I am pro-Palin. She brought a liveliness to the Republican Party at a time when it looked moribund because of the nomination of John McCain, whose feeble attempt at running for president put the party to sleep. However, not everyone on the Conservative/Libertarian non-pompous, non-country club wing of the party is on board.

Pat Conlon of Born Again Redneck is a blogger I consider a friend and comrade, but he doesn’t see the big hub-bub about Palin-mania. He’s also unhappy about very strong voices like Michelle Malkin or Glenn Beck demanding political purity from candidates.

I will disagree with Beck being an ideologue of the Right, as he tends to be more Libertarian than Conservative, and is pretty vocal about it both on his radio program and TV show. I’m for getting rid of the “country-clubbers” and have no problem throwing out the trash, but Pat is right in that there is a fair amount of horse-trading in politics. Negotiation is key. My preference is that we have people of a stronger Conservative bent doing the negotiating.

Cross-posted at RudyCarrera.com.

After spending the day babysitting, dogsitting, working a full shift and spending some quiet time in conversation with my dear Lily, I had to wait for a phone call so I decided to go through some blogs I had neglected recently, including Powerline. They post a story on Obama’s seriousness among his pathetic liberal acolytes failing, especially via the mockery displayed at Saturday Night Live and the Jon Stewart Show.

SNL hasn’t been funny since Eddie Murphy left, and appeals to the sort of liberal dweeb whose opinion means nil in any serious political discourse. Jon Stewart, also unfunny, appeals to simpletons who cheer on command to canned jokes delivered by a guy whose understanding of political realities is blinkered at best. What’s funny to watch is that even these shills have decided “The One” deserves ridicule. When the previous president was subjugated to this treatment, it was considered part of the political process for the plebeians to spew venom against the leadership. President Obama’s support base comes from these same people, and they seem to be abandoning him. Good riddance to both.

Cross-posted at RudyCarrera.com.

In spite of the rocky road to date in the pursuit of socialized medicine, it seems that policy makers are bent on pursuing the most difficult course possible in making this bill become law. The costs exceed earlier expectations, it is picking up questionable policy additions along the way, and it is receiving criticisms from every sector. This trend in the US House is continuing in the Senate.

There is the sticky matter of abortion funding in the bill. Pro-life members of the Senate are convinced this bill will lead to federal funding of abortions. Fox News quotes Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb) stating
“Citizens get charged a premium that includes abortion coverage. The taxpayers pay a percent of the premium. Who can determine what dollar went here or what dollar went there?”

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., concurs and is threatening to filibuster the bill, under which the so-called “public option” health insurance plan and subsidized plans would allow for abortions, if covered with private money.

Even Obama himself admits the proposal does not have the proper balance to appease all the forces in the debate. “Not yet,” Obama told Fox News’ Major Garrett in a recent interview.

Abortion is just the beginning of the problems facing the legislation.

Union members, a strong part of Obama’s constituency and of members of Congress behind the bill, could find themselves paying a tax on the part of family health insurance plans that exceed $23,000 in value.

The bill takes aim at those who can afford elective procedures by charging an additional tax on aesthetic procedures. It is being affectionately referred to as the “botox tax.”

Than there is the Medicare tax which would rise for people making more than $250,000 a year from nearly 1 1/2 to nearly 2 percent, in the Senate bill. “Tax” is a popular theme through out the bill. In fact, the group Americans for Tax Reform notes the bill uses the term “tax” 183 times. This should not be a surprise, since the bill is more than 2,000 pages long and its enormity has become a prop for its critics during debates.

As is the case in every legislation, the Devil is in the details. With more than 2,000 pages, there are plenty of those to be sorted out. For example, one popular idea among “nanny minded” members was a proposal to tax sugary drinks that did not make it to either the House or Senate bill. However, to hedge their bets, the food industry is still running ads critical of it. One such advertisement points out that “They say it’s only pennies, well those pennies add up when you’re trying to feed a family.”

In my opinion, the only thing that will allow this awkward bill to pass, in light of its many targets for critics to attack, is to use fear. Essentially they are going to try and convince the American people that doing nothing will be far more harmful than passing a bill that is riddled with social agendas, outrageous taxes, and prolific spending. This does not even begin to discuss the problem of rationing that will follow the addition of tens of millions of individuals added to the health care system. In spite of significant majorities in both Houses of Congress, this bill likely is “dead on arrival.”

I was fortunate enough to live in a city that was on the list of stops for Governor Palin’s book tour.  Of all the cities and areas in upstate NY, I didn’t expect it to be mine!  However as an organizer for 2012 Draft Sarah Committee, I was happy that I could potentially get my book signed and meet the governor.  I ended up walking out with a signed copy of ‘Going Rogue,’ a signed t-shirt (that my awesome girlfriend made for me) and an awesome experience under my belt!

There were people from all walks of life.  Some were your average blue-collar working class Americans.  Some looked like they came from a little bit of money.  Some had been there waiting since the previous evening.  They were white, black, Asian, Latino, eastern Indian.  All ages.

Despite MSNBC’s Chris Matthew’s claim that Palin’s supports were only rich, white and elderly, I saw a true cross section of America. Considering that I live in a liberal city in a liberal state, I was really happy to see well over a thousand people lined up by the time the store opened.  I arrived a few minutes before 7:30, and the line went halfway across the plaza. (Quite a large plaza I might add)  The number of people nearly doubled by the time the doors opened an hour and a half later at 9:00.  The biggest surprise for me was the large group of people who were under twenty-five years old.  It was so exciting to see.  Another wonderful thing to see – there were only a handful of protestors, all of which looked like they were transplanted from 1968.

There were other organizers and political peeps there as well.  It was great to stand and just talk with people casually who were like-minded. Some of them were fans of her policies.  Some of them were women who had never seen a fellow woman in public office who shared their views.  Most people were there because they believe that they may have found their champion.

The last two Republican presidents (Bush, and W. Bush) did some things that were really great, and made some pretty big mistakes. Since the day that Ronald Reagan left office, conservatives have been searching for a true champion.  There is now a generation of young Americans that have grown up without a truly inspiring leader on the right side of the aisle.

There are other leaders in the GOP that are decent speakers with some conservative cred.  Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is now a member of the talk show crew, and his time as a Baptist minister certainly helps with the public speaking.  A lot of people are unhappy with how often Huckabee would try to get along with the democrats a-la John McCain.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (Who I must disclose I am a huge fan of) is a very sharp speaker and looked tailor-made to be a president.  He has excellent economic credentials, ran the 2002 Olympics and was a successful governor, elected in a very liberal state. However some people still have questions about the health care plan he tried to enact during his time in office.  He will no doubt have to answer those questions if he decides to run again.

Sarah Palin is a triple-threat.  She can rally a crowd while appearing personable.  She has conservative credentials, and she can tout a successful string of jobs.  She was elected to City Council, then Mayor, then was the Chairperson of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and then finally Governor.  While she did resign her term as governor prematurely, she did so only because the frivolous lawsuits kept her from doing her job.  It was not often reported in the main-steam media that during her term as governor she enjoyed approval ratings in the high eighties.

She comes off like your neighbor.  She is hitting two cities a day, signing over a thousand books per stop.   When she entered the store and waved to the crowd outside, you would have sworn that Michael Jackson was in to sign copies of the Thriller album in 1984.  The cheers were deafening.

She is a personable and genuine person, who is on what many people believe to be the ‘right’ side of the issues. (ba dum bum) For the first time in forty years, more people in the country are pro-life than pro-choice.  The tea party movement has not only shown disgust with the current administration, but with mistakes made from the Bush years as well.  They despise the rapid growth in government that has taken place since the year 2001.  Palin is a small-government reformer who could if elected to the presidency, reduce the size of bureaucracy and government the way Ronald Reagan did in the eighties.

That’s something we could all use.  Imagine a world with government half the size it is now.  Imagine a government not so politically correct that we have a ‘civil court’ trial for the 9/11 mastermind planners so that we can curry favor with the rest of the world.  Imagine a bureaucracy not so clogged with useless pencil-pushing jobs that soak up taxpayer money.  Imagine a government not hell-bent on pushing economic crippling bills like Cap-and-Trade and Health Care reform.  I imagine it every day.

Run Sarah Run.

In addition to costing, at a minimum, approximately $1 trillion simply to launch President Obama’s ambitious plan towards socialized medicine, the current bill will also have a devastating impact on the quality of our nation’s health care.  In fact, I believe that passage of this bill will pave the way for a new Dark Ages in health care.

Thus far, the primary focus of this debate has centered on health care costs and providing coverage to the uninsured.  While American generosity and compassion are weighing in on the side of helping our fellow citizens without adequate health care insurance, it is worth pointing out that our “uninsured” are better cared for and protected than most European nations already practicing socialized medicine.  And while exercising restraint as far as health care costs are concerned, if this was a legitimate goal of reform then why not immediately correct the $60 billion of identified waste and abuse in Medicare, instead of using it as a method of paying for new reforms?  In reality, the notion of controlling or curbing rising heath care costs via this legislation is a red herring; these costs cannot be contained through government controls without sacrificing quality and instituting rationing of health care.  Period.

The United States remains the only major nation with any resemblance to market driven health care.  There is an impetus in US health care towards innovation that other countries simply do not enjoy; but they do reap the benefits from America;s innovation, research and development.  According to Glen Whitman, an associate professor of economics at California State University, Northridge and Raymond Raad, a resident in psychiatry at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, the Cato Institute noted in a recent study that innovation should be the number one concern in the health care debate.  In the study, four categories of innovation are examined:  basic science; diagnostics; therapeutics; and business models.  They found that in the areas of basic science, diagnostics, and therapeutics the United States has made more positive contributions than any other country, and in some cases, more than all other countries combined.  In the category of business models, the researchers lacked the data needed to make a final determination.

However, what no one is able to refute, is that other countries with socialized health care have their own significant problems in the area of business models. In these countries, government bureaucracy has replaced business bureaucracy.  How is that better?  Government’s involvement in the “business” of health care is the primary reason for the inefficiencies in other country’s socialized heath care systems; arguably the same is already true of our own.

If this administration was serious about improving our system, it would explore ways of reducing the role of government and increasing the role of the free market in the business of health care.  According to the authors of the Cato report – and most clear thinking Americans – our health care system, though far from perfect with its rising costs and inefficiencies, has undeniably and without equal, provided the greatest innovations in health care for its patients.  This includes the quick adoption and broad use of new treatments and technologies, which in turn create an incentive to develop those techniques in the first place.

When the American people “subsidize” medical innovation through higher costs, the whole world benefits; that is a virtue of the American system that is not reflected in comparative life expectancy and mortality statistics, and one not so much as even acknowledged by our current administration and in this current debate.  In a sane world, other countries would rise up in urgency and anger to protest the health care proposals before the Congress, denouncing the administration’s intent to drastically and irrevocably damage the greatest health care system in the world, and to squash the innovation inherent in our system from which other countries benefit and should be grateful.

Medical treatments must be invented and perfected before costs can be reduced and their benefits extended to everyone.  Innovation is critical.  If the incentive for innovation is not there, everyone – most especially those who are touted as being the biggest beneficiaries of socialized medicine – will suffer.  Innovation has had virtually no role in the current health care debate showing the myopia of the supporters of socialized health care. They too will find themselves suffering from the lack of options and rationing that are common in socialized systems where the free market is shackled or excluded.

For more information I suggest Glen Whitman and Raymond Raad, “Bending the Productivity Curve: Why America Leads the World in Medical Innovation,” Cato Institute, November 18, 2009.