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Is Right to Health Care in Constitution?

Posted by Mike on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 12:36:10 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
The Tenth Amendment reserves to the states or to the people all rights not specifically enumerated. The Constitution gives Congress the express power of the purse. This means that only Congress has authority to decide how tax revenues are spent.

Whether or not required by the Tenth Amendment, prudence following the principle of subsidiarity would dictate that state and local governments should be in charge of health care. The primary responsibility rests with the individual and families. Government has an obligation to assist only where necessary.

Will liberals in Congress derail health care over abortion? Probably not. Sixty votes are only needed in the Senate to overcome a procedural obstacle, not to pass the legislation with or without inclusion of the Stupak amendment or similar pro-life language.

Will the Stupak amendment come back to haunt Senators and Representatives in the years ahead? We can expect a shift in the balance of power after 2010 and possibly a new administration in 2012. This is before health care reform gets off the ground. There is plenty of time to add explicit pro-life language at a later date. The Stupak amendment is at least a noble beginning.
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Sour Grapes in Upstate New York

Posted by Mike on Monday, November 02, 2009 12:51:02 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
The exit of the hand picked Republican candidate in upstate New York's 23rd Congressional District special election, and her endorsement of her Democrat rival, or rather they are both like two peas in a pod, is the height of cynicism. Since she is so liberal, why doesn't she just change her name to Abdullah and have it over with. At least that name would be a lot easier to pronounce.

Seriously, don't be surprised if the conservative candidate pulls off an upset victory in this race tomorrow. Both major party organizations, Democrat and Republican, are now clamoring behind their Napoleon whose Waterloo will be health care reform.

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Health Care "Reformer" Bites Off Finger of Bystander, Still at Large

Posted by Mike on Friday, September 04, 2009 1:19:41 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
In Ventura County where I live, a Health Care Reform demonstrator provoked a fight with an innocent bystander Wednesday evening, and then bit off part of his little finger. Leave it to MSNBC to get their facts wrong, reporting that the person who caused the injury was an Anti-Obamacare activist.




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Co-ops a Good Idea Whose Time Has Come

Posted by Mike on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 1:27:38 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
Co-ops are the best option for health care reform. The nation's stated goal is to bring all age groups and income levels on board. This can best be accomplished at the local level. Co-ops have a proven track record which includes such enterprises as Land O'Lakes creamery in Minnesota, and Kimberly-Clark in Wisconsin before it became privatized, agricultural and food distribution, student accomodations at colleges and universities, and the numerous credit unions throughout the world. Cooperatives have also been successful in the medical field and competitive with private health insurance in a number of states.

The advantage of the co-op is that it can meet local needs and is more adaptable. The very fact that the members have some ownership and control in the enterprise is itself a big plus for quality control.

Medical co-ops, in addition to meeting local needs, could focus on specific age groups to better serve the community. Thus seniors could have their own medical structures which would not be taking away scarce medical resources from younger members of society. Part of the funding could still come from public sources, especially for economically depressed areas.

It will take time, but with everyone's participation, things will improve. The role of government will be indispensable to get the cooperatives functional and off the ground.

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Helping People Help Themselves

Posted by Mike on Monday, July 20, 2009 11:10:55 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
Democrats begin with a misconception or flawed premise that diversity in government and in industry is always good. This may derive from flaws within the capitalist economic system.

It does no good to elect or appoint people to run a nation or enterprise based upon their ethnic differences. Individuals of minority status bear the burden of offering something of value to the majority culture. If they have nothing good to offer, they should not be given a free handout. That only results in dependency.

It is the responsibility of the people to secure peace, tranquility and happiness. Government at the local level can always offer assistance for people genuinely trying to help themselves. This is subsidiarity. Simply sending out more welfare checks doesn't solve anything. Federal and state government must therefore be reduced to only handling problems too complex to be handled at the local level.

The reform of health care is a local issue, not state or federal.

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