Since my last post I have been spending most of my time commenting on politics on various web sites, with the idea that I could reach more people. There are some things, however, which require this forum. A lot has happened since my last post and an even larger amount of misinformation has polluted the media in the meantime. I have been gathering a lot of information which I hope will help counter the misinformation and I am providing it here for your consideration. One thing I would also like to add is that nothing I have written previously has proven incorrect or required revision.
Health Care
When someone brings up the health care bill for criticism, you might want to point out the following facts. In 1974 President Nixon proposed to Congress that they create a health care bill which would require all employers, no exceptions, to provide their employees with health care. The government would then provide health care for those who were not employed. The current health care bill exempts small businesses with less than 50 employees from having to provide health care and provides tax breaks for those small businesses that do provide it. The Nixon proposal was more radical, more anti-business than the current bill. In 1993 a conservative economist came up with the idea of mandating people to buy health care insurance as an alternative to the Clinton health care bill. This was incorporated into a proposed bill introduced by 21 Republican senators and one Republican congressman. The idea of an insurance exchange was first devised by an analyst at the Heritage Foundation in 2006 and then incorporated into the health care plan of Republican Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. The Heritage Foundation is a very right wing think tank. Thus, all the major provisions of the health care bill are Republican ideas. So, when Newt Gingrich calls it a radical social experiment, he is lying. Because he has a Phd. in history, he can't claim ignorance. When people call it socialism or taking over health care, they are just plain wrong. FYI, Germany first adopted a national health care system in the 1880's under those radical reformers, Otto von Bismark and Kaiser Wilhelm II. Even with the new bill, we will have the most unregulated system and the least coverage of our citizens of any industrialized country in the world. Remember when Rush Limbaugh said he was moving to Costa Rica if the bill passed? They have a much more socialized system than we do; it is very similar to a medicare for all option.
Amazing as all the past lying about the bill was, it continues even after passage. The St. Petersburg Times called the charge of death panels the biggest lie of 2009. At one tea party rally a speaker compared the health care bill to genocide. Does anyone remember what Congressman Joe Wilson (R-S. Carolina) was talking about when he yelled out "You lie!" to President Obama? President Obama had just said that any bill he signed would not cover illegal aliens. So, who lied, Wilson or Obama? All these lies get thrown out there and the lies and liars get overlooked or forgotten because they are followed by more and more lies that grab the headlines. The latest big lie is that the bill will have the IRS hire 16,000 agents to enforce the requirement to have health insurance. First, the bill specifically states that if someone does not buy insurance and does not pay the fine that is assessed for that, there are no criminal penalties nor can the IRS put a lien against any property of the taxpayer. Thus, there is no real enforcement of the mandate. Secondly, the IRS currently has about 17,000 auditors/enforcement agents for all the taxpayers in the US. There are currently 47 million uninsured, and 32 million are covered by the bill (illegal immigrants make up most of the rest). Previous studies have found that 80% of the uninsured are working poor, and they will get subsidies or Medicaid coverage under the bill. Thus, if everybody else defies the mandate, you will have, at most, 7 million taxpayers who will be fined. So, according to the big lie, we will double the number of IRS agents for a maximum subset of 7 million people who can't be really punished anyway.
Obama/Democratic Mistakes
One of the biggest mistakes that I think that Obama has made so far in his presidency, is the failure to have nationwide prime time addresses to the people and too few press conferences. Instead the White House has decided to substitute town hall meetings throughout the country.
I don't think these have been nearly as effective, plus there is no reason you could not combine the two approaches. I am a big believer in visual aids and the president has failed miserably to use them to his advantage. His first major mistake was with the Recovery Act. He should have gone on television right next to a big pie chart showing where all the money in the bill would go. How many people know/knew that one-third of the bill went for tax cuts? Instead, for months we heard charges that Obama was raising taxes. How many people knew that a similar sized chunk of the act was for extending unemployment benefits and reducing COBRA payments? Instead all we heard was how the bill was filled with pork projects. Similarly, the President should have had a speech to the nation where he laid out the major provisions of a health care bill and how it would affect people. Time and time again, the Republicans have seized the message, put it in their own terms and dominated the media, often with lies, and the Democrats have done little. When The Democrats have reacted it has been defensively. Here's some examples of how the Democrats could have fought back: Every year 15 times as many people will die because of lack of health care insurance as died on 9/11. Why don't you value the lives of uninsured Americans? When the Republicans were filibustering the health care bill, the Democrats should have been challenging them, "Why don't you believe in majority rule and democracy?"
Another major mistake by the Democrats was to give up on major issues in order to try and achieve bi-partisan support. By the summer of 2009 it was clear that there was almost no chance of getting Republican cooperation. A single payer system was never presented by the Democratic leadership as an option for health care. You always negotiate down and by starting lower, they guaranteed that the final bill would be very watered down. Also, it turned out to be a mish-mash of complicated provisions. Even tea party goers favor Medicare 2 to 1. The easy and simple approach should have been to say that Medicare will be extended, as an option, to anyone who chooses to join, with the understanding that the Medicare program will charge enrollees under 65 a premium rate that will recover costs. The system is in place, it's simple, you don't need an insurance exchange, government regulations on private insurance, or anything else. If a private insurance company messes with you, you can just go and join Medicare. This would be the best check on private insurance rates/premiums and unfair practices. Just because of its lower administrative costs, Medicare plans should be able to undercut private insurance by about 20%. Private insurance can compete by reducing executive perks and offering plans that provide extra or special coverage.
Next, the tea party and a lot of fo0lishness about the economy and government.
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