Americans are overwhelmingly conservative. When describing their
views in a Gallup poll released in June, conservative is the answer given by
40 percent of Americans. Thirty-five percent say moderate, and 21 percent
say liberal. This means that more Americans are inclined to believe less
government is better than more government.
In addition, government activity in other areas has not inspired
citizens to believe that more government is better.
More than half of Americans "say it would have been better for
the government to have spent less money to stimulate the economy," according
to another Gallup poll released Tuesday. Many of these same people might be
skeptical that the government should spend even more money, regardless of
how good the intent.
"Americans provide a less-than-enthusiastic endorsement of the
impact of the No Child Left Behind Act," according to a Gallup poll released
Wednesday. "Of those familiar with the act, 21 percent say it has made the
education received by public school students in the United States better,
while almost half, 45 percent, say it has made no difference, and 29 percent
say it has made public school students' education worse."
So, if it didn't work on education, why would you think big
government would work on health care?
We should first fix the system we have (Medicare inefficiencies,
fraud, tort reform, allow purchasing between states and electronic medical
records) before creating a new government entity. In addition, we should
continue to reach the underserved through Federally Qualified Health
Centers, which "currently serve about 20 million people and receive
approximately $2 billion a year from the federal government," according to a
column written last Friday by Bob Herbert titled "Hard to Believe."
In the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the only area
where liberals outnumber conservatives is in Washington, D.C., according to
a Gallup poll released Friday. This discrepancy in core beliefs between the
American people and Washington, D.C., might explain why "Democrats Seem Set
to Go It Alone on a Health Care Bill," according to a New York Times article
published Wednesday, while the majority of the country is conservative.
One more health care non-sequitur.