“[T]here is no need to suppress the demand for healthcare. Expenditures on healthcare are driven by demand, which is spurred by income and by advances in biotechnology that make health interventions increasingly effective. Just as electricity and manufacturing were the industries that stimulated the growth of the rest of the economy at the beginning of the 20th century, healthcare is the growth industry of the 21st century. It is a leading sector, which means that expenditures on healthcare will pull forward a wide array of other industries including manufacturing, education, financial services, communications, and construction.”
Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will rehear arguments in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, a case that could reverse certain limitations on core political speech imposed by the the 2002 McCain-Feingold law and other chilling precedents.
In an op-ed published today on Human Events Online, CFIF director of public policy Sam Batkins writes:
Citizens United is the first of three cases in which interested court-watchers will have their first opportunity to observe [newly confirmed] Justice Sotomayor and get a better idea of her impact on the jurisprudential leaning of the Court.
In addition to Citizens United, the Court, including Justice Sotomayor, is scheduled to hear other high-profile cases after its term formally begins in October on issues dealing with the Establishment Clause and property rights, among others.
As Batkins notes:
Many court-watchers and scholars have reviewed Justice Sotomayor’s lengthy record as a lower court judge without really being able to predict her judicial philosophy on many of the hot-button issues before the Supreme Court. Soon, however, we’ll all be provided more clarity, at least on issues dealing with property rights, the establishment clause and political speech.
Much is expected of elected officials. Much more is expected and demanded of those entrusted with chairmanships and the power that comes with them, especially when it involves the nation’s purse strings. From all that we’ve seen thus far, Mr. Rangel has violated that trust continually and seemingly without care.
Much has been written about President Obama’s new Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones. Indeed, it is no secret that he is an unapologetic liberal. But did you know that, according to Jones, the reason Obama’s progressive agenda is faultering is because Republicans are… “A**holes?”
That’s right. But have no fear progressives; Jones claims that he can be an “a**hole” too. In fact, Jones states that he and other progressives advising the President “are gonna have to start getting a little bit ugly” in order to advance their agenda.
Here’s Jones during a lecture he gave at Berkley back in February:
President Barack Obama will address a joint session of Congress on health care reform in prime time on Wednesday, Sept. 9, a senior official tells POLITICO.
Obama will receive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at the White House the day before for a previously scheduled sit-down.
The last time a president addressed a joint session of Congress that wasn’t a State of the Union, or the traditional first address by a new president, was Sept. 20, 2001, when President George W. Bush spoke on the war on terrorism following the 9/11 attacks. …
It appears that Representative Norm Dicks (D-WA) had his hands full with his latest town hall. About 800 people attended the event, which focused mainly on health care and immigration. Here is a brief snippet:
A Sequim woman seemed to speak for many opposed to government-run healthcare for everyone. ‘A government big enough to give everything you want is big enough to take everything you have,’ she said to loud applause.
“Being a libertarian means living with an almost unendurable level of frustration. It means being subject to unending scorn and derision despite being inevitably proven correct by events.
Imagine spending two decades warning that government policy is leading to a major economic collapse, and then, when the collapse comes, watching the world conclude that markets do not work.
Imagine continually explaining that markets function because they have a built in corrective mechanism; that periodic contractions are necessary to weed out unproductive ventures; that continually loosening credit to avoid such corrections just puts off the day of reckoning and inevitably leads to a larger recession; that this is precisely what the government did during the 1920’s that led to the great depression; and then, when the recession hits, seeing it offered as proof of the failure of laissez-faire capitalism.”
Professor John Hasnas on being a libertarian today.
How opposed is Senator Charles Grassley to the current version of health care reform being debated in Congress? So much so that he’s raising money based on his opposition to Obamacare.
Senator Grassley, once a leader in bipartisan talks, is now raising money and protecting his right flank by informing his constituents that the current version of the Obamacare would “turn over control of your health care decisions to a federal bureaucrat.”
Although there is no doubt that our health care system needs reform, Grassley’s revelation comes as somewhat welcome news, because it has been reported that Democrats are seeking to bypass traditional Senate rules and force “reform” through budget reconciliation, a process that does not require 60 votes.
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