Voice For Liberty

Tag: Health care

  • Rationing of health care, now and on the horizon

    A Wall Street Journal article explains that — contrary to the promises of President Barack Obama and supporters of his health care plan — rationing of health care is happening and will become more pervasive.

    Citing the story of Avastin (see below), the authors write “The Avastin story is emblematic of the government’s broader agenda to ration care based on cost and politics. Once ObamaCare comes into full force, such rationing will be pervasive. When the government sees insufficient benefit, all but the wealthiest and most politically connected will have to go without.”

    The article explains the doctrine of “comparative effectiveness,” used in England to ration health care, and how the 2009 stimulus bill allocated $1.1 billion to study this.

    Additionally, end-of-life counseling has been revived through regulation, not legislation. This, the authors write, “might coax the elderly away from life-sustaining but expensive treatments.”

    Where I might disagree with the authors is in this passage:

    There’s an enormous difference between government-imposed rationing and treatment decisions in the private sector. When insurance companies deny coverage — for example, on grounds that treatment is “experimental” or not “medically necessary” — they do so based on contract language agreed to in advance by subscribers. If you don’t like what a particular insurer offers, you’re free to shop around.

    The idea that people can shop around for health insurance is not a reality for most people. For those who receive insurance from their employers, they get what the boss offers, maybe with a few choices. Contrast this with the lightly-regulated automobile insurance market, where policies are available with many options, and insurance companies actively compete for customers. Those on Medicare get what the government provides, although many seniors shop around for a supplemental policy that meets their needs.

    If the health insurance market were less regulated, particularly eliminating the perverse practice of insurance being tied to employment, a market would likely develop where customers would be able to shop for or specify policies that meet their needs. If someone wanted a policy that would pay for experimental, cutting-edge treatments, they could pay an additional amount for such a policy. I have no idea how much extra this option would cost, but I imagine we would be surprised at how little it would be.

    Or, if someone has signed an advance directive indicating that they do not want extraordinary and expensive care at the end of their life, shouldn’t they be allowed to buy policies that specify this as part of the contract between the insurance company and the insured? That could save a lot of money.

    The rationing of health care has implications for economic development in Wichita. The State of Kansas and Wichita are making a large investment in Center of Innovation for Biomaterials in Orthopaedic Research. This center seeks to make advancements in medical devices, including artificial hips and knees. These types of operations, however, are the type of medical care that we can easily foresee will be restricted as the federal government seeks to control spending on health care.

    ‘Death Panels’ Come Back to Life

    The FDA’s restrictions on the drug Avastin are the beginning of a long slide toward health-care rationing.

    By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Elizabeth Price Foley

    Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration banned doctors from prescribing Avastin, a potent but costly drug, to patients with advanced-stage breast cancer. According to the FDA, the drug doesn’t offer “a sufficient benefit in slowing disease progression to outweigh the significant risk to patients.” Yet in some clinical trials Avastin has halted the spread of patients’ cancer for months, providing respite to women and their families wracked by physical and psychological pain.

    Ponder the FDA’s justification—there wasn’t “sufficient” benefit in relation to Avastin’s risks. Sufficient according to whom? For your wife, mother or daughter with terminal breast cancer, how much is an additional month of good-quality life worth? And what costs should be weighed? Like all drugs, Avastin has side effects including bleeding and high blood pressure. But isn’t the real cost to these women a swifter, less dignified death? The FDA made a crude cost calculation; as everyone in Washington knows, it wouldn’t have banned Avastin if the drug cost only $1,000 a year, instead of $90,000.

    Continue reading at The Wall Street Journal or at Rivkin’s site.

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday November 29, 2010

    Louisville success factor may be gone. The secret sauce behind redevelopment of downtown Louisville, Kentucky may no longer be available to cities attempting to replicate Louisville’s success, such as it is. The Washington Post reports in the article Sen. Mitch McConnell’s earmark power credited for revitalizing Louisville: “The once grand downtown of this city on the Ohio River is shabby, as the nation’s old downtowns tend to be. Magnificent tall cast-iron-fronted buildings sit empty. So do historic brick tobacco warehouses, surrounded in razor wire, tagged with graffiti. But the downtown of Kentucky’s largest city also has a spectacular redeveloped waterfront featuring bike paths and open vistas, the spanking-new KFC Yum Center sports arena, and a medical complex of several hospitals that employ nearly 20,000 people, treat tens of thousands and conduct cutting-edge research. This resurgence is a result of civic vision, pride, tenacity — and the impressive earmark performance of Louisville’s Slugger: Mitch McConnell (R), Kentucky’s longest-serving senator and the powerful Senate minority leader.” … Louisville is cited as a success story by Wichita’s planners. But the earmark money that helped Louisville is probably not available to Wichita in the near term, and may not ever be available again, at least as it has been in the past. Plus, Kansas doesn’t have a senator with the clout of McConnell, and not one that calls Wichita home. McConnell lives in Louisville.

    Loss of earmarks lamented. In the Wichita Eagle article Earmark ban could kill some Kansas projects, well, the title pretty much describes the problem according to some. In particular, the town of Augusta would have had a difficult time affording a levee if not for earmarks. It is mentioned that earmarks are about one percent of the total federal budget. One comment writer, defending the process, wrote “Earmarks return our money to us.” To which we must counter: Why send the money away to Washington in the first place, only to have to fight to get it back?

    “No” to citizen-powered democracy. The Newton Kansas argues that a “practical” state like Kansas shouldn’t let its citizens place propositions on the ballot through the petitions process. The editorial says that the California budget process has led to “serious economic turmoil in that state.” It doesn’t explain why, but the writer is probably referring to the fact that the California budget must be passed by a two-thirds majority of both houses of the legislature, rather than by a simple majority as in Kansas. The editorial also says that ballot measures induce spending by proponents and opponents, and some money may come from out of state. Special interests may get involved, too. And administrative costs of adding “pages” to the ballot must be paid for, too. … I must inform the Newton Kansas that the Kansas statehouse is already overrun by special interests, out-of-state interests already spend a lot on our elections and lobbying, and anyone who has observed our legislative process up close would not use the word “practical” to describe it. … The primary reason the ruling class don’t like the citizen initiative process is that one of the first things citizens may do is impose term limits on their elected officials.

    Wichita IMAX may not be exclusive. In another installment of his series of love letters to Wichita theater operator Bill Warren, Wichita Eagle reporter Bill Wilson reports on the construction of Warren’s new theater in west Wichita. On Warren’s plans for his theaters in Moore, Oklahoma (part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area), Wilson’s article reports: “IMAX? ‘Possibly, and a few other surprises down there,’ Warren said.” … Earlier this year when Warren applied to the Wichita City Council for favored tax treatment for this theater, he implied that without the city’s largesse, he’d take his IMAX theater elsewhere. In his remarks at the council meeting where the tax favoritism was approved, Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer bought into the myth that there can be only one Warren IMAX theater when he said: “A lot of other cities want this IMAX … they’re on the internet watching this city council meeting to see what we’re going to do because they’re going to make a bid for this IMAX.” … City officials said the theater would be a tourist draw from as far away as Texas. … With another Warren IMAX possibly being built nearby, Wichitans and the mayor ought to agree that we were mislead, and Wilson ought to report this in the pages of the Wichita Eagle. This entire episode is more evidence that the Wichita City Council will believe almost anything told to them, as long as it involves the possibility of economic development and jobs.

    Sheriff to address Pachyderms, guide tour. This Friday (December 3) the Wichita Pachyderm Club features Sedgwick County Sheriff Robert Hinshaw as the presenter. His topic will be “An overview of the duties of the office of sheriff.” Then, from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm Sheriff Hinshaw will guide Pachyderm Club members on a tour of the Sedgwick County jail. I’ve had the sheriff’s tour before, and it is very interesting. The public is welcome at Wichita Pachyderm meetings. For more information click on Wichita Pachyderm Club.

    Wichita City Council this week. As this Tuesday is the fifth Tuesday of a month, the Wichita City Council will not meet. Also, the Sedgwick County Commission will not meet this week.

    No free market for health care. A letter in today’s Wichita Eagle claims love for the free-market economy, but not for the provision of health care. The writer claims that free markets for medical services cannot work, because the transactions are one-sided, in that the patient does not have freedom of choice. The writer also cites government success in providing military and education that “improve our society’s overall well-being,” so government should provide health care, too. … I might suggest to the letter writer that we first attempt a free market in health care before we decide it doesn’t work. Most health care is paid for by someone else, and many people who have health insurance through their employers don’t have a choice in the matter. It is this regulation that causes many of the problems in the market, such as it is, and it is nothing resembling “free.” … Citing success of government education and military may not be persuasive to those who see performance of American schools on a long downward slide compared to other countries.

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Wednesday October 20, 2010

    Poll: Republicans to win big. Wall Street Journal: “A vigorous post-Labor Day Democratic offensive has failed to diminish the resurgent Republicans’ lead among likely voters, leaving the GOP poised for major gains in congressional elections two weeks away, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. Among likely voters, Republicans hold a 50% to 43% edge, up from a three-percentage-point lead a month ago. … ‘It’s hard to say Democrats are facing anything less than a category four hurricane,’ said Peter Hart, the Democratic pollster who conducts the Journal poll with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. ‘And it’s unlikely the Democratic House will be left standing.’”

    Faust-Goudeau, Ranzau featured. The two major party candidates for Sedgwick County Commission District 4 — Democrat Oletha Faust-Goudeau and Republican Richard Ranzau — are featured in today’s Wichita Eagle. This is an important election, as the balance of power on the commission is at stake.

    Rasmussen: Health care, bailouts, stimulus not popular with voters. “A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that most Likely Voters think their representative in Congress does not deserve reelection if he or she voted for the national health care law, the auto bailouts or the $787-billion economic stimulus plan.” The complete story is here.

    Downtown Wichita planning. The people of Wichita need to be wary about the planning for the revitalization of downtown Wichita developed by planning firm Goody Clancy. As Randal O’Toole explains in a passage from his book The Best-Laid Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future, planning provides an opportunity for special interests to run over the will of the people: “When confronted with criticism about their plans, planners often point to their public involvement processes. ‘Hundreds of people came to our meetings and commented on our plans,’ they say. ‘So we must be doing something right.’ Wrong. Planning is inherently undemocratic. Efforts to involve the public mainly attract people who have a special interest in the outcome of the plans. … Planning processes are even less likely to attract the public than elections. Getting involved in planning requires a much greater commitment of time than simply voting, and the process is so nebulous that there is no assurance that planners will even listen to the public. … At the same time, some groups have a strong interest in getting involved in planning either for ideological reasons or because planning can enrich their businesses. The usual result when a few special interest get involved in a process ignored by everyone else is to develop a plan that accommodates the special interests at everyone else’s expense.” When we look at who is involved in the Wichita planning, we see these special interests hard at work.

    More corporate welfare in Sedgwick County. Today, without meaningful discussion, the Sedgwick County Commission committed to a $25,000 forgivable loan to TECT Power. The loan agreement specifies targets of employment and wages that TECT must meet. This is not the only corporate welfare the company is seeking. The Wichita Business Journal reports: “The Wichita City Council will be asked to match the Sedgwick County loan, and the company is seeking incentives from the Kansas Department of Commerce.” Does this approach to economic development work? See Kansas spending should be cut, not frozen and In Wichita and Kansas, economic development is not working.

    Heartland policy blog launched. The Heartland Institute has launched Somewhat Reasonable, described as an “in-house” policy blog. In an announcement, HI says: “It is the place friends and fans of The Heartland Institute can keep up with the conversation about free markets, public policy and current events that takes place every day among our fellows and scholars. Heartland staffers don’t always agree, which is part of the fun of working at a libertarian think tank.” Heartland is continually at the forefront of research and advocacy for free markets and economic freedom.

    Tea Parties and the Political Establishment. The Sam Adams Alliance has released a new report that examines the relationship between tea party activists and the political establishment. Its research shows “shows the two entities are united on issue priorities, but differ when it comes to their level of enthusiasm and the Tea Party movement’s ability to accomplish its political goals.” One finding is that the political establishment doesn’t have much confidence in tea party activists’ ability to achieve their goals: “… only about 7 percent of Establishment respondents said the Tea Party knows how to accomplish its goals, while about 41 percent of Tea Party activists surveyed say this is true.” But the establishment needs tea party activists: “42 percent of Establishment respondents said it was ‘very important’ that Tea Partiers work with them.” In conclusion, the study states: “The Tea Parties have knowingly or unknowingly begun to promote a distinctly separate understanding of the political landscape compared to the Establishment’s. The tensions between them illustrate the underlying differences in their conception of the current political environment, their willingness to embrace populist elements, selection of means and tactics, and their acceptance of new entrants into the political world. However they share many of the same issue priorities, indicating that there is opportunity for a closer and more amicable relationship between the two factions.” The full document is at Surface Tension: Tea Parties and the Political Establishment.

    Chevrolet Volt. The Chevrolet Volt plug-in car is suffering a bit of dings in its green-glamour now that GM has revealed that it will use its gasoline motor more often than previously thought. But there are substantive reasons why this car should be scrutinized. Writes Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.: “Cars account for 9% of America’s CO2 output, making power plants a much more sensible target if your worry is global warming. Ironically, the Volt rolls out amid news that an investor is abandoning a big U.S. nuclear project, leaving America more dependent than ever on ‘dirty’ coal for its electricity. Storing electricity — which is what the Volt’s batteries do — is probably the least efficient thing you can do with the output of such plants. Then again, perhaps this explains the rapturous greeting the Volt is receiving from the utility industry. … The Volt’s defenders will shout that the Volt is a blow against terrorism and in favor of energy independence. Two answers: The Volt doesn’t need defenders if it’s a car that consumers want, and that GM can make and sell at a profit. But GM can’t. … The second answer is that even if every American drove a Volt, and every car in America was a Volt, it would not appreciably change the global challenges we face.” More at Volte-Face: GM’s new electric car depends on coal-belching power plants to charge its batteries. What’s the point?

  • Kansas and Wichita quick takes: Monday October 18, 2010

    Last day to register to vote. Today is the last day to register to vote in the November general election in Kansas. Contact your county election office for details.

    Democratic foreign campaign money. “Democratic leaders in the House and Senate criticizing GOP groups for allegedly funneling foreign money into campaign ads have seen their party raise more than $1 million from political action committees affiliated with foreign companies. … Republicans with groups under fire from the White House say the hefty campaign contributions illustrate Democratic hypocrisy.” More at The Hill: Dems have raised more than $1 million this cycle from foreign-affiliated PACs. Related: Axelrod, Gibbs keep up Dems’ offensive on Chamber donations.

    Rasmussen polls from last week. 55% Favor Repeal of Health Care Law: “The majority of U.S. voters continue to favor repeal of the new national health care law but are slightly less emphatic about the impact the law will have on the country. Confidence in home ownership falls: “Now more than ever, homeowners expect to see the value of their home go down over the next year. A new Rasmussen Reports survey finds that 32% expect the value of their home to decrease over the next year, the highest finding since Rasmussen Reports began asking the question regularly in December 2008.” Generic Congressional ballot: “With just three weeks to go until Election Day, Republicans hold an eight-point lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot. Polling for the week ending Sunday, October 10, shows that 47% of Likely Voters would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate, while 39% prefer the Democrat.”

    Waiting for Superman to open in Wichita. Opens October 22 at the Warren Theater on East 13th in Wichita. Check the website for show times. Of the film, the Wall Street Journal wrote: ” The new film “Waiting for ‘Superman’” is getting good reviews for its portrayal of children seeking alternatives to dreadful public schools, and to judge by the film’s opponents it is having an impact. Witness the scene on a recent Friday night in front of a Loews multiplex in New York City, where some 50 protestors blasted the film as propaganda for charter schools.” In Kansas, the Wichita Eagle printed an op-ed penned by the education bureaucracy status quo — Sharon Hartin Iorio, dean of the Wichita State University College of Education in this case — to inoculate Wichitans against the effects of what I am told is a powerful film. Let’s hope this film gets Kansans to thinking about public schools in our state, as Kansas is way behind the curve on innovation, compared to other states.

    Democratic political activists wanted. Craigslist ad: “The Kansas Coordinated Campaign (Democrat) seeks passionate and hard-working persons to do paid door-to-door voter contact in Sedgwick. This is not a fundraising position, and is exclusively focused on ensuring that Democratic voices are heard this November.” Pay is $9/hour. An earlier ad from September: “Looking for several energetic people to work with a small campaign and make sure that Kansas voices are heard in the government! Looks great on resumes, etc. Must be able to work 8-12 hours a week (weekends and/or evenings). Registered Democrats only, no felony convictions.” That job advertised pay of $10/hour.

    Energy to be topic at Wichita Pachyderm. This Friday’s meeting of the Wichita Pachyderm club will feature John A. McKinsey speaking on the topic “Cap and Trade: What is the economic and regulatory impact of Congressional legislation?” The public is welcome at Wichita Pachyderm meetings. For more information click on Wichita Pachyderm Club.

    Trackers at work. The Kansas City Star explains the role of trackers in political campaigns: “Martin’s job is to follow and film political opponents — and try to catch them in a misstep. Trackers like Martin, who works for the Kansas Democratic Party, have become a fixture of modern political campaigns. They now are so common that many political consultants say campaigns are behind the times if they don’t employ one.” In the Kansas fourth Congressional district campaign, Democrat Raj Goyle employes a tracker to follow Republican Mike Pompeo. At the several events where I’ve seen him, he hasn’t asked a question. Here’s some video, apparently shot by the tracker himself, in which Republican National Chairman Michael Steele has a little good-natured fun at the tracker’s expense at a Pompeo campaign event. When asked by me, the Pompeo campaign would not reveal if they use a tracker.

    Kansas owes — a lot. From Kansas Budget Watch, a project of the Institute for Truth in Accounting: “One of the reasons Kansas is in this precarious position is state officials used antiquated budgeting and accounting rules to determine payroll costs. Truthful accounting would include in the payroll costs the portion of pension benefits employees earn every year they work. Accurate accounting provides that these real and certain expenses be reported on the state’s budget, balance sheet and income statement when earned, not when paid. Because the pension benefits are not immediately payable in cash, Kansas’ politicians have ignored most of these costs when calculating ‘balanced’ budgets. More than $8.5 billion of these and other costs have been pushed into the future, and thus onto your children’s and grandchildren’s backs.” See Financial State of Kansas for more. Whenever the shortfall of funding KPERS, the Kansas Public Employee Retirement System, is mentioned, public sector employees attack the messenger rather than facing the reality of the situation. Their strategy, as it is for a majority of legislators, is to pass along this funding shortfall to a future generation. This is dishonest, and a reason why the public employee pension system needs reform — now.

    Sales tax changes could scuttle grocery store CID. A proposal by Kansas Senator Dick Kelsey to eliminate the sales tax on groceries in Kansas could have an impact on a Wichita grocery store’s plans. The store, a Save-A-Lot proposed to be built in Planeview, would use the state’s Community Improvement District law to allow it to collect an extra two cents per dollar sales tax. Question: If the state stopped taxing groceries, could the store still collect the two cents per dollar CID tax? I’m guessing the answer is no. The store’s developer made the point that many of the stores customers use the food stamp program, so they don’t pay tax anyway. And non-grocery items like household supplies would still be taxed (probably), so there’s some sales tax and CID tax there. Here’s an example of how relying on government and politicians adds extra uncertainty and risk to entrepreneurial activity, as if market risk wasn’t enough already. Although I would say that those like Rob Snyder, the developer of the proposed store, who seek government subsidy to back their ventures can hardly be classified as entrepreneurs — at least not the type we need more of.

    TIF for rich, bit not for poor? A letter writer in yesterday’s Wichita Eagle writes: “Tax-increment financing districts have been used to provide millions of dollars to developers in their attempts to revitalize downtown Wichita. Blocking $400,000 for Planeview implies that buildings downtown are of far greater importance than the concern for human beings living in one of the poorest communities in Sedgwick County.” This is an issue the city has to grapple with, although it was the county commission that rejected the formation of the TIF district. The writer continues with a moral plea: “What has happened to our morality and our concern for and recognition of the needs of those who are less fortunate?” Morality is one of the reasons why I and my friend John Todd have opposed all TIF districts, regardless of location and purpose. That, and the fact that they don’t work — if growth in the entire community is the goal, instead of enriching specific people.

    Organist Massimo Nosetti. Tuesday Italian organist Massimo Nosetti will perform a recital as part of the Rie Bloomfield Organ Series. The recital starts at 7:30 pm in Wiedemann Recital Hall (map), on the campus of Wichita State University. Cost is $10.

    Wichita Eagle Opinion Line. “Am I the only one offended by Russ Meyer’s comment that ‘Anybody who is dumb enough to run against Carl (Brewer) is not qualified to be the mayor of Wichita’? When did Meyer become God?”

  • At Americans for Prosperity, George Will is optimistic

    Friday night’s dinner at the Americans for Prosperity Foundation fourth annual Defending the American Dream summit featured Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist George Will as keynote speaker.

    Will’s message was that while progress in limiting the growth of government has been reversed, this can be overcome, and he believes that a restoration of liberty and economic freedom will happen.

    As the dinner was a tribute to former President Ronald Reagan, Will told the audience one of his favorite lines from Reagan during the 1980 campaign: “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his job.”

    Continuing, he said that “Barack Obama is Jimmy Carter 2.0 and it is time to hit the delete button.”

    Will told the audience that the “retreat of the state” that started with the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and the election of Ronald Reagan has been reversed. This should be reversed again, he said.

    On the federal stimulus, Will said that the downward revision of GDP from a bad number to an even worse number is evidence that the stimulus is not working.

    There are two things that the administration is saying that are “funny,” Will said. One is that our current crisis was brought on because there was too little government regulation and administration. The second is that the problem with the stimulus is that Republicans made it too small. “The government is dangerously frugal at the moment,” he said to laughter from the audience.

    But Will said that the government controls the money supply and interest rates, leading to control of home mortgages. He traced the edicts of government that increasing percentages of mortgages must be given to those with poor credit. These expansions of the federal government, along with the No Child Left Behind education law, happened under Republican administrations, evidence that not only Democrats are too blame.

    Government is dominating the energy sector too. He said that matters because “no less of an authority of energy” than Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that “America should use more natural gas rather than fossil fuels.”

    In health care, half of spending is already government money, and that will increase, as will the 138,000 pages of health care regulations.

    As to the alleged dangerous frugality of the government, Will said we are “marching into the most predictable financial crisis the world has ever seen.” This crisis is self-inflicted, he said.

    Illustrating the size of government, he said that at the time of the first world war, when federal government spending exploded, the richest man in American could have personally retired the federal debt. But today’s richest man could pay for only two month’s interest on the deficit.

    The administration’s planned spending program will result in a situation ten years from now when federal entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) plus the interest on the federal debt will consume 93 percent of federal revenue. The debt will be one hundred percent of GDP. This will crowd out private borrowing and investment. As a nation, he said we don’t save enough to fund both government and the investment needs of the private sector economy.

    Will noted the remarkable progress of American medicine during his lifetime. But both presidential candidates campaigned against the pharmaceutical industry in 2008, which Will said was “shocking.” “It is time to quit stigmatizing those who create wealth, those who extend life, those who reduce pain. Get the government out of the way, and let them get on.”

    The economy is fragile, Will said, and we need not burden it more with taxes. He referred to Congressman Paul Ryan, who said we have a nation with “too many takers and not enough makers.”

    On education, he said we need an education system that “equips people to compete in a free society.” He criticized the short school year in the U.S., as compared to other countries. He told the audience that a major problem with schools is the teachers unions. The increased spending on schools has not worked. 90 percent of the difference between schools can be explained by characteristics of the students’ families, he said. “Don’t tell me the pupil-teacher ratio, tell me the parent-pupil ratio.”

    Even with as many problems as there are, he said that an “aroused citizenry” like that in the room tonight can fix the problems. He’s not pessimistic, he said, because Obama has stimulated a “new clarity” from the American people.

    There is a tension today between freedom and equality, two polar values. Liberals today stress equality of outcomes, and believe that the multiplication of entitlement programs to produce this equality serves the public good. But conservatives stress freedom, and that multiplication of entitlement programs is “subversive of the attitudes and aptitudes essential for a free society of self-reliant, far-sighted, thrifty and industrious people.”

    The Obama presidency has passed its apogee, Will told the audience. Quoting Winston Churchill, he said that “The American people invariably do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the alternatives.” Will said he believes that Americans believe that “a benevolent government is not always a benefactor, capitalism doesn’t just make us better off, it makes us better.”

    Will told the audience that “Americans for Prosperity exists on the principle that when you change the nation’s economy, you change the national character in the process.” Urging the citizen activists to get involved, he echoed a remark made by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who had spoken earlier: “You are the point of the lance. Go to work.”

    Before his speech, Americans for Prosperity Foundation Chairman David H. Koch awarded Will the George Washington award. This is AFP’s highest award, given to Will for his work in defending and advancing economic freedom.

    Koch also spoke about the goals of Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which he said are to advance economic freedom and prosperity by limiting government growth, spending, and taxation. It is a grassroots movement that holds political leaders of every party accountable. AFP advocates for the free market economy, which he said improves lives and created the greatest nation on the face of the Earth.

  • Obama health care rejected in Missouri election

    What are we to think when President Obama’s signature legislative achievement is highly unpopular with Americans?

    Scott Rasmussen has written: “One of the more amazing aspects of the health-care debate is how steady public opinion has remained. Despite repeated and intense sales efforts by the president and his allies in Congress, most Americans consistently oppose the plan that has become the centerpiece of this legislative season.”

    Now we have election results that show that Americans — Missourians, anyway — don’t like what they see in the Obama health care plan. The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto reports on the Missouri election.

    Mo. to O.: ‘No’

    They said voters would learn to stop worrying and love ObamaCare. They were wrong.
    By James Taranto

    They told us that Americans would learn to stop worrying and love ObamaCare. To judge by yesterday’s election in Missouri, they were wrong.

    Official election returns show that citizens of the Show Me State voted overwhelmingly–71% to 29% in favor of Proposition C, a ballot measure described in a pre-election report from Time magazine:

    The specific issue boils down to this: Can the government require that citizens buy health insurance? Mandatory insurance is a key element of the health care reforms passed by congressional Democrats and signed by Obama this year. Adding healthy people to the insurance pool spreads the cost of policies for people with health problems. Missouri’s referendum rejects that mandate by asking voters whether state laws should be amended to forbid penalties for failing to have health insurance.

    Time describes the vote as “largely symbolic.” Other states have already passed such opt-out laws via legislative action rather than voter initiative, and the real test will come in the courts. But symbolism matters. If the constitutional question is a difficult one, it’s possible that judges will resolve it on the side of public opinion. And of course the public’s reaction to ObamaCare is likely to influence the politicians who have control over its implementation and possible repeal.

    Continue reading at the Wall Street Journal

  • Andrew Napolitano: Man is free, and must be vigilant

    At Saturday’s general session of the RightOnline conference at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Judge Andrew P. Napolitano told an audience of 1,100 conservative activists that the nature of man is to be free, and that government and those holding power are an ever-present danger to freedom.

    Napolitano is Senior Judicial Analyst at the Fox News Network and the author of the books Lies the Government Told You: Myth, Power, and Deception in American History, The Constitution in Exile: How the Federal Government Has Seized Power by Rewriting the Supreme Law of the Land, and A Nation of Sheep.

    Napolitano told of how at the time of the founding of the United States, there was the natural rights group — Madison and Jefferson — which believed that, as Napolitano said: “Our freedom comes from our humanity. It is as natural to us as our physical bodies are. The yearnings that we have to be free are — if you use a 2010 phrase — hard-wired into us by the supreme being that created us.”

    But Hamilton and Adams believed that without government there can be no freedom. Since government protects freedom, government can restrict freedom in bad times.

    The natural law argument won the day, and that’s why there is the Bill of Rights, he told the audience. But in the second year of Adam’s presidential administration, Congress enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts, which made it illegal to criticize the government, including the president and congress.

    Napolitano asked: How could those who once risked their lives during the American Revolution come to write such laws once they assumed power? Many people in government have an urge to tell others how to live their lives, he answered. “This is the core of the problem with government from 1787 to 2010. If you must look for any defect in any candidate in either party for any office: If they want to tell you how to live your life, vote them out of office.”

    War is a time when rights can be lost, as when Lincoln locked up newspaper publishers in the North because they criticized his presidency.

    Napolitano told of the Espionage Act of 1917, which makes it illegal to talk someone out of being drafted, working in a munitions plant, or supporting the war. It’s still the law today, he said.

    Ronald Reagan, in his first inaugural address, reminded us that the states created the federal government, not the other way around. Napolitano said that he would have added “And the power that the states gave the federal government, they can take back from the federal government.”

    Shifting topics a bit, Napolitano said the government wants to give away your money in your name. It uses the Mafia model. “Taxation is theft,” he said. It presumes that the government has a higher right to your property than you do. “If the Constitution is to be taken seriously, if you own the sweat of your brow, if you own your ideas and that which you create with your own hands: It’s yours, it’s not the government’s.”

    He told of a recent interview with South Carolina Democratic Congressman James E. Clyburn, where Napolitano asked where in the Constitution is the federal government authorized to manage health care? Clyburn replied: “Judge, most of what we do here in Washington is not authorized by the Constitution. Where in the Constitution is it prohibited for the federal government to manage health care?”

    Napolitano said Clyburn’s first answer was frank and candid, as well as accurate. The second answer, he said, reveals a “profound misunderstanding of the nature and concept of limited government.”

    Our role in this moment is to defend freedom, he told the audience in closing.

  • Kansas news digest

    News from alternative media around Kansas for June 7, 2010.

    Bond Savings to Be Spent, Not Used to Pay Down Debt

    (Kansas Watchdog) “Wichita school district officials will spend surplus bond funds rather than cut taxes. Contractors are bidding below district projections for construction projects funded by the 2008 USD259 bond only 51 percent of voters approved. It authorized the district to spend ‘an amount not to exceed $370 million’ on a broad range or projects. So far, contracts for the first phase of bond construction are as much as 23 percent below projections. The district could save tens of millions of dollars if the Wichita Board of Education chose to return the savings to taxpayers.”

    Fed finance bill hurts Kansas consumers and economy

    (Kansas Liberty) “The federal finance bill that passed the Senate May 20 is in conference, where a select group of senators and representatives is working to reconcile two versions of the legislation. The Restoring American Financial Stability Act was crafted by Democrats to stabilize Wall Street and diminish the potential of a future fiscal crisis comparable to the 2008 catastrophe that resulted in billions worth of taxpayer dollars being used to bail out big business. While the bill was touted as being aimed at Wall Street, its influence will be felt here in Kansas within community banks, businesses and by consumers, according to local leaders in the business sector.”

    Sebelius health-care propaganda reaching Kansas seniors

    (Kansas Liberty) Last week Sen. Pat Roberts sent a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services Department Kathleen Sebelius questioning her about ‘misinformation’ provided to senior citizens via a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid mailer. … Tiahrt refers to mailer as an ‘incomplete piece of literature that is trying to sell a product.’”

    Number of jobs in government balloons while private sector stagnant

    (Kansas Liberty) “Kansas Republicans are not impressed with today’s United States Bureau of Labor Statistics report that said the national May unemployment rate is at 9.7 percent, which is a decrease from last month. Out of the total 431,000 nonfarm positions added in May, 411,000 of the positions are temporary government jobs created for Census 2010 workers.”

    Keeping a close eye on the $131 million

    (Kansas Health Institute News Service) “TOPEKA – Kansas is among the more than 30 states that built budgets assuming Congress this year would approve additional federal matching dollars for Medicaid and child welfare programs. And it is among a dozen or so states that have no contingency plan should that assumption prove wrong.”

    Kansas, U.S. tax burdens vary widely, researchers find

    (Kansas Reporter) “TOPEKA, Kan. – Kansas’ lowest income taxpayers pay slightly more than a national average share of federal income taxes collected in the state, and its wealthiest taxpayers pay slightly less, tax researchers calculate.”

    Two states: Two different decisions about competing for federal dollars

    (Kansas Reporter) “TOPEKA, Kan. – Despite the similarities Kansas shares with its neighbor Oklahoma, the two states made very different decisions about competing for federal dollars for education.”

    State General Fund out of balance as fiscal year winds down

    (Kansas Reporter) TOPEKA, Kan. – Entering the last month of the fiscal year, the State General Fund is about $89 million out of balance. Unless June brings in much more than anticipated revenue amounts, the state will have to resort to maneuvering cash and delaying payments, said J.G. Scott, the chief fiscal officer for the Legislative Research Department. ‘If June comes in higher than anticipated everything will be fine,’ Scott said. ‘If it comes in where we expect it, we’ll still have an issue.’”

    O’Neal and Davis On The Last Day of Session

    (State of the State KS) “Friday marked the last official day of the legislative session, called Sine Die, and legislators gathered at the capitol one last time before heading home until next January. Governor Parkinson and a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans worked together this session to pass a one cent sales tax increase that filled a budget shortfall, leaving programs for education, social services and public safety in place.”

    Attorney General Steve Six Announces Run For Top Legal Office in Kansas

    (State of the State KS) “Kansas Attorney General Steve Six (D) kicked off a five city tour Thursday to announce his run for for the top legal office in the state. He said that after years of personal and political scandal, he brought a new culture to the AG’s office.”

    KAKE-TV and WIBW-TV Launch New Sunday Morning Political Show

    (State of the State KS) “Starting, Sunday June 6 at 9:00 AM, KAKE TV in Wichita and will begin a new public affairs program called ‘This Week in Kansas’. Hosted by well-known local journalist Tim Brown, this half-hour program will review the major political events and issues in our state every week. Frequent guests throughout the year will include newsmakers, legislators, politicians and journalists.”

  • Dr. Milton Wolf at AFP Kansas summit

    At the Kansas Defending the American Dream Summit 2010, produced by Americans for Prosperity-Kansas, Dr. Milton Wolf addressed the crowd on health care issues. Wolf is a physician and second cousin to President Barack Obama.

    “Three months ago I had never been to a political rally,” he told the audience. He started a website — The Wolf Files — and became involved.

    He told the audience of some of the personal attacks he’s received.

    “Freedom isn’t free, and liberty cannot be a spectator sport.” The government takeover of health care is really a cover for an assault on our freedom, he told the audience. Deep in the thousands of pages of the bill is health care rationing, which its supporters claim is not the purpose of the bill.

    Wolf said that by coming between citizens and their doctors, there is no other part of life that regulators can’t touch.

    Donald Berwick, the head of Medicare, says that there will be rationing. He compliments the British health care system, but doesn’t talk about the results. Wolf said that the results for cancer survivability in Great Britain are much worse than in the United States.

    He said that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius received a report from her own agency that said health costs will rise after government reform, but that she withheld release of the report until after Congress voted.

    There are free market solutions for health care. First, get the government out of the patient exam room. Government should not be regulating who get mammograms.

    Second, make health care insurance companies answerable to consumers, not their employers. Where free markets are allowed to work in medicine, such as laser eye surgery, the costs have come down tremendously.

    Third, eliminate junk lawsuits. From $100 billion to $200 billion is spent each year on defensive medicine, he said. He mentioned a novel concept: health care dollars get spent on health care, not lawyers.