Quote from Rearden Metal:
Lodging a 3rd party protest vote isn't really my style.
While the Libertarians do come closest to my beliefs, I cite the example of the 2000 presidential election. A significant percentage of American hippies found the Al Gore wasn't tree-hugging collectivist enough for them, so they voted for Nader instead. Had they just voted for Gore, he'd be president right now.
If we had the European Parliamentary system, where earning just 1 or 2% of the votes is enough to get a measurable share of power, I'd almost certainly vote Libertarian every time.
That is the same dilemma I find myself faced with each day.
It seems to me that a broader solution to the problem, involving less compromise (although it seems like a much greater compromise) would be to move to the European system.
But first, there needs to be soft money reform. That is where things need to begin. I could spend hours on this, but I think the problem is pretty obvious. Republicans with integrity, like McCain (although he was a true asswipe in the 80's with the S&L problems), realize that this is where things need to start. I think that McCain would have been a president with integrity, albeit integrity found relatively late in life.
As for this:
Empire of Novices
The Bush "dream team" is making the impetuous Clinton look like Rommel.
I was thinking back to the Clinton era the other day, and truth is, Clinton really wasn't as great as we all (those of us who liked him, anyway) thought he was. It's just that in retro, he seems like a god compared to the little boy running the show right now. The GWB regime is like the mafia, with the older relatives in charge from a nice secret villa somewhere, and a well-guarded,
big-mouthed frontman who people seem to trust to make deals with the public (although whenever I see him on TV I want to vomit).
And back to the voting issue, I would like to see who ends up getting the D nomination, and vote accordingly. I don't know that much about Dean, and I have always liked Gephardt. I hate Lieberman. I think he was a total limpdick during the Gore campaign (probably since he knew he could still be senator if he lost VP) and I have been abhorred by his support of the war. I think his judgment of the Middle East is somewhat clouded.
I have mixed feelings about socialized healthcare. Frankly, I am against it. Canada's healthcare system actually sucks, and I think the issue with health insurance should be limiting damages from malpractice lawsuits (tort reform?) and increased regulation of insurance companies by the government. Not that I want healthcare to be run at all by the government, but I think that the insurance companies have way too much power in performing what has become an ESSENTIAL role they have in American society. But again, this insurance co. issue would be resolved by soft money reform, simply by weakening their lobby and limiting the financial motivations of politicians in their pockets. I also think that hospitals need to be regulated further in terms of what they can charge inpatients. You know, no more $6 Tylenol pills, when I can go to Sam's club and get generic Tylenol for less than a dime a pill. There's a lot of fat that can be trimmed from hospitals and lawyers, and I say let the cutting begin.
If there were to be socialized healthcare in the US, I think that the only policy available should be an emergency policy available to anyone at a reasonable cost. Say you're a 30 year old healthy male, as many of us are. You get sick maybe once every two years, maybe bronchitis or an ear infection or something like that, which would cost you maybe $200-300 out of pocket to fix between the doctor and pills. Well, that's less than 2 months insurance premium for most of us, and why the fuck should we pay $2000-3000/year to save $300? The only thing we're worried about is if we get cancer or get run over (both extremely unlikely) so why can't we pay $50/month and only be insured for something like that? Getting run over could easily force someone into bankruptcy if they don't have insurance. Bankruptcy will end up costing the "system" just as much in the long run.
