Foreign Policy Lessons from Harry Potter

A warning before I begin, if you have not read the Harry Potter books, nor seen the movies, there is a big chance that you will not fully understand this blog. For those of who you have not yet read the books yet, what is wrong with you? Seriously!?! Get with the program! If you have not read the books, you are a bigger loser than me, and I am 26, single, jobless, balding, and an unmarried virgin. Read them, they are amazing!!!

As I was watching the sixth and most recent Harry Potter movie, The Half-Blood Prince, I had a revelation. I believe that Barrack Obama is the real world version of Cornelius Fudge. This might sound a little crazy but bear with me, as I explain.

The fourth book concludes with a battle between Harry Potter and the newly returned Lord Voldemort in a graveyard. Potter was able to escape the trap by pure guts and a bit of luck. The story of the events in the graveyard soon reverberated across the wizading world, but even with overwhelming evidence, few believed him. The most adamant denier was the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Fudge decided out of fear, political expediency, or a combination of both, not to acknowledge that Voldemort had returned, and as was once again threatening the world with chaos and destruction. For this reason Fudge and company began to libel and slander all those who disagreed with him.

Due to Fudge’s campaign of suppressing and denying the obvious, the majority of the wizarding world was prevented from knowing the truth. While the world remained in blissful ignorance, Voldemort was able to build up his forces and gather strength. It was only until Fudge saw Voldemort with his own eyes, at the tail end of a battle which took place inside the Ministry building itself, that he was forced to cast aside his willful ignorance. This refusal to face the facts and label evil for what it was, almost brought about the destruction of the wizarding world.

I believe there is one key lessons that we can learn from the Harry Potter series and apply to the real world. The United States has also had several “graveyard” moments and we too, for decades, failed to acknowledge the danger that was blatantly obvious in hindsight. Islamic fundamentalists stormed our embassy in 1979, in Tehran, kidnapping 53 Americans and held them hostage for 444 days. In 1983, terrorists killed 242 Americans when they blew up a Marine Barrack in Beirut. In 1993, Al-Qaeda tried to bring down the World Trade Center. There was also the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, the embassy bombings in East Africa, and finally, the attack on the USS Cole. Each of these attacks should have been enough to awaken us from our ignorant haze, but unfortunately, we pawned them off as being unconnected, and of little consequences to the United States as a whole.

All of that changed on September 11th, 2001, when 19 Islamic terrorist hijacked four airliners and used them as missiles, to kill approximately 3000 people. On that date we saw evil up close, and we could no longer continue denying its existence or its danger. We quickly punished those responsible hiding in Afghanistan and won a quick and relatively easy victory. Many Americans believing that the danger had passed began returning to their blissful slumber but the danger was not defeated, it was only wounded.

Obama is not as bad as Fudge but there are striking similarities. Upon assuming the Presidency, Obama wasted no time in making it official policy to stop calling our battle with Islamic terrorism The War on Terror. They instead call it “Overseas Contingency Operations.” 9/11 is no longer a terrorist attack but “a man caused disaster.” If Obama is not willing to call evil, evil, or a terrorist, a terrorist, then we are repeating the mistakes Cornelius Fudge made in the Harry Potter series.

The United States has made these same types of mistakes for decades, before paying a steep price that beautiful September morning. When a man walks onto an Army base and yells “Allahu Akbar,” before ruthlessly murdering 12 service people and injury 30 others, the man is an Islamic terrorist. It is disturbing to me, and it should be to everyone, that he was not labeled as a terrorist by this President, or a significant portion of the country. When the leaders of Iran say to thousands of cheering people, that they will “wipe Israel off the map,” we should take them seriously. It is naïve to believe that we can convince the suicidal cult that currently runs Iran that they should play nice with their neighbors, and maybe think twice about the Holocaust. Which they believe was a hoax.

The farther away we get from 9/11, the closer we come to pretending that we are not at war, that evil does not exist. If we return to our pre 9/11 mentality of dismissing terrorism as random acts of violence by a few disgruntled people, then we are dooming ourselves to another 9/11. If Obama is unwilling to call terrorism by its name and confront it boldly, then it is inevitable that our self convincing fantasy of evil not existing nor being a serious threat, will once again been shattered at the cost of thousands of lives. The soon Obama reads the Harry Potter books and learns from the mistakes of Cornelius Fudge the better. It is time to see the world as it is, not as we wish it to be…

Inconvenient Questions about Global Warming

For years now we have heard that the planet is warming and we are responsible. We rely too much on fossil fuels, we drive too much, we eat too much, the population is too big, etc. etc. I would like to have a basic yet in depth debate about global cooling, oops I forgot it is global warming now, wait it just changed again, now it is climate change. There is no need to delve into scientific journals or the like, to prove that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is a myth. I am going to rely on good old common sense to show in a simplistic way, so that even those of us (including myself) who were educated in our government run schools can understand.

The first question we have to ask ourselves is how do we know what the optimum temperature of the planet is? We know from historical writings, ice core samples, and dozens of other evidences that the climate has varied greatly over the centuries. We know that the Earth at one time was so cold that people walked across the Bering Strait from Asia to the Americas. We also know that during the Medieval Warm Period it was warm enough to grow grapes in Northern England, something which is impossible today.

Why are AGW advocates convinced that humans are responsible? If man and industrialization is causing today’s climate to warm, what caused the other warming periods centuries ago? It couldn’t have been SUV’s that drove the Medieval Warm Period because they didn’t exist. What caused the warming period after the Big or Little Ice Ages? How do we know that man is responsible for our current warming when he wasn’t responsible for any the past ones?

For the people that believe that man is the main perpetrator of global warming, I only have one question to ask you. Are you a vegetarian? It seems like a dumb question but the UN found that animal flatulence (yes I do mean farts), like cows and pigs which we raised to eat, are putting out far more greenhouse gases than all the SUV’s on the planet combined. So if you aren’t a vegetarian than you are a hypocrite. I won’t even begin to talk about all the rich people attending global warming marches and other events and afterwards, leave on their private jet for their annual skiing trip in Switzerland.

AGW believers argue that CO2 is the main culprit of the rising temperature. The atmosphere is made up of many things, first and foremost of which is Nitrogen and then Oxygen which when combined together (by volume) make up almost 99% of the total atmosphere. CO2 measures in at a whopping .04%. If CO2 is driving climate change we have to ask ourselves, how can a gas that only represents roughly .04% of the total atmosphere cause such a drastic effect on our climate? Why not water vapor, that accounts for 95% of the greenhouse gases? I don’t understand how man can be blamed based on C02 driving climate change knowing that 97% of the CO2 in the atmosphere is made by nature.

If CO2 is driving climate change our first step would be to kill everything in the oceans because they are by far the biggest “polluter.” I wouldn’t be surprised if they proposed that because during the global cooling hysteria some people actually proposed purposely melting the ice caps. I am sure glad we didn’t follow their advice. Why isn’t the sun, you know, that giant ball in the sky, which without it, would make life impossible on our planet, not factored in when discussing the potential drivers of climate change?

The AGW theorists argue that if we don’t act now millions will die and tens of millions will be forced to leave their homes as sea levels rise 20 feet, according to Al Gore. Of course the IPCC only says 20 inches, but confusing feet and inches is a common mistake. How do they know what is going to happen 10, 20, 100 years from now? If you watch a seven day weather report on your local news and keep track of their weather predictions you’ll soon find out meteorologists’ have yet to master the science that allows them to predict weather and temperatures a week in the future, let alone a decade or more. How can we be so sure that the AGW advocates predictions of doom and gloom are accurate? They sure didn’t predict the current eleven year cooling trend.

Why are people convinced that global warming is all gloom and doom? How can liberals with a straight face buy into all this apocalyptic talk and continue to blast President Bush for his “fear mongering” about Islamic terrorism? The climate on the earth is constantly changing. I live in Las Vegas and the temperature here goes from 120 as a high in the summer to the 30’s as a low in the winter. That is a 90 degree swing every year. The summer sure sucks but I survive and so does everyone else. Human beings live in areas of the world that range from -20 C to 50 C just fine. Why do people claim that a few degree increase will be so catastrophic when human live just fine in a wide range of temperature whether speaking geographically or seasonally? Warmer temperatures would bring many economic advantages like longer growing seasons in many areas for one.

Why do the AGW advocates demean, defame, and slander those that don’t agree with them? They compare them with holocaust deniers and even threaten their lives for daring to disagree. Since when is it scientific to declare any debate over? The best thing about science is that it is meant to be constantly challenged. When people claim that the debate is over, only proves the weakness of their arguments.

If the globe is warming (which it isn’t since the temperate has been falling since 1998) can man really stop it? AGW believers are proposing spending tens and hundreds of billions of dollars and drastically cutting/taxing carbon emissions, all of which will have little to no effect decades from now. The climate is one of the most complex things in existence. We are barely starting to truly understand the climate and I find it supremely arrogant to believe that humans can control it. Sure we have an impact but to believe we can raise or lower global temperatures sounds like something out of a science fiction movie to me (cough, Al Gore). The planet has survived far worse and will be here long after we are gone.

No matter how effective we are at implementing Cap & Trade or whatever ‘feel good’ policy it won’t matter. China, India, and the Third World aren’t going to do anything. China is already the biggest polluter in the world and India is coming up fast. We could transform our entire economy to a green one, at great economic cost. This would send the few manufacturing jobs we have left to other countries and they would easily make up for and surpass any and all of the greenhouse gas emissions we had cut. Even if we got the entire world to go along with any Cap & Trade or green house reduction promises, and they actually fulfilled them, (unlike Kyoto) it would be all for nothing once the next volcano blows.

The climate has changed and always will change. Humans do effect the environment, but if we really want to save the planet we should focus on the problems we can fix. We should look for the problems that would do the greatest good, for the least amount of money, with the fastest results. The real killer on the planet is poverty. 1/3 of the planet does not have access to electricity. One billion people don’t have clean water and another 500 million go to bed hungry every night. 1/4 of all deaths are due to easily curable infectious diseases, one million of which are due to malaria (great job on banning DDT). There are things in the world that we can fix at far lesser expense that will have a much larger impact. To spend so much money on climate change that will produce such a minuscule result, if any, is not only dumb it is immoral when considering these other problems. In fact the global warming crowd is actually impeding much of the third world from developing their own resources, keeping them in supreme poverty and causing millions of deaths per year. The moral superiority the AGW’s claim would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad.

Taking Chance

A few months ago a friend of mine (Patrick) recommended a movie on his blog. I just got done watching it earlier tonight and I would be remiss if I didn’t write something. The movie was called, Taking Chance. It is a true story seen through the eyes of Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl (Marine), played by Kevin Bacon, as he escorts the body of a Lance Corporal Chance Phelps (Marine), who was killed in Iraq, home to his family. As Patrick said in his blog, this movie “will test if you have a soul.”

After I finished watching this movie (and the bonus material of course) I spent the next little while on You Tube. Sometimes I like to get on You Tube and watch the beautiful videos that people have created to honor and remember “the pride of our nation.” While one watches these videos you can’t help but get emotional when you think upon the great sacrifices so few have made, for so many.

I know a blog like this is usually reserved for patriotic holidays like the Fourth of July, Memorial or Veterans Day but I think we should take a little time everyday to remember those that have worn, or currently wear the uniform. Especially those of us you haven’t done either.

According to the most recent estimates I could find, 38 American service members have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan as of today, during the month of September. It is a national disgrace that instead of watching an hour long special on each and every one of these brave men and women, we watch American Idol, I Think You Can Dance, or the countess other meaningless programs we waste so much time on every week.

It is appalling that the death of Michael Jackson, who was at his best a revolutionary entertainer, at his worst a child molester, was idolized and remembered on TV for hours and hours, day after day. Even today, three months after his death, he is still getting sporadic coverage on TV. By my count 159 American service members have been killed since Michael’s death on June 25th. That isn’t even counting hundreds more that were injured, many permanently, during this same time period. The national coverage these courageous and amazing individuals received put together, would not add up to the coverage Michael received on one news channel during this same stretch of time.

Each and every one of us should take the time not just on Veterans or Memorial Day to show our gratitude for those that have worn or wear the uniform but every day. Especially to those who come home in flagged draped caskets. It doesn’t matter if you support the wars or hate them. The troops that have been called upon to battle in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other dark corners of the world deserve our love, respect, and most of all, our prayers.

Taking Chance will give you hope that the United States is full of people that love and respect our troops. This sad and yet heartwarming film will touch your very soul as you experience firsthand, the emotional journey from Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, to a small town in Wyoming, where the remains of Lance Corporal Chance Phelps are finally laid to rest. By the end of this film you will no doubt echo the words of Lt. Colonel Strobl, who had the honor to escort one of our bravest, home. “Chance Phelps was wearing his Saint Christopher medal when he was killed on Good Friday. Eight days later, I handed the medallion to his mother. I didn't know Chance before he died. Today, I miss him.”

To all my dear friends that wear the uniform, no words can express the gratitude I feel for you. Words will never be enough, but for what it is worth, THANK YOU!

Honduras (Part Two)

With the recent developments in Honduras I couldn’t help but post something. In case you didn’t know, Manuel Zelaya, the former President of Honduras was smuggled into the country by a yet unknown party, and is staying as a guest in the Brazilian embassy. This move alone moves Brazil into the top 10 of my most despised countries list, but that is another discussion. Now that Zelaya is back in the country his supporters are gathering steam. There have been protests but so far they haven’t been too violent, but with Zelaya screaming, “restitution or death” from the embassy patio will not help it stay that way. Today reports were coming out of Honduras of the police capturing several protestors with molotov cocktails and a variety of other less than peaceful equipment.

Why is the Obama Administration so blind to the fact that they are on the wrong side? Zelaya was attempting to violate his country’s constitution by amending it in order to allow him to seek a second term as President. The Honduran Congress along with the Supreme Court ordered (as directed by the Honduran Constitution) the military to remove him from office. They exiled him to Costa Rica in an attempt to lessen the protests and violence that would naturally ensue. They followed their constitution and appointed the then Speaker of the House Roberto Micheletti as Interim President until the next elections which will be held in November of this year. The situation could not be more black and white.

But the Obama Administration for whatever reason decided that what they did was wrong and condemned the actions taken by the military, Supreme Court, and Congress (which was controlled by Zelaya’s own party) in a matter of hours. It is perplexing to me, given the fact that it took Obama several days to speak out strongly against the Iranians shooting their own citizens in the streets and don’t even get me started on his UN speech the other day or his bumbling of the crisis in Georgia.

Unfortunately the Obama Administration didn’t stop there. They froze all aid to the country, which happens to be the second poorest in the hemisphere and heavily dependent on U.S. aid. They revoked the visas of the interim government and allowed the UN representative of the disgraced President Zelaya to represent Honduras during this week’s conference but that isn’t all. Obama also announced a week or two ago that if Zelaya is not reinstated as the President then the United States will not recognize the election results in November.

Just in case you had trouble following me. Obama has no problem talking with Ahmadinejad, who is responsible for killing hundreds (probably more) of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, wants to kill all the Jews, and doesn’t believe in the Holocaust. Not to mention in all likelihood stole the last election and incarcerated, tortured, and killed countless Iranians who dared to protest against him. Obama wants to talk to the socialist dictator Chavez who is actively funding the Marxist revolutionary guerrilla group FARC that is trying to topple the democratically elected government of Colombia. Chavez also has closed down all media outlets critical of him and has killed or imprisoned who knows how many contrarians. Obama wants to impose conditions on Israel to stop building settlements but apparently has no qualms with Hamas not recognizing Israel’s right to exist, but when it comes to Honduras there can be to negotiation! Does this make sense to anyone else?

I know there is a lot going on in your lives and in the world of politics but I would encourage you take the time and educate yourself about the situation in Honduras. Then if you are willing, I would hope you could spend a few minutes writing your representative and explain it to them because most of them are either apathetic, complacent, or aren’t being loud enough. The situation is at a crisis point and is ready to explode. I do not wish the horrible decisions of an ignorant/moronic Administration to be on my head or lead to the death or injury of any of my Honduran friends. The vast majority of the people in Honduras just want to live in peace and we are facilitating the destruction of that dream. If you care at all for freedom and liberty, please stand up for Honduras! Time is running out…
(Check out the bottom of my blog to check out my newest picture making fun of liberals)

September 11th

As I sit here in the wee morning hours on the eighth anniversary of the most devastating attack in U.S. history. I can’t help but take a moment to reflect back on that morning and what it meant to America and to me.

It was a morning like any other. I got up and had my usual Marshmallow Mateys for breakfast. My friend Paul came over, as he always did, so we could walk to school together. As I said goodbye to my mom, Paul told me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. My first thought was, “what is the World Trade Center?” I didn’t give it much thought until I arrived at Ms. Perea’s English Class. It was then, for the first time in my life, that I saw evil.

I, like the entire class, was riveted to the TV, some in shock, others in fear of what they were witnessing. Then suddenly, without warning, the south tower began to collapse. The room went silent as I watched on live TV, the deaths of hundreds of people. It took a few seconds for me to realize what was happening and to the sound of gasps and four letter words I saw the south tower fall.

The entire school watched, until finally after what seemed like an eternity, the principal came on the loudspeaker and asked all the teachers to turn off the TV and start classes. I tried as best I could to focus on the classes that day but my mind was on other things.
As soon as school was out, I ran home and turned on the TV. There I sat transfixed for hours. This patterned repeated everyday for several weeks. I spent most of my free time glued to the TV listening to the stories, seeing the videos, praying for a miracle.

September 11th was an example of the best and worst that mankind has to offer. The 19 hijackers, who mercilessly slaughtered 3000 innocent people, are examples of the evil and malice that exists in the world. The firefighters and policemen that ran into the towers and died saving people they didn’t even know are examples of everything that is good and decent in the world. The contrast could not be more obvious.

September 11th showed America, that even though we divide ourselves based along arbitrary lines such as religion, color of skin, and political party, there is one thing that transcends them all, the fact that we are Americans. September 11th showed me that in the darkest hours there is always hope. No matter how dark the clouds may seem or how terrible the storm, the light will come and the skies will clear.

As you go throughout your usual routine today, take a minute to reflect and thank God for everything you’ve been given. Think about all those who died eight years ago today. Get on your knees and pray for those fighting abroad and thank the Creator of us all, for being given one more day with your family.

Size Does Matter

The question over whether the government can constitutionally do something is hardly ever discussed today in the halls of Congress. Politicians on both sides of the aisle care little whether or not the Constitution gives them the power to do something but only if they can get away with it. For most politicians the Constitution is nothing more than an antiquated document that once had a role in government, but has long been cast aside into the dustbin of history.

The modern politician, by in large, cares little of history, legality, and common sense. They only care about their reelection and increasing their power and influence in Washington. As long as their side is getting their way, then nothing else matters. The long term consequences of their decisions matters little as long as they are “king of the hill” today. There are many reasons for this, but if you want to blame someone all you have to do is look into the mirror. To borrow and a line from “The Dark Knight,” “because it’s the government we deserve, but not the one we need right now.” We have strayed not only as a nation, but individually from the Constitution, which is why we are stuck with the losers we have now in Washington, in the words of James Madison, “But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?”

The Founders were a diverse group of people with many differing ideas but when it came to the purpose and size of government there was little disagreement, when taken in context. They all saw government as a “necessary evil” and believed in the phrase, “that government is best which governs least.” Any person that advocates what is known today as ‘big government’ policies should not be able to say with a straight face, that they believe in the Constitution.

This is easily proven. Just take a look at the first form of national government that they organized. It is known as the ‘Articles of Confederation.’ This form of government was a loose confederation of the 13 states. They could choose to pay or not to pay taxes to fund the revolution. They were under no requirement to supply men, weapons, or supplies of any kind to the war effort. In a nut shell the federal government, under the Articles of Confederation, only controlled the army and relations with foreign countries. The Articles created such a weak national government that it almost cost the colonies the war.

After the War of Independence was over a meeting was called to fix the Articles and give the federal government more power. The Articles were so faulty that they threw them out and started over. After many long debates they compromised and ratified the Constitution. What we should learn from the failure of the Articles of Confederation is that the Founders first attempt/choice of national government, was so limited and weak that it couldn’t run a fairly limited war let alone a complex health care system.

The Founders all knew that government’s natural tendency was to grow. They took great care to limit it to certain functions in an attempt to reign in this trait. It is no coincidence that the Legislature comes first in the Constitution and that it is also the longest. The Founders from their own experience knew that it was the Legislative Branch most prone to abuse its power as had the British Parliament so longed abused them. They then moved onto the Executive Branch who in their own experience had allowed the Parliament to abuse its power over and over and thus needed to be restrained. They spent less time on the Judicial Branch, which in retrospect was a mistake but they didn’t have much experience in a runaway judiciary…

They went to great care to give the first two branches of government specific powers and duties and left the rest as stated in the 10th Amendment, “reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” They did this on purpose. It wasn’t a mistake or naivety because they lacked imagination enough to realize that the world would become more complex. They knew that government was the biggest enemy of freedom and liberty and not business or individuals like we ofter hear today. They had studied nearly every form of government and political philosophy that had existed until that time and decided on our Constitution above all else. Not because it was perfect but because it was the best. To again quote James Madison, “But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

The Constitution in a nutshell is a contract between the states, the citizens, and the federal government. The states and their citizens surrendered certain freedoms, liberties, and power to the federal government in the promise that they would maintain order, ensure justice and liberty for all, and keep the nation safe from enemies, both foreign and domestic. The federal government promised to do these things and no more, in accordance to the powers given it in the contract (the Constitution). Any deviation from the contract renders it obsolete and dissolves it. The Constitution has been violated by the federal government on a regular basis for over a hundred years, and is law in name only. The apathy and complacency of previous generations and our own, have led to this. Now it is up to us to restore the Constitution to its rightful place, as the supreme law of the land and not just a piece of paper resting in the National Archives.

We are in a precarious situation. The Constitution has been put to the torch the last few years like it hasn’t been before. If we don’t stand up for it now, there won’t be a Constitution left to defend. Many people have sacrificed to defend our Constitution. It is an insult to their memory to remain silent any longer. The letters written many years ago between John & Abigail Adams best express my feelings. First, a letter from Abigail to John while he was attending the Second Continental Congress, “posterity who are to reap the blessings will scarcely be able to conceive the hardship and sufferings of their ancestors.” Second, a letter from John to Abigail on 4/26/1777, “Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your Freedom! I hope that you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.”

The Federal Government was designed to be small and limited. The Constitution gives no power to the President to bail out private industry or fire their CEO’s. The Constitution gives no power to the Federal Government to provide homes, retirement, or health care to its citizens. The Constitution gives no power to the Federal Government to do the vast majority of things, many accept as a given, every day. It is up to us to restore the Constitution. It will not be an easy battle. It will not be a short battle. But when we can look our kids and grandkids in the eye and tell them how we helped defend the Constitution in its greatest moment of need. It will all be worth it!

Simple Solutions to Health Care

Benjamin Franklin said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserves neither liberty nor safety.” The pro-Obama care people are advocating giving up some of our liberty for some temporary security. There are easier and less expensive ways of reforming the system than handing it over to the same government that realized just last week that you can use both sides of a piece of paper for their printouts. Many Democrats have stated that the “Obama” plan will eventually drive out the private insurers which is what many liberals want. This would eliminate our liberty to choose our own plans because the government (ie bureaucrats) would be making those decisions for us. While some people welcome this it is nothing more than a false sense of security. As the government controls more and more of the health care industry why does anyone think our results will be any different than every other country that have gone down the same path? The definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing over and over, and expect a different result. Anyone who wants to follow in the footsteps of Canada must be a little nuts.

To the best of my knowledge there are three problems with our current health care system; they are the access, quality, & the price of the care. No rational person disagrees that reform is needed, but I am from the old school and believe that capitalism is the solution to this problem, not government intervention and eventual takeover. I am also a firm believer in KISS. Not the band, (though I enjoy some of their songs) but the acronym, Keep It Simple Stupid. Politicians try and make everything complex in order to create loopholes for their friends and supporters. It is time to get back to the basics. Any health care bill will be filled with loopholes, favoritism, and layers of bureaucracy that will favor the friends and supporters of those in power.

In order to fix health care we need to know the history of health care. One big problem with health insurance is that it is tied with employment. If your job does not offer it, then you have to buy some for yourself which can be very expensive. If you change jobs, like 4/10 people do every year, you lose your insurance, at least temporarily. Employer based health insurance started, to the best of my knowledge, during the days of FDR. FDR initiated a country wide wage freeze that hampered the ability of companies to recruit the best employees. In order to get around the wage freeze, employers started offering health insurance, as an added perk. Decades after FDR’s wage freeze ended, the practice of tying health insurance to your job has remained. A report released a few weeks ago said that 9.1% of all medical costs are linked to obesity. So if we are going to continue to link health insurance and employment we should have employer sponsored diets/health mandates (some companies actually do this to one extent or another). Our diet has a big effect on our overall health and thus the amount of money we spend on health care. It only makes sense that under our current system the employer should have more say in our overall health choices and if the government takes over, it should. Of course I don’t think this should happen but it is easy to see future justifications for more control over our lives. In fact some parts of the country have already begun outlawing certain foods.

If we went away from employer based insurance and instead had an individual based insurance it would solve, or at least help many problems some of which are the problems of access and price. You could leave your job and still keep your insurance. You’d have a lot more choice over your plan, because now you can only choose between the plans your employer offers. After all, why shouldn’t health insurance be on an individual basis? We do it for car insurance, house, flood, fire, etc. Why not health insurance? The car insurance industry, while not perfect, is a lot better than the health insurance model. Car insurance companies find a way to insure teenagers, people with DUI’s, and old people. If health insurance followed this model they could easily find a way to insure people with diabetes, cancer, and most other diseases. They would pay more but they are a bigger risk. We would probably get discounts for eating healthy, exercising, and not smoking or drinking; just like you get discounts for not getting into accidents and having good grades. If companies had to base their plans on individuals, competition would drive prices down. Passing laws that allow people to buy insurance across state lines would also create competition and insurance companies would have to compete.

One problem with health insurance is that most people don’t understand what health insurance really is. Health insurance is sort of like gambling. The insurance companies are gambling that you don’t get sick while we are gambling that we will. No one would pay for health insurance is they knew they weren’t going to need it. All our money goes into a pool and the healthy people in effect pay for the sick people. If the insurance companies ever had a time when they had a disproportionate amount of sick people, they would have to raise prices on everyone because there would not be enough healthy people to pay for them. This is basically the problem we are facing or at least will soon face with social security. This reason is why they refuse to insure people that are already sick (pre-existing conditions). If they signed up large amounts of people that they know would cost them large sums of money, it would be bad for their business and for all the healthy people paying into the system. Prices would have to go up to balance things out and the majority would be forced to suffer for the sake of the minority. Sometimes when you gamble you win, but most likely you will lose. Insurance of any kind isn’t perfect and usually isn’t even very good. The way in which we rely on health insurance needs to change.

Another problem with health insurance is that it pays for almost everything, Doctor’s visits, drugs, x-rays, you name it. This practice has become so ridiculous that if you ask a doctor how much most of this costs, they don’t know. I hope it isn’t just me but this seems moronic. What other thing in life do we purchase that we do not know the price of before we buy it? Health insurance should be used only for catastrophic events like major operations, expensive drugs and the like. Again, we should use car insurance as a model. If car insurance included oil changes, tire rotations, and gasoline, no one would care how much any of it cost. We’d be paying a hundred dollars for an oil change and we wouldn’t know or care because it wouldn’t be our money. If life has taught me anything it’s that when I am spending my money I am a more careful on what I am spending it on. Knowing how much everything costs would force competition in the industry and it would force us to use the system wisely and not see the doctor for every sore throat and tummy ache. This would free up the doctors to see more people. TORT reform would also help in freeing doctors from doing excessive tests and spending large amounts of money in insurance. Capitalism and free market competition is what has made our country great and it with a little encouragement from government, can fix health care.

To see how competition and the free market could drastically lower prices and at the same time provide good quality we need only look at the plastic surgery and Lasik eye surgery industries. These two industries have improved by leaps and bounds over the last two or three decades and while lowering their prices. The same can’t be said for the health care industry in general. The price for Lasik surgery for example has gone down on average 30% over the last decade or so. The doctors that work in these areas also give out their cell phone numbers and answer your emails. Does your doctor do that?

In the end there is no easy answer to our health care problem. My solutions will admittedly not solve all the problems but I believe they will help. The government should not be allowed to yield more power in the health care industry. Government has no constitutional right to do so and even if it did, it can’t even run the post office efficiently. What hope is there that it will run the much more complex health care industry even better? A few reforms here and there will go a long way not only to make health care cheaper but more accessible to all Americans and best of all it won’t add to our already ballooning debt.

“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” (C.S. Lewis)