The View From
On the Road Again
© By Peter Barry Chowka
(December 1, 2006) For the past decade, my usual Modus operandi has been to be online most of the time, searching out and reviewing relevant news developments, scouring the scientific and medical literature, comparing notes with individuals I consider to be knowledgeable, and reporting here fortnightly.
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South Lake Tahoe (California-Nevada)
Nov. 15, 2006 |
As I wrote earlier this year, it can be enlightening to get out and about, with eyes wide open, surveying the country's landscape from different vantage points and perspectives.
Since the elections were imminent when I began my trip, the contrasts between the political rhetoric and the reality on the ground have been immediately apparent.
The Democrats, it has been widely reported, won control of Congress on November 7th, among other reasons, because Americans were supposedly concerned and felt uneasy about the economy and about the country's direction. Imagine my surprise, then, when virtually every community I've visited or passed through (in the states of California and Nevada so far) has appeared to be booming, including in the all-important retail run up to Christmas.
In San Diego, a city I am well familiar with going back several decades, I have never seen things look so well, productive, and busy. In the days after Thanksgiving, the city's many malls and other retail environments were absolutely jammed with enthusiastic and good-natured shoppers -- and it was obvious that people were buying things and not just browsing.
Parking lots in California are filled with new model cars, and real estate developments are spreading (or sprawling) out from the city center in every direction. Gas prices are down, everybody who wants a job seems to be working (help wanted signs are often seen), and cities and towns in the West never looked prettier decked out for the holidays.
It's more subjective to assess, of course, but the collective mood as one travels around the American West seems decidedly upbeat. And I'm not talking about the collective mood one finds only at exclusive resorts or high class stores, but destinations like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Office Depot, and other places where middle class people like me go to shop.
One of the lessons I am taking away from these impressions, which can be applied to virtually any area of modern life, is to be reminded, again, that talking heads, so-called experts, reporters, ambitious politicians, and others who dominate the national public discourse inevitably have agendas, and see the world through their rose- (or dark-) colored glasses.
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Sunset at Coronado, California Nov. 23,
2006 |
We agreed in our hour long chat that it is the agenda of the most visible talking heads and especially of the politicians (particularly Democrats) to amass more and more power and influence for themselves, which helps to explain their incessant whining and spinning of “crises” all around (including in health care) so they can offer "solutions." These solutions inevitably entail more central control (like mandatory “universal health care”) and less freedom for people to choose options for themselves and their families at the grassroots.
To that end, the pronouncements of some leading Democrats following their party's 2006 election victories have been predictable -- and alarming.
Two Congressional Democrats who will be very influential in the New Congress are Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), who will chair the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), who will chair the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Dingell has represented his district in Congress continuously for the past 52 years; Kennedy was first elected to the Senate in 1962 when he was thirty years old. (Dingell was only 29 when he first went to the Congress.)
The Washington Times reported on November 17th that Kennedy's ultimate goal in 2007 is to have the government provide health care coverage for all Americans. Initially, he is supporting extending government health care to all children. According to the Times on November 17th, “Mr. Kennedy, who yesterday laid out his agenda for the Health Education Labor and Workforce Committee, said universal health care is the goal. 'We want to continue the progress in terms of coverage,' he said. 'We will have to take a longer period of time. . . developing the support for that.'
“At the top of the 'to-do' list provided by his staff is an initiative titled 'Medicare for All,' which would expand federal Medicare coverage to Americans younger than 65 years old. The expansion would be done in phases -- first to the 55- to 65-year-old age group and then to children younger than 20. The proposal is designed to be the starting point for discussions on universal coverage.”
Dingell is part of this ambitious plan for socialized medicine. “Mr. Kennedy's Medicare-for-all proposal is co-sponsored by Rep. John D. Dingell, Michigan Democrat, and would provide comprehensive coverage, including prescription drugs. According to a summary from Mr. Kennedy's office, initial estimates put the proposal in the neighborhood of $600 billion per year in terms of cost [emphasis added], but it would generate $380 billion a year in savings, and costs would be covered by payroll taxes and general revenues.”
In a television appearance on November 26th, Dingell promised, not only to expand government health care programs, but to undertake vigorous investigations in his role as committee chairman. According to the AP, “Among the investigations he said he wants the committee to undertake. . . A review of food and drug safety, particularly in the area of nutritional supplements.” [emphasis added.]
Two early leading contenders for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination are also promising to expand the federal government's role in health care. Speaking on November 12th, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) said that Democrats would focus on improving the quality and affordability of health care. “Health care is coming back,” Clinton said, adding, “It may be a bad dream for some.”
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Barack Obama |
In recent weeks, Obama has become a sudden and surprising favorite of the leading opinion makers for the 2008 campaign for the presidency. Now, for the second time in 97 days, Obama has announced that he will have another public test for HIV, on December 1st at a Global AIDS Summit sponsored by the evangelical “purpose-driven” Saddleback Church in southern California.
While one writer in Obama's local paper, the Chicago Sun Times (which generally supports Obama), has labeled the test a "publicity stunt," it is the kind of publicity that apparently pays off. Just ask Bono (Paul Hewson) of the Irish rock band U2.
Pledges to provide health care to everyone are not limited to Democrat politicians. In an appearance on NBC TV's Meet the Press on November 26th, California's Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has been moving left since 2005, said, “We’ve got to insure everybody, because we have 6.7 million people that are uninsured, and we’re working right now on the various different ideas, we’re going to bring those ideas together, I’m going to present this in my State of the State address.”
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