It’s The Culture, What Works, Not Partisanship, in Health Reform

The inherent vice of capitalism in the unequal sharing of capitalism; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of blessings.

Winston Churchill (1874-1965), At a White House Luncheon, June 26, 1954

September 17, 2011 – When President Obama moved into the White House, one of his first gestures was to send the bust of Winston Churchill back to Britain.

This act showed President Obama’s ideological leaning. It is also showed its misunderstanding of the nature of American culture.

For good or bad, we are a conservative center-right nation that believes in capitalism, with all of its faults. We believe capitalism is a more productive economic system. We choose to be nation that believes in individualist free enterprise rather than elitist-dictated centralized planning.

I happen to believe President Obama’s fundamental problem is that he doesn’t understand American culture. This is not to say he is unpatriotic , lacks good intentions, or is engaged in some conspiracy to covert the U.S. into a quasi-European nation. I do not believe any of these things.

President Obama is a good and decent human being, a genuine intellectual, a nice man without a mean streak, and a solid family man.

Somehow, however, President Obama radiates a mistrust of capitalism and the business community, Those in business reactu to thismistrust by not hiring, by complaining of his high tax mindset, his penchant for heavy regulations, and the uncertainties of future profitability.

Is there a middle ground between President Obama’s beliefs and policies that would reform the health system without unduly punishing businesses and making their future profitability more certain?

I happen to think policies exist that would make the present system more sustainable without bankrupting the nation. And these policies would not require radical changes in political philosophies, which centrist America resists with a passion, as shown by a poll released last week that shows 82% of Americans who say the federal government should not have the power to require Americans to buy health insurance or for business to provide that insurance.

• We could move the eligibility of Medicare from 65 to 67 in two month increments over the course of 6 years and require more affluent Americans to pay more through means testing over the same period.

• We could make health savings accounts available to all in high deductible plans with catastrophic lids, require tax deductible credits to all, and by so doing sensitize patients to costs, allow them to set aside money in a retirement plan with money not spent on health care, allow them to have the same choices that federal employees(including Congressional Representative and Senators) have in Federal Employment Benefit Plans , remove the myth that health care is free, and in the process, give Americans the option of investing in private Social Security accounts.

These policies and options would be in keeping with American culture’s beliefs in capitalism, free enterprise, personal responsibility, and might strike the right balance between capitalism and socialism. In implementing these changes, we might just conserve the best aspects of capitalism, salvage Medicare, and preserve Social Security for future generations.

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