Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Where's the Dictator when you need him?

I was recently described as a liberal libertarian. Comparatively, I'm quite liberal. Were the philosophy practical, I'd be a libertarian.

But, neither trait seems to be of any value when it comes to politics and getting something done.

I'm kind of paying attention to the health care "debate" in the news. Harry Reid floats an idea and it gets shot down by the Republicans and moderate Democrats. He floats another idea and the left wing of his party whines. Joe Lieberman, never the homecoming king, relishes in all the invitations he's getting to the cool parties. Obama calls in the squabbling kids, telling them there will be no recess until they rally around a plan. The Republicans sit back with no real plan of their own, seeing no downside to letting the Democrats play out their fights.

So what will they come up with? Something, but it will be a cut and paste job with no overall strategy to provide affordable, quality health care which is the goal all of the politicians of all stripes say they have.

As a general rule, I'm a fan of legislative ineptitude. The less done the better fits nicely with my libertarian instincts. But here, it's getting in the way.

So, I propose legislation to appoint five people that have no political affiliation or bent (pick your own manageable number) with expertise in health care, economics and infrastructure. They provide the plan. The plan is implemented unless Congress (by two-thirds majority) and the President veto it. They stay at it, tweaking as they go, subject to the veto. I know, it's unconstitutional; but, in five or so years, I bet you would have a working, affordable health care system.

5 comments:

Sonja's Mom said...

I always pay close attention to the "symptoms may include" or "if you experience" such & such "while taking this drug, consult you doctor at once". Most of the time, the symptoms sound worse that the problem you are taking the drug for. I think, crap, I'll just keep the disease I have.

The Curmudgeon said...

I've been reading the third volume of Caro's biography of LBJ recently (yeah, always on top of the latest books, I know) and I'm aghast at how the Senate operated in his time. There's every reason to think things have gone downhill since.

I saw a squib online this evening that said even Howard Dean is for scrapping things in the Senate and starting over in the House.

Where you and I differ, I suppose, is that you want something done while I want reform -- but done right. There are too many unintended consequences in a 2,000 page bill -- heck, there are frequently too many in a bill that's 2 pages long. I think that, generally, we've got to figure out how to get a handle on costs and, specifically, come up with an effective plan regulation on individual health policies.

The Democrats, with 60 years or so of pent-up ambition, want to do everything at once.

Things don't work that way. IMHO.

Dave said...

I didn't do a good job of writing the post Curmudgeon. Something will get done with our current process, it will not be a good thing.

If people that knew what they were talking about without the need to get re-elected worked out a plan, we might get meaningful reform.

Lifehiker said...

Great post, Dave. A cudo from another liberal libertarian!

You're right. The current bill is a hash. The democrats are flailing and the republicans are, well..., republicans (check brain at door). To think I'm still registered as one - can you believe it?

There are times when a benevolent dictator is the best system, and your commission would be that.

Sonja's Mom said...

I'm sure you guessed, my comment was for the previous post - sorry about that.