Liberal Views of Government and Health Reform

Only a completely ready state can permit the luxury of a liberal government.

Otto von Bismark (1815-1898)

January 23, 2012 – Liberal readers have complained my last blog on Newt Gingrich and his take on American history lacked balance. My blog, they said, was not "fair."

“Fair” is a liberal pejorative word. You will hear it often in President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.It will be the central theme of his talk.

Just to be fair and balanced, in this blog I shall quote three liberal contributors in yesterday's New York Times, that impeccable Grand Old Gray Lady of American liberalism.

One, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, President Obama’s former chief medical advisor, in “What We Give Up for Health Care”.

"When it comes to health care, most liberals are committed above all to ensuring that every American has health insurance, the greatest achievement of the health care reform act passed under President Obama to finally erase the moral stain of the United States being the only major country without universal coverage…To protect education and workers’ pay, liberal must start to care about costs.”

Two, Philip Boffey, editorial writer of the New York Times, in “The Money Traps in U.S. Health Care”.

"Health reform is supposed to control costs, but there is no simple avenue of attack. Our aging population has played a role in driving up medical costs, but Germany, Italy, and Japan have much bigger percentages of elderly people while spending much less per capita on health care…The spread of health insurance, which shields patients from price sensitivity, has played a role in driving up our spending. But almost all other advanced nations cover virtually everyone, while we leave 50 million uninsured. Administrative costs are high here – no surprise given the hordes of clerks and accountants needed to deal with insurance paperwork. And technologic advances, which are sometimes beneficial and sometime not, cost a lot more than standard treatments. (Surprisingly, American doctors lag far behind their foreign counterparts in using electronic medical records, which can help prevent costly errors and duplications.”

Three, Thomas L. Friedman, Times Political Columnist, Commentator, and International Guru in “American Voters: Still Up for Grabs”

"I want to vote for a candidate who advocates an immediate investment in infrastructure that will create jobs and upgrade America for the 21st century – ultrafast bandwidth, highways, airports, public schools, mass transit.

Second, I want to vote for a candidate who is committed to reforming taxes, and cutting spending, in a fair way. The rich must pay more, but everyone has to pay something. We are all in this together.

Third, I want to vote for a candidate who has an inspirational vision, not just a plan to balance the budget.

Finally, I want to vote for a candidate that supports a minimum floor of public financing of presidential, Senate and House campaigns. Money in politics is out of control today.

Obama is a ‘Kenyan socialist‘- who shocks the public by going radically responsible, radically honest, radically demanding and radically inspirational. Along the lines above, he will be our next president.

I hope it is Obama, because I agree with him on so many issues."

Denouement

There you have it – three liberals’ points of view. I trust that they have not left anything important out, and that I have been fair and balanced.

Tweet: Liberals espouse universal coverage, low costs, high taxes,fair taxes,EHR use,infrastructure spending, and care as delivered abroad.