While the president and Congress may not welcome actual debate there has been some occurring out here in the real world. I’ve had several lively discussions the past few days with people who are passionate about health care reform and willing to view it as a policy discussion and not a personal attack on the coolest president in the history of EVER.
I’ve always been a fan of letting states run most programs with a modicum of federal oversight. Once the feds are in charge, we go through the looking glass. The federal bureaucracy is a monolithic, slow moving behemoth that is incapable of grasping the concept of efficiency. It exists solely to bloat itself with tax dollars, not to “help” anybody. Picture a fat guy who gets free Cheetos and Oreos delivered to him every day.
This doesn’t mean that the states always perform well when things are left up to them. Most often, it’s because they begin acting like “Mini Me” versions of the federal government and try to get hyper-involved in the lives of its citizens. (We’ll leave the discussion about the fact that the states that are in the most financial trouble right now are also the most liberal, high tax and union dominated for another day.)
In the end, the responsiveness of any government entity is a direct reflection of the attitude and, more importantly, the involvement of its electorate. We truly do get the government we deserve. If three quarters of the eligible voters stay home getting stoned and pretending to be Libertarians you get a government that may not be a true reflection of what the people want or need. Likewise, if you have an involved electorate which happens to be riddled with entitlement mentality you end up with a hot lefty mess.
Which brings us to Oregon.
Some states handle things well. Others are overrun with hippie remnants who spend their days extolling the virtues of Denmark in the middle of an eye-watering patchouli funk.
The Independence Institute in Colorado produced this video about Oregon’s Medicaid system and the havoc wrought when bureaucrats begin deciding which medical conditions are a priority.
The video also manages to casually drop the term “anal fissure” into a sentence. That alone made it blog-worthy.
