impossible, the North Koreans will return to the six-party talks and begin to disable their nuclear capacity again."br //pp The Iranian regime's reaction to engagement was to cut the ribbon on a nuclear enrichment facility, a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/26/AR2008072601824.html" target=""add centrifuges/a, conduct a fraudulent election, and a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/27/AR2009072702541.html" target=""kill and imprison/a a variety of political opponents. Regarding administration overtures, Clinton recently a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/23/AR2009072301627.html" target=""told the BBC/a, "We haven't had any response. We've certainly reached out and made it clear that's what we'd be willing to do . . . but I don't think they have any capacity to make that kind of decision right now." /p pThe problem is not engagement itself -- which was, after all, attempted in various forms by the previous administration. The difficulty is that the Obama foreign policy team has often argued that the reason for tension and conflict with nations such as North Korea and Iran is a lack of adequate American engagement -- which is absurd, and which has raised absurdly high expectations.br //ppDuring the 2008 campaign, for example, Obama adviser P.J. Crowley (now State Department spokesman) a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-08/Obama-Foreign-Policy-Pledges-Focus-on-Diplomacy.cfm?CFID=262420038amp;CFTOKEN=64194700amp;jsessionid=8830939077491ee2b95441d1a3f5c72532a3" target=""argued/a, "Hard-liners on both sides have dominated that relationship and made it very difficult for the United States and Iran to come together and have a serious conversation." But can the lack of a serious conversation with Iran -- or with North Korea -- now credibly be blamed on the previous administration? Obama's diplomatic hand has been extended for a while now. Fists remain clenched. This is not because some magical diplomatic words remain unspoken. It is because of the nature of oppressive regimes themselves.br //pp.../ppThis is the paradox of the Obama doctrine. By attempting to engage North Korea and Iran so visibly, Obama is dramatically exposing the limits of engagement -- and building the case for confrontation. /pbr //blockquoteWhat Obama and Clinton are discovering is that it is not us but them that is the problem. And once those talks produce no results, what then? The answer for this administration is more meaningless sanctions that will not be enforced consistently by Russia or China. Meanwhile the regimes continue their pursuit of weapons that will permit them to blackmail and destroy the "other."div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5051247-6723001998228576883?l=prairiepundit.blogspot.com'//div

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Uncounted chickens

OK. What bizarre twist will England exploit to avoid victory a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/8156826.stm"here/a? Just asking....div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12478668-918560406650530001?l=nevertrustahippy.blogspot.com'//div

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Justice for Beng Hock Memorial Vigil

a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJiNGxr2adc4ZtrpSaNsZz0m4XKMmGoTFSwkVqluHwiLhZdwiCZkaVY5AY8jkX5J-oSmVH6tGWx889O2TAzzz-IiXH-FiLEmJZ_KWuMURy65nSjCea8X6QO6RnwSp-bMUGq1LVayThCi-/s1600-h/Justice+for+Beng+Hock+30x20.jpg"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJiNGxr2adc4ZtrpSaNsZz0m4XKMmGoTFSwkVqluHwiLhZdwiCZkaVY5AY8jkX5J-oSmVH6tGWx889O2TAzzz-IiXH-FiLEmJZ_KWuMURy65nSjCea8X6QO6RnwSp-bMUGq1LVayThCi-/s400/Justice+for+Beng+Hock+30x20.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359703476704530594" //ablockquoteVenue : Stadium Kelana Jayabr /Date : 19 July 2009, Sundaybr /Time : 4.30pmbr /Attire : Blackbr /Enquiries: 03-79578022br //blockquoteTop Pakatan Rakyat leaders - Lim Guan Eng, Khalid Ibrahim etc., NGOs leaders will be present.br /br /Please forward the message and come to demonstrate solidarity and our complete disgust with the powers that be.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/37045477-3319376924435364668?l=tonypua.blogspot.com'//div

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Democrat overreach spells election angst

a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/25539;_ylt=ApxFiLLLDjnY6yZ7dVvBGXes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJ0dHY1OWxqBGFzc2V0A3BvbGl0aWNvLzIwMDkwNzI5LzI1NTM5BGNwb3MDNwRwb3MDNARwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA2JhY2tsYXNoZGFuZw--"Politico:/abr /br /blockquotep Democrats giddy with a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/25539/32866203/SIG=11mgvop00/*http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14839.html"span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_0"possibilities/span/a only six months ago now confront a perilous a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/25539/32866203/SIG=11p8fgnse/*http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/2010Election"span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_1"2010 landscape/span/a signaled by troublesome signs of span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_2"President Barack Obama/span’s political mortality, the plunging popularity of many governors and rising disquiet among many vulnerable House Democrats. /p pThe issue advantage has shifted as well, with Democrats facing the brunt of criticism about the pace of a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/25539/32866203/SIG=11m6tt29r/*http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25542.html"span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_3"stimulus package/span/a spending, anxiety over rising span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_4"unemployment rates/span and widespread uneasiness over the twin pillars of Obama’s legislative agenda: his a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/25539/32866203/SIG=11mmnsrul/*http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25525.html"span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_5"cap-and-trade/span/a approach to climate change and the emerging health care bill. /p pBolstered by historical trends that work in the span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_6"GOP/span’s favor — midterm elections are typically hostile to the party in power — and the prospect of the first election in a decade without span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_7"former President George W. Bush/span either on the ballot or in office, Republicans find themselves on the offensive for the first time since 2004.br //pp.../pp“There’s a sense building among Republicans that 2010 is going to be a far better political environment than 2008 or 2006,” said GOP pollster a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/politico/pl_politico/storytext/25539/32866203/SIG=11madgrjh/*http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25444.html"span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_10"Whit Ayres/span/a. “Part of that is because we have a Democratic president and a Democratic-controlled Senate and House that are promoting fiscally dangerous policies for the future of the country. Part of it is we don’t have the burden of span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_11"Iraq/span as we did in 2006 and don’t have the economy on the Republicans’ watch as we had in 2008.” /p pIn one sign of the reconfigured landscape, Republican candidates lead in the polls in this fall’s closely watched span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_12"gubernatorial elections/span — in New Jersey and Virginia. In New Jersey, where first-term Democrat span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_13"Gov. Jon Corzine/span trails his challenger by span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_14"double digits/span, a far-reaching corruption investigation has led to the resignation of one member of Corzine’s Cabinet and insider speculation about whether Corzine should be replaced on the ticket in November by a more viable Democratic nominee. /p pCorzine, who has shown no indication he’s willing or interested in stepping down, isn’t the only Democratic governor buffeted by the political winds. A handful of Democrats whose seats are up for election in 2010, including span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_15"Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle/span and span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_16"Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick/span, have recently seen their span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_17"approval ratings/span plummet below 40 percent — dangerous territory for an incumbent. /p pIn New York, Gov. David Paterson faces similarly daunting numbers, and other first-term Democratic governors from span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_18"Ohio/span to span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_19"Iowa/span to Colorado have also seen their approval ratings move in the wrong direction. In span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_20"Pennsylvania/span, a recent Quinnipiac University poll reported span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; cursor: pointer; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1248889178_21"Gov. Ed Rendell/span with the lowest approval rating of his two terms in office. /p p“What’s hurting the Democrats badly is that people are afraid of the deficit and spending. They don’t see signs of economic growth, and people are worried,” said GOP pollster John McLaughlin. “If you look at the economy right now, voters gave the Democrats benefit of the doubt, they thought the stimulus would work, employment would recede — and they’re finding out now it’s not the case.”/pp...br //p/blockquoteThere is more. This is one of the reasons the Blue Dogs deal with the liberals is dangerous for them and other Democrats. With the health care bill the Democrats have put themselves in the position of being the loser whether they get it passed or not.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5051247-7014569736403449619?l=prairiepundit.blogspot.com'//div

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Hutchison says she'll resign from Senate this fall

a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Hutchison_says_shell_resign_Senate_seat.html"R.G. Ratcliff:/abr /br /blockquoteU.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison told a Dallas radio station talk show host today that she will resign her Senate seat in either October or November. pHutchison told host WBAP host Mark Davis that she would like to stay in office while running for governor, but she can't so long as Gov. Rick Perry remains in the contest./p pWhen Davis asked Hutchison if she would stay in office while running, she replied, “I just can't — as long as Governor Perry stays in the race…”/p pHutchison said her formal announcement for governor will occur next month./p p“Well I'm going to announce in August. Formal announcement: I am in. Then the actual leaving of the Senate will be sometime — October, November — that, in that time frame,” she said./p pThat statement is likely to open a floodgate politically./p pThere already is a crowd of politicians looking at running for Hutchison's Senate seat, including Houston Mayor Bill White and former Comptroller John Sharp as Democrats, and among the Republicans there are Railroad Commissioners Elizabeth Ames Jones, Michael Williams, state Sen. Florence Shaprio and former Secretary of State Roger Williams./p pBut if Perry names Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst as Hutchison's interim replacement, that also likely opens up the attorney general's office as incumbent Greg Abbott is expected to run for lieutenant governor if the office is vacant./p pIf Hutchison resigns in October or November, a special election will be held no later than May 2010, but Perry could set the election sooner by declaring an emergency./pp...br //p/blockquoteShe seems genuinely disappointed that Perry is running for reelection. I am sorry to see her go, but it will certainly make Texas politics interesting for the next year or so. There are a number of good candidates in the race to replace her and so far none have pulled away from the field. I have a high regard for both Railroad Commissioners Elizabeth Ames Jones and Michael Williams. If Dewhurst is in the race, he has resources that may make him a formidable candidate also.br /br /I think Kay has a formidable task in defeating Perry in the Republican primary at this point, although she has plenty of time to change the current dynamic and she has a history of running strong campaigns. I plan to support the winner of the primary. I hope they both run a respectful campaign that focuses on the issues.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5051247-948036251404398874?l=prairiepundit.blogspot.com'//div

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Gandhi might even say we're gaining on them....

Back to Gandhi:br /br /blockquotespan style="font-style:italic;"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win./span/blockquotebr /br /Libertarian thought is emerging--one might even say oozing out around the edges--into the political discourse these days.br /br /One reason, I suspect [and hope], is that Libertarians are becoming more and more willing to stand up and confront social conservatives, who were never really small-government advocates, and who have proven [at least the political leaders] to be quite willing to use both force and fraud not only to maintain their hold on power, but to remove essential civil liberties from the American people.br /br /Or maybe--as Robert Heinlein would have put it--we're just in ithe silly season/i.br /br /But when you see Libertarianism used in such throwaway fashion as the a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/us/25pig.html"NYT/a does here:br /br /blockquotespan style="font-style:italic;"No one really knows what to call the 150-pound pig roaming free in Panama City, Fla., but by eluding the authorities for five months, shaking off a Taser and four tranquilizer darts on Tuesday, the porker has become more than just swine.br /br /span style="font-weight:bold;"The pig is now a local libertarian hero/span. Supporters describe the animal as a freedom-loving outlaw with a taste for corn. His Facebook page lists more than 200 fans, like Mary K. Sittman, who asked this week, “Is the pig a symbol of our desire to live free of government controls?”/span/blockquotebr /br /... then you realize several implicit assumptions that the author of the piece has made:br /br /1) The majority of his readers will understand the term ilibertarian/i and equate it with a significant minority political view in Americabr /br /2) The majority of his readers will understand that libertarianism has something to do with championing personal freedom against the governmentbr /br /Five years ago I don't think that would have been the case.br /br /Another example of Libertarianism oozing in through the cracks:br /br /In North Carolina, after Libertarian Gubernatioral candidate Michael Munger and Senatorial candidate Chris Cole both did far better than expected in 2008, a href="http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/07/north-carolina-tax-department-will-honor-taxpayer-requests-to-help-libertarian-party/"the North Carolina Department of Taxation has started to honor requests to send voluntary contributions to the Libertarian Party/a, something previously reserved only for GOPers and Dems. [If you are wondering how Libertarians can see their way to cash the checks, remember: it's a voluntary donation, not a diversion of tax funds.]br /br /And closer to home in Sussex County:br /br /a href="http://www.delawareliberal.net/2009/07/24/around-the-horn-july-24-2009/#comments"Delawareliberal's own jason has joined his co-blogger Delawaredem in endorsing the candidacy of Libertarian Wendy Jones for the 19th District Senate seat/a over Barbie [oops, iPolly/i]. No, I don't think either jason or DD has suddenly developed a taste for Libertarian politics, but faced with a truly horrendous Democratic candidate they can't hold back the vomit in their throats to support, a Libertarian actually offers them a more palatable alternative than either the Republican Booth or the ifaux/i independent Opaleski.br /br /This is success. It is incremental success thanks to the people who [unlike me] are doing the heavy shoveling for Libertarianism as a viable political philosophy: Michael Munger, Chris Cole, Tom Knapp, and our own Brian Shields.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7893272060787897238-4650218679484321385?l=delawarelibertarian.blogspot.com'//div

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