Obama's Fight for, er I mean against, Civil Liberties

Bush waged his war on terrorists. Obama wages his war on dissidents.

If the truth may be told, both “wars” threaten civil liberties. Bush’s war threatened the civil liberties of terrorists and a small group of ACLU-type terrorist sympathizers. Obama’s war threatens anyone who opposes his policies and has the courage to say so publicly.

We live in an imperfect world. Which civil-liberty-threatening war do you prefer?

My wife said this morning that for the first time she was “scared” by what Obama and the Democrat operatives were doing to silence the political opposition. As I read through various news stories and political commentaries, the word “terrified” started popping up. Something unprecedented is happening in this nation.

Our president started his career as a community organizer. But when communities of Americans who hold moderate and conservative political views “organize” it is suddenly a bad thing. If a community of doctors, or (shudder) insurers, organize it is evil.

Get ready for a mega-dose of the truth: whether we leave our health care system primarily in the hands of private insurance companies, or we go entirely to a government-run single-payer system, costs are going to increase.

Here’s the difference:
The government-run system will cover increased costs by raising your taxes and rationing care, although it will never be called “rationing.” The insurance-based system will cover increased costs by raising premiums and rationing care, although it will never be called “rationing.”

These facts are undeniable. The advantage of the system based on private insurance is that it can have the element of competition injected into it, which will tend to decrease the rate of premium hikes. There is nothing to check increased costs in the government system. In fact, citizens will perceive health care to be “free” and we know what happens when people think things are free.

Let’s put all our cards on the table: Has any federal program ever been known for saving us money?

Believe it or not, sometimes in private industry middle managers lose their jobs to streamline corporate operations. How often do mid-level civil service system bureaucrats get laid off? Does anyone locked into the civil service system ever lose his job except for extreme malfeasance?

What should we do? Level the playing field. Give employees the money that went to their insurance and let them spend it as they see fit. Give the self-employed the same tax advantages businesses receive when they purchase health insurance.

Build more medical schools and nursing schools. Encourage more use of nurse practitioners.

If the uninsured are clogging up our emergency rooms for minor medical problems, establish an adjunct to the emergency room that is staffed by nurse practitioners who can handle minor problems.

Limit malpractice settlements to actual damages. Eliminate punitive damages. When doctors screw up badly, take away their licenses. That should be punitive enough and send a message to the medical profession.

Give patients access to some quality of care rating system for physicians and hospitals. The fast food place where I grab a burger has a health department rating posted for everyone to see. Are doctors and hospitals any less critical to my well being?