Lobbying By Friends
My Lefty friends know I am a bit politically conflicted. Or at least, not quite as consistently left-wing as they often are. And they are quite clever. They do not scream about Bush, they do not demand I support gay marriage. That is to say, though we discuss everything, they don’t waste lobbying efforts on where we agree, and they do not waste time either in those areas where we do not agree.
They know exactly which buttons to press when lobbying: the social-democratic ones.
My friend Michael also recently went to Amsterdam, and witnessed the same things. He is as angry and inspired as I am. He wants what they have here. He recently sat me down, and asked me if I agree that socialized medicine is the most important achievable program to be considered when voting for the next president. He noted that energy, specifically mass transit, won’t be. It just won’t be. Not the way I want it to be. Not the way he wants it to be.
I prefer the style of the man who is no longer our mayor, but now takes fiscal and foreign policy positions I find disturbing.
Does Giuliani really believe in only “free market� solutions for everything? I don’t believe he really does. But I do believe he won’t push the issue, in order to placate his party.
But socialized healthcare could happen. Michael asked me if I agreed Hillary could do it. I had to admit, she is the one most likely to achieve that.
“Isn’t that the most important achievable thing?� he asked.
I have to admit…it probably is.
5 comments
This friend Michael of yours, does he read the newspapers? The blogs? Is he perhaps a bit unrealistic?
So it’s socialized medicine he wants. Like what they have in England. Or like what drives the Canadians to come across the border to freakin’ Detroit of all places. And now France’s health care bubble is bursting
If Hillary is the one most likely to make it happen, then it’s a reason to vote against her.
Canadians wouldn’t have these many problems with their socialized health care if their system didn’t have to compete with the system we have in the US. We create many challenges for their system, not the least of which is the brain drain we cause by offering doctors more lucrative careers.
Ichabod Chrain,
I hope you are wealthy. If you are wealthy (or even on if you are just on your way there), I appreciate your position. But if you are poor, you’re kind of a shmuck for allying yourself with big business.
DK,
What are you talking about? I’m allying myself with the little guy who gets messed over when government takes over health care.
Your friend Michael on the other hand is allying himself with big government, and the businesses that make money off of it while leaving the little guy in the lurch.
My wife works as a healthcare analyst and is ideologically supportive of socialized medicine in the U.S. but she realizes it is not going to happen. The primary reason (in her estimation) is the healthcare systems which progressives tend to idealize–such as in Holland, France or the UK–are actually currently moving towards a system more similar to our own w/ customer choice, tiered service based on ability to pay, etc. She feels if the Euros are moving in this direction, it makes little sense in adopting systems they themselves are abandoning.
IMHO it is a not a great idea. Europeans receive “free” services (education, health) that are paid for with much higher taxes than we have in the United States. If it was put to a vote, I think most Americans would prefer to spend their money as they see fit rather than having the federal government make that decision for them. I realize this a conservative position but when it comes to paying taxes I suspect the majority of Americans are conservative.
Lastly, it may actually be in the interest of big business to shift the financial burden of providing healthcare from themselves to the federal government? After all, this really cuts the costs of “doing business.”
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