Monday, July 30, 2012

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Mire


Famished after a vigorous workout at the YMCA pool, we decided to momentarily break our regular eating habits and grab a quick bite – at Chick-fil-A.  We dined deliberately out of a sense of protest over municipal politicians’ reactions to Dan Cathy’s expression of free speech.  To our delight, the place was packed with people of all manner of unidentifiable persuasions.

That the other diners' beliefs were unknown to us is important to note, as we found later that we kept surprising company with the likes of New York City Mayor Bloomberg, the ACLU, the talk show The View, and more than a few news outlets who also cried ‘foul’ over responses to public denials of Cathy’s fundamental right to free speech and entrepreneurship in our country.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

A Decent Proposal – An American Health Alternative

Much has been said about universal healthcare.  In my view, it is clearly in line with the theistic core values upon which this nation was founded.   However, though people insist that healthcare is a fundamental right, it is not listed in our constitutional Bill of Rights.  

The mistaken notion that healthcare is a right comes from the so-called “Economic Bill of Rights,” articulated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on January 11, 1944.

“ObamaCare” as it is currently constituted, depends on altruism to control costs.  Its major shortcoming is the lack of a mechanism to keep costs down. Healthcare must be tackled not only from the payer side, but also in its management and cost effectiveness to reflect global rates.  In order to do this, we must trim the associated bureaucratic bloat.  “ObamaCare” does not factor in the flaws in human nature, which certainly extend to the individuals who manage and run our healthcare corporations.  If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we are not naturally altruistic.  It is much more realistic to harness free market forces where appropriate and to encourage people – and corporations – to do right based on incentives