the Emperor has no clothes. Too many people have placed their faith in the emperor, and are sure that it will all work out because he said 'Yes, we can!'.

It seems that there are too many people who believe in the power of self-deception. They are like the White Queen in 'Through the Looking Glass' who 'believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.'

Excellent article again from Dr. Sowell. I just wonder how the trolls will spin their lack of understanding of this one. While it would be nice to see everyone in this country have the same level of health insurance, it isn't possible to have cheap universal coverage that does not ration care. And that doesn't change just because we really wish it to be true.

Sasha,

I'm surprised that you don't realize that the whole point of the Federal Health Board that was inserted into the stimulus bill was impose 'cookie-cutter' medicine.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/05/stimulus-bi ll-may-change-health-care-forever/

The purpose of such a board is to set up a board similar to the NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Effectiveness) in the British health care system that does exactly that.

SJ,

All that the Pew survey show is the power of the 'Big Lie'. If people hear the same lie often enough, they will come to believe it. As a way to see this in action in the poll you cite, notice that only 4% of liberal democrats believe that we have the best health care in the world, while 32% of conservative republican believe that. Now what would you say the percentages of liberal democrats listen to the mainstream media? And now what percentage of conservative republican do? If you constantly hear how bad our health care system is you start to believe it.

Oh, by the way the percentage of Americans PERSONALLY satisfied the quality of their own health care is 89%, while only 44% the same people are satisfied with...

Cookbook Medicine is one of the problems with the direction that the proposed health care solutions have. A set of symtoms may fit many different conditions, and the direction that many want to take is the most cost-effictive one. It may work in many cases, but there will always be those cases where it will not. Doctors need the freedom to move beyond cookie-cutter medicine, and deal with each patient as the unique individual that he or she is.
I'm not sure that I'd like a system where I have to hope that I'm not the one in a million who doesn't respond favorably to the 'standard treatment' for a particular disease.

Will,

You have to realize that the source of the numbers that Congressman Grayson uses are tainted. It appears that the studies performed by Drs. Himmelstein and Woolhandler have used less than standard methods of statistical analysis, and their conclusions are in doubt.

For one thing, their study did not control for higher rates of obesity and smoking in the uninsured population, and when the death rates were properly controled for it, there was no statitically significant difference for those who were insured and those who were not insured.

Perhaps you could compare the president to John de Balliol (Toom Tabard)?

Or you could just say he's just seeing Maggie's Drawers on the rifle range....

This is a position that I've taken for some time. By having the state legislatures select the Senators for their state, the ambitions of the various state senators and representatives will prevent the 30+ years served by senators. A senator is more likely to spend a term or two before being replaced.

Also, having the legislatures select U.S. Senators increases the interest of the people in who they select to represent them in the state house.

Let us go back to the future......

John,
You've given us a very good picture of why it is better to keep the power and reach of government small. As Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the Democratic Party said "That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves." And I'd add this from Mark Twain, "No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session."

BTW, Lilly, the VA loans (which I have used to buy houses with) are merely guaranteed by the government. The money for the loan comes from private banks, and is completely paid off by the veteran. Very little government money is really involved unless the veteran defaults on the loan. As far as social security not faltering, it will not as...

"The God who is there" -Francis Schaeffer
"The Pilgrim's Regess" - C. S. Lewis
"Where is God when it Hurts?" - Philip Yancy
"How Then Shall We Live?" - Francis Schaeffer
"The Great Divorce" - C. S. Lewis
"A Theology of the New Testament" - George Eldon Ladd
"New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?" - F. F. Bruce

The class is a great idea, and I'd not mind taking it if it were online.