Healthcare Reform for a Heterogeneous Society

Remember when you were young, and your parents gave you your first puzzle game? You know, that wooden box with different shapes cut out of the top, and similarly shaped wooden pieces that could only fit into a corresponding hole. Remember how you kept trying to put the triangle or square piece into the circle hole, over-and-over again. You would put it on its side and try to pass the piece through...nope. You would try twisting it in an attempt to squeeze it through...nope. Then you would try to ram the piece through the hole by placing both of your little carny-like hands over the piece while delivering as much force as your tiny body and over-sized head could deliver...but nope. Then, just when you were about to give up, you noticed another hole, just to the right of the one you just learned to hate...and you tried again. Maybe that was the right hole...maybe it wasn't, but eventually you learned that you have to put each piece into its corresponding hole, and that it doesn't work out well if you try to force a square through a circle hole, or a triangle through a star shaped hole.

Most adults can claim that they learned that principle when they were young, however, there remain those who don't understand that the block fitting game is not just a lesson impacting how we treat circle, square, or triangle pieces of wood, but that it is a metaphor for how we should approach our interactions with one another. I speak specifically regarding how specific political leaders have proposed, and are bent on enacting legislation, in this current case, healthcare reforms, that move the federal government and the provision of healthcare in the direction of treating each American as if he or she were a circle-piece. This mistaken outlook on governance and warped view of America stems in large part due to the hubris and elitist mentality of some of our elected leaders( cough-cough Reid, Pelosi, cough Obama) .

These elitists truly believe that it is their right to construct legislation that protects us from ourselves...because the truth is that we are a very stupid populace, that had sufficient mental capabilities to mark next to a name or two on a ballot, yet cannot make any additional decisions for the remainder of our lives. You see, this small group of men and women are so much smarter than us that they can, with one awkward lefty swoop of the president's pen, enact legislation that will create a utopian society for you and me, where the vibrant colors of every union will mark our new national flag. Of course this is their imperative duty, which if omitted, will lead to the destruction of our society due to the mismanaged actions of the common folk (eww wash your hands, you just touched one of the common).

In essence, these elitists see us as 300 million Homer Simpsons, whose only purpose in life is to drink Duff Beer (OH YEAH!) and eat donuts. And somehow, these elitists, are immune to the cause of our homeritis, and have some type of royal line of blood, which enables them to be omniscient.

Well, Mr. and Ms. Elite...since you know all, you must know what I think about you? No, not that you are the messiah...but that you think you are king and queen...able to dictate what should occur in your kingdom while you sit on your throne. Well, the only king I'm ok with at this point, is the only king who gets it because he serves me, and knows I want to have it "my way." I'm glad that the colonists weren't down with King George III, and that the majority of the population is demonstrating that they are not down with king Barack. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like he is getting the message, as he is still trying to build upon the work of other king-types such as FDR and LBJ, both of whom dreamed of a utopia while their legislation in reality leads to government-sanctioned mediocrity.

So why shouldn't Obama be impeded in his pursuit of a "more fair and just" healthcare safety net? Doesn't this safety net fit along-side the social security and medicare safety nets? The answer to the later question will help answer the first. The problem with the Obama healthcare reform proposal is that it aims to establish the federal government as the responsible party in protecting the dumb masses from themselves...just like we cannot be expected to save for of our retirement nor for our medical bills once we are older adults...we really can't be expected to make healthcare decisions for ourselves currently. Unfortunately, when we concede our right to provide for ourselves, including for our future, to the federal government, we also concede a great deal of our individual freedoms, and as postulated previously we will be treated as if we are homogeneous blocks and forced to both buy into a system that the government regulates (a circle hole), which will never meet our individual needs.

It is important that the structure you position yourself to "fall" into is really a safety net and not a spiders web because the architects of the two have very different outcomes in mind for those who fall into their nets or should I say, webs. While these safety nets are proposed as keeping individuals and families from hitting "rock bottom," as well intended as they might have been, they in many cases act as webs entrapping more people than actually helped.

We must tell the elitists that we don't want them to try to smash us through the same hole! We must tell them that we want freedom to choose! And, if they continue to not listen, or even worse, hear us but obstinately move forward in "ruling" us, we will be forced to get them the hell out of office, and elect leaders who respect the American people and their individual right to freedom!

In regards to healthcare reform, it is true that we do need reform-just not reform that harms more Americans than it helps. We need to allow competition across state lines (allowing individuals to purchase insurance from states that don't have as many cost-increasing unnecessary regulations), by allowing individuals and families to have the same tax breaks as companies when it comes to purchasing healthcare/insurance (currently a company can purchase health insurance on your behalf using pre-tax dollars-money that is figured into your total compensation-while you must use post-tax dollars if you buy health insurance on your own), and reforming malpractice law so that practitioners don't have to practice as much defensive medicine and start dedicating themselves to aggressive and efficient medicine (about 1 out of every 4 dollars goes towards defensive med). Of course there will still be individuals and families that cannot afford insurance even though they work hard and want to purchase it. Appropriate reforms would allow these individuals to use as much of their own funds as possible, with assistance from the community, to buy into the same policies as you and me. Otherwise, they are stuck in a government run system that leads to poorer quality care and less access to care. These are reforms that protect the ability of the individual to choose what works best for him or her and his or her family. Since we aren't all circles, we must allow each to find and choose what works best for his or her own needs and wants.

Balance the budget the easy way

Last week I got back from a trip. Like always, I enjoy flying. It is a great way to travel. How can you beat it? You get to sit there, watch a few mindless movies and they bring you food and drink. You don't have to think about anything or do anything. Great right? Well it used to be better.

Back before 9/11 was the good days of flying. You could show up to the airport 30 minutes before your flight and still be able to board the plane. They were days that we didn't worry about the terrorists or if we had to much liquid in our carry on. There was not fear about someone using the cutlery to kill you or if you had bombs that wouldn't blow up even if you tried. They were days when you didn't have to take your coat off to go through the metal detector and didn't have to take your laptop out of your bag. They were great days without loads of mindless rules that even a small child could circumvent.

Then 9/11 happened. I remember it well. I was in shock as I am sure you were. As a result we all willingly gave up some of our freedom. Along with it went the joy of easily catching a flight. All in the interest of "safety."

Are we any safer today than we were then? I propose that we are not. In the news we find regular examples of bad guys getting through our airport security only to be caught by the last line of defense, no not the air marshals, they are caught by the other passengers. (The Christmas day bomber)

So what do we get from having the Department of Homeland Security? More security? No, fear mongering. What do the colors they use really tell us? They tell us that we should be even more paranoid about a threat that they repeatedly demonstrate they know absolutely nothing about and know even less about how to stop. Aside from the peddling of paranoia, what do we get? More bureaucracy. I don't like to use buzz words like bureaucracy but that is exactly what it is. Just a piece of history, we took the very same government agency in place who was charged with our airport security pre 9/11, and yet was not able to stop it, and make them the single largest US government agency. I am sure that whoever thought up the idea sits around late and night chuckling to themselves thinking "haha all we had to do was give them a new name and different color shirts and people are thanking us instead of blaming us. "

Mr President- Lets cut the least productive parts of government out. When agencies repeatedly demonstrate that they do not preform the job they are established to provide we should remove them. We need to get rid of the department of Homeland Security. Aside from creating lots of high paid and high pensioned government jobs we all have to pay for now and well into the future, do they benefit America? NO! Any value they add is undone by all of the unintended negative consequences they create.

Lets free these workers. Let them into the work force of America and ask them to provide value to others by providing a service that adds value.

I propose that we get rid of the entire Homeland Security group and allow the people with the record for making our flights safer take charge -the regular passengers. Lets start balancing the budget the easy way.

One more rant before I go. Why cant the TSA (a part of the Homeland Security umbrella) manage to get your bag on the plane after they dig through it? I understand it is their right to invade our privacy when we fly, but it is not their right to invade your privacy, delay your bag to dig through it then force you and the airline to fill the gap. But don't worry they will make up for it by sticking a little note in your bag that lets you know they dug through your underwear. Next time I should leave a well soiled set of underwear inside my suitcase as a surprise. :)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this or on other ways we can eliminate government waste by eliminating the agencies that add no value.