Strong Medicine for Elephants

The road to recovery for the Republican party begins with allowing a universal health care bill to pass. Ideally, they should aim for a working yet imperfect bill that passes with mild bipartisan support. This will allow Republicans to say that they supported the idea of health care while still allowing them to place the blame for any problems (and there are always problems in large scale reform) on the Democrats. The GOP needs health care reform to pass for three reasons: unions, small businesses, and votes.

The Republican Party does not like labor unions, and the feeling is mutual. Voters who have family members in a union are 8% more likely to vote for Democrats. Labor unions also raise millions of dollars for Democratic candidates. As a result, many in the GOP believe that labor unions are bad for business, corrupt, and antiquated. There is a reasonable argument to be made that most of the goals of the labor-movement have already been achieved. The five-day work week, worker's compensation, work place safety, the end of child labor, etc... have all been cemented into law. Health care remains almost the only justification for the maintaining or starting of labor unions. If every American were guaranteed access to affordable health care, labor unions will lose their main draw.

Small business owners tend to vote more heavily for Republicans. The message of lower taxes, self reliance, and less government interference has a strong appeal to this group of voters. The goal of the GOP should be to expand the number of small business owners as much as possible. The lack of affordable health care prevents thousands of Americans from leaving their current jobs to try and start a small business. If you have diabetes, heart disease, cancer, or any number of other conditions, it is impossible to buy individual health insurance. As a result, millions of potential small business owners are economically trapped in their current jobs.

Most importantly, the American people want health care reform. The vast majority of voters are worried about the cost of health care, and 60% of them voted for Barack Obama. Health care is not only a winning issue for Democrats, but also a great issue to raise money off of. Republicans have talked about blocking the Democrats' plans but have yet to put forth a good alternative of their own. It would be a mistake leave the Democrats with such a potent issue to bash them with for another election cycle.

A New Face, An Old Dream

George W. Bush's attempt to spread democracy across the world has been a failure. Besides a few notable exceptions, democracy has not been on the march for the past eight years. Afghanistan is a total mess. After several years, thousands dead, millions displaced, and a trillion dollars spent, Iraq is emerging as a very fragile democracy. At this rate we would need to spend , quadrillion dollars on continuous war to make the whole world free by 2418.

It is not the product which is flawed but the marketing. George W. Bush was never a good poster child for democracy. He became president despite not receiving the most votes. His first election was mired in controversy and was decided eventually be the Supreme Court. He is a child of privilege and the son of a former president. He is an example of the worst trends of nepotism which have infected our democracy. Most devastatingly, he managed to taint his efforts to spread freedom with unnecessary and unprovoked war.

Barack Obama is quite possibly the best advertisement for American-style democracy around the world. He was raised by a single mother and climbed to success by his own talents. He is the ultimate self made man. Not only is he the first minority president, but he also has a personal understanding of the third world. His father was from Kenya, and he spent some of his childhood living in Indonesia. He won a landslide election with a campaign of lofty rhetoric instead of divisive wedge issues.

Obama shatters the image that America is simply the byproduct of a white vs brown colonialism. He is now uniquely positioned to promote freedom through soft and hard power. He should use his power to prop up new and struggling democracies instead of attempting to overthrow despots. He could try the bold and novel move to increase democracy around the globe. Most importantly, he needs to remember that new and weak democracies are like alcoholics: you can't help them unless they want to be helped.

Single Payer: The Back Door (Part 2)

As I demonstrated before, there just isn't the political or popular will to implement an universal single payer health care system in the United States. To push for one could end up hurting the much-needed reform efforts. Even though the Democrats will soon control both the Congress and the Presidency, if they are attacked on both their left and right flank on health care, it could doom any bill.


What the supporters of single payer should focus on is making sure any bill contains a back door. Single payer health care advocates believe that government-run health care is inherently better than health care from a for-profit company. It is true that Medicare has only a fraction of the administrative cost of most health insurance companies. If government-run health care is better, all that is needed is to let people have the option to chose a government-run health insurance plan.

People will quickly flock to whatever insurance plan provides the best, easiest, and lowest priced care. If for-profit insurance companies can't provide the same level of service for the price, they will quickly lose customers. In 10 years, if the majority of individuals are choosing the government insurance plan, it would be much easier to convince the American people to adopt it for the whole country. On the other hand, if the insurance companies manage to provide a better quality of care than the government, they would be able to prove that a push for single payer reform is misguided.


Both Obama's and Senator Max Baucus's plans would allow individuals to buy health insurance from a private company or from a government program. By allowing individuals to choose Medicare (or similar program), they would be providing Americans with a maximum amount of choice. The health insurance companies are determined to prevent people from being able to choose a government-run program. They are afraid of the competition. In many ways this is the best free market solution: let the marketplace determine if government-run or private-run health care is better.

Congratulation Congressman Cao

Yesterday Republican Anh Cao defeated indicted Rep. William Jefferson to become the nation's first Vietnamese-American member of Congress. It is always a good day for democracy when corrupt elected officials are thrown out by the voters.

Single Payer: Not Going to Happen (Part 1)

Health care reform will be one of the top issues facing the new administration. Many people on the political left have already started pushing hard for a government-run universal single payer system, similar to the systems in Canada or the UK. Some have named the program "Medicare for All." Given the current economic, cultural, and political climate, there is no chance that such a health care system will be adopted in the near future.

The most important problem is the current economic recession. The major short term problems with adopting a single payer system is that it would literally bankrupt some of the country's largest companies overnight. Regardless of how you feel about the health insurance industry, they still employ millions of Americans across the country. It is inconceivable that during these economic times Congress would pass any bill that would put so many people out of work. Ironically, the economic downturn could make it easier to pass universal health care reform but make it almost impossible to adopt a single payer system. Layoffs and rising unemployment is going to create millions of more uninsured Americans. With trillions being used to help struggling corporations, the demand for money to help the nation's struggling working class pay for health care should be strong.

The next problem is cultural. Universal single payer would be a huge government takeover of a large segment of the economy (although through Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, and coverage for federal employees, the government already controls much of the health care sector). The idea of massively increasing the size of the federal government is not a popular one in this country. Groups opposed to health care reform have been very successful at turning single payer health care into a scary bogeyman. When they attack universal health care plans, they almost always go after either Canada's and/or the UK's. Countries with private yet highly regulated systems that ensure universal coverage are never mentioned. So far I haven't heard of anyone in America attacking the health care systems of Japan or the Netherlands.

Finally, there is just no political weight behind the single payer system. Neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton ran on a single payer health care plan. None of the top political players--Senator Baucus, Senator Kennedy, Senator Wyden, Senator Bennett, or Tom Daschle--currently support a single payer system.

The First 100 Hours

In a time before cars, jets, and the Internet, the world moved much slower. During a simpler, less connected era, it wasn't a problem that for 60 days the nation lived in political limbo as the president-elect waited to magically one day be turned into the president. Those days have long since passed.

This economic crisis is the worst in decades and is only getting worse by the day. We needed bold action yesterday, not two months from now. More major banks are in trouble. Three of the biggest manufacturing companies in the United States may go bankrupt. Layoffs and unemployment are at record highs. The number of uninsured is going to skyrocket over the next few months. And because of outdated constitutional restraints, the new president will not take office for another 51 days. I strongly encourage the nation consider a new amendment to rectify this problem.

Now is not the time for the new Congress and the new president to pretend we are still living in the 19th century. We have cellphones, emails, and video conferencing. It used to be that the first 100 days of a new presidency were the most critical, but the nation simply can't wait that long. Barack Obama will be judged not by his first 100 days but his first 100 hours in office.

Except to cast votes, members of Congress don't need to be in Washington to get the important work done. We have 51 days before Barack Obama officially becomes president. That is plenty of time to negotiate, write, and whip for the new legislation this nation desperately needs. By January, 20 2009, there should be an economic stimulus bill and a health care reform bill waiting on Obama's desk ready to be signed. The new Congress and the new president mustn't allow America to burn while they fiddle with arcane tradition or partisan bickering.