Tricky Tom

Tax-cheat Tom Daschle didn't last long in his bid to become the secretary of health and human services, but apparently he was around long enough to sneak a few despicable provisions into the Income Confiscation Act of 2009, otherwise known as the "Economic Stimulus" Act. I keep hearing what a nice guy Barack Obama is, but telling the country we desperately need this trillion dollar spending bill or economic "catastrophe" will result, and then adding a provision that would require doctors to de-emphasize care for the elderly and force medical professionals to follow federal care guidelines--or face unspecified penalties, just seems like dirty pool. (Call it what you want; It certainly doesn't sound like "change we can believe in.") As Bloomberg quotes Daschle, the goal is to get doctors to give up their autonomy and "learn to operate less like solo practitioners." Daschle wants Americans to expect less from their health care providers, and die, if necessary, to keep health care costs down.

..kindly, mis-guided half-wits insist on a "fairness for everyone" that produces competence for no one..

That's what happens when you promise everyone free national health care. Instead of letting people decide for themselves what procedures they want to pay for, the "fair minded" Tom Daschles of the world conclude that since we can't give innovative drugs to everyone, we will give them to no one. There is less incentive to innovate, and the groundbreaking research that eventually benefits everyone grinds to a halt, because kindly, mis-guided half-wits insist on a "fairness for everyone" that produces competence for no one.

More and more, Americans are electing politicians on the basis of the way they are packaged. (Even if we acknowledge that even the smartest ad men couldn't figure out a way to keep selling Tom to South Dakotans.) Someone within my own circle, whose personal beliefs are violated by nearly every policy position Barack Obama has taken, recently changed his mind on the basis that "he seemed like such a nice guy." The shallowing of the American mind cuts across party lines too. A free-market conservative friend of mine once spent a half hour telling me how "stupid" I was for having concerns that our congressman was bragging about pork brought back to the district.

We don't think anymore. We don't read. We don't argue. Apparently, we have become so utterly witless, as a people, that we can be told "sign this check for nine trillion dollars, or we will never recover!"

Lord Help Us!