The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

More on universal health "care"

by Bob Newland

I have often suggested that folks who are concerned about the constant incursions of government into what should be our private lives visit a website called DownsizeDC.org.

I quote from its lead today…
"Of course, no one knows what the bill would really cost in operation. But the history of social insurance and welfare programs is sky-rocketing expense well beyond original projections. Go back and look at the initial cost estimates for Medicare and Social Security, and you will run from the room simultaneously laughing and crying." -- Doug Bandow

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the Democrats' health care plans will cost more than a trillion dollars over ten years. But the true cost is likely to be vastly higher. In fact, the consulting group HSI Network estimates that the real price tag would be closer to $4 trillion. As a result, support for the plan is declining, both in Congress, and among the public.
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DownsizeDC appears to have put together a grass-roots coalition of email activists that is having a measurable effect on votes in DC.

Its principal effort is to get a bill introduced that would force every Congress-critter who votes on a bill to certify that he/she has read the bill. An ancillary campaign is being waged to provide that a bill only deal with one subject at a time.

Along the way, lobbying is waged on currently-debated issues, like universal health care.

I recommend you look at the site and let us know what you think.

1 comment:

Michael Sanborn said...

(Actually, it's BF logged in as MS.)

As this essay points out, the words we use make all the difference.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/24/AR2009062403275.html

Excerpt:

"Universal health care." "The uninsured." "Public option." These are the buzzwords you often hear from Democrats and proponents of President Obama's plan for health-care reform. But if they want to see that plan enacted, they'd do well to excise those phrases from their vocabulary.

Words send messages, but they're not always the messages we intend. Recent polls show overwhelming support for health-care reform, including the "public option" in Obama's plan. But the reality is that which side prevails in this battle will probably depend as much on which one has its messaging right as on which has its policies right."