June 25th, 2009: Another Disgraced Governor

When will it end? Governor Sanford is a disgrace to his family, his staff and those he is at the pleasure of serving. A love affair with a woman in Argentina ends Sanford’s political career and worse off has caused massive damage within his family. I care less about Sanford’s political hopes, but I do hope that the family is able to work through this. Sanford needs to do the right thing and step down, now. He has not lived up to his own standards and he is clearly a liability in office both for the state and for his party.

 

I will not argue that he should step down because he put the state in danger by going on this tirade with a mistress, though that is certainly the case and people who approach the argument from that angle have a great point. I, unlike most people, still think there is fundamentally something wrong with adultery. This is not fundamentally a “personal matter” as the mainstream media keeps saying. As a public official, this is clearly not a personal matter. Men who cheat on their wives are breaking the vows of their marriage, which is one of the most fundamental promises they are committed to. It is two people coming together as one, and to remain faithful to that one person. In my opinion, breaking a marriage vow ought to have a harsher penalty than not paying a car payment or a student loan, because it is that much larger a commitment. The state often comes in to let justice prevail in what could be called a “personal matter.” To say we can’t intervene here makes no more sense than not intervening in other contracts.

 

Sanford needs to leave, and he needs to leave now. If he will not leave, the state of South Carolina should remove him by whatever means necessary. He needs to leave the public eye and get his life back in order. If he does that, maybe, just maybe he can make a comeback to political life in a few years. Still, it’s a long hard road.

June 23rd, 2009: Is it ok to make money off of health care?

You listen to Barack Obama and you would think that Health Care companies are this great Satan. I think today I finally got to the root of what the Democrats think about health care. A while back I was with a friend of mine and we were talking about another friend of mine in medical school. He expressed reservations and I was amazed. What I did not get at the time is his statement that he does not like people making a profit off of health care.
 

This attitude is common among pro public option advocates. They believe that health care is a fundamental right, and to try to skim extra money off people in order to perform it is sicking. I, on the other hand, see no problem with making money in medicine. To me, I am not opposed to doctors making higher margins. The truth is that the public option will have a huge edge over private insurers because there is no profit margin on the people running the public option. It will drive down cost, period. Still, the balance of flexibility is something I am willing to have for higher cost. With this public option, private options will drop by the wayside.
 

With the lack of profit, I worry about the lack of innovation and then the lack of quality in the doctors. Doctors make a lot of money because they do work that requires a lot of knowledge and they do work that the people who use it consider it very important. I don’t worry about how much my doctor makes, I worry about how competent he is. If we let the quality of health care bleed due to the lack of a profit motive, in the end, I believe that it hurts everyone. Thus, while to some it seems wrong, I think it is the best that people in medicine have a profit motive.

June 16th, 2009: I Endorse Marco Rubio

A while back friend and fellow blogger Kevin Tracy was pushing me to endorse Marco Rubio. I did not tell him, but at the time I thought the right thing to do would be to endorse Charlie Crist. I knew he was a Moderate Republican, but I figured his name ID was high enough that he would be an easy win. I believe that analysis is correct, Crist would be an easy win and we would have a Moderate Republican in the Senate.

 

Still, last week I was debating with a fellow conservative about how conservative a candidate to run balanced against how electable a guy is. I told him that I want to run the person furthest to the right that can win. In Rhode Island, that may even be a moderate liberal Republican. In Alabama, that is a solid conservative Republican.  So, I gave the Florida Senate Race another thought with that standard in mind. After looking at Rubio, Florida and the polls, I concluded that there is a very good chance that Rubio could win the seat. Since that was the case, I have decided to endorse Rubio, who shares my values more than Crist does.

 

Some will argue that we should still support Crist because that would allow the limited supply of money to be used other places. Their point is valid but I don’t believe that benefit outweighs the opportunity to put into the Senate a rising conservative star in Rubio. I have no hatred against Crist, I just think Rubio is the man who can best advance the conservative agenda. If this race was being run in Pennsylvania, I would be endorsing Crist. Since this race is going to be run in Florida, I endorse Rubio.

June 15th, 2009: We Cannot Have a Public Option in Healthcare Reform

First off, I want to say that there are serious problems in Health Care today. Anyone who disagrees is not paying attention. That said, Obama is pushing for a horrible Public Option. Why is a public option horrible? Because it threatens Health Care as we know it. What will happen is that when a public option is made available, employers will have an outlet to not offer health care and thus people will be pushed to this public option. Once most people are on the public option, innovation shuts down as the government will makes fees so low that innovation is shot out of the system. The problem is that Democrats keep saying the “Health care is a right.” You know what, they are right, health care is a right. People are entitled to basic medicine regardless of their ability to pay for that medicine. But what they get wrong is that it is right for people to make money in medicine.  
 

What needs to be done is opening up the markets and people should be forced to buy healthcare much like they are forced to buy car insurance. Those who cannot pay should be covered by the Government, as there are today in Medicare. If you let the actuaries get in there and set rates, people will be able to find an affordable plan that gets cheaper with healthy practices. The solution to the problem of this marriage between the employer and HMOs is not to find a new partner in the government. What needs to be done is a divorce between the employer and health care and that health care cost should fall to the individual directly. If the employer still wants to provide health care as a benefit, fine, but this unholy alliance being required needs to end.

June 12th, 2009: Deeds v. McDonnell

First off, sorry for not being around the last couple of weeks. I have been back home in Cleveland.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to comment on Creigh Deeds. After looking at the data pre-election, I thought Deeds had a very good chance of winning, and I was oh so close to declaring that. Still, the lack of polling available to be made me hold back. It was clear that Deeds had the momentum. The conventional wisdom says the Washington Post endorsement was big for Deeds, and I agree with the conventional wisdom in this case. McAuffle could spend money but he really had no Virginia roots. Moran was too far to the left. Deeds is a great choice for the Democrats as he can win.

 

So, we have a great matchup in McDonnell vs. Deeds. This election is a rematch, when McDonnell defeated Deeds by less than 400 to win the Attorney General race in 2005. McDonnell was a success at Attorney General, so he has leap-froged Bill Bolling in order to run for Governor (remember, Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line). This election is being called a national bellwether, and on the face of it makes sense. Virginia was the bellwether state of 2008. It mirrored the national averages better than any other state. Should we take this as a referendum on the Obama agenda? Contrary to popular belief, the answer is no.
 

While there is an element of truth into a mid-term governor race saying something about the president, that idea is vastly over-extended. People see their Governors differently than the President. In Governors you see people like Republican Jim Dougless in Vermont and Democrat Dave Freudenthal in Wyoming elected. To give an example in 2008, look no further than Indiana which elected Republican Governor Mitch Daniels by 17 points while voting for Barack Obama.
 

The great thing about this election is that either side can win it. It’s a Jump ball, and the campaign will matter. Obama is a factor, but not nearly as big as you would be lead by the media. The biggest role he will probably play is in Fundraising on both sides. McDonnell will raise money by demonizing him to the base and Deeds will raise money by have him at an event. Other than that, expect this race to be based on Virginia issues. Remember, all politics is local, and expect this race to be exactly that.