Medical Care (mis-named “Health Care”). This is not a government function, and America will rue the day they let the feds gain control. The right solutions to the medical care problems we face are first, block malpractice lawsuits from honest doctors who make a mistake. Doctors are not God, they are people, and people make mistakes. You find the best doctor you can and he does the best he can, but one mistake should not cost him his career. Second, provide an easy online forum for price and quality of service competition among doctors and hospitals, such as the “feedback” system on eBay. Good doctors and hospitals that keep their prices low and get good reviews from satisfied customers should succeed, and those with lots of complaints and excessive costs should fail. That’s the free market system. I know, when you have an emergency you don’t have time to check the market, but by then you should have already done your homework. Third, allow no one to get a “free ride” at the expense of others. That only guarantees they will be unconcerned about the cost. Everyone, even the very poor, needs to pay something for every visit. When you have to pay to see the doctor, you will take better care of your health, and you won’t abuse the system by going to the doctor for every ache or sniffle. Fourth, encourage everyone to get accident insurance, yet let the individual decide what he can afford and how much deductible he can handle. Fifth, keep it local. Let each doctor and hospital decide how much to bill and whether they ought to forgive the debts of those unable to pay, based on each patient’s circumstances. When free care is mandated by government, people expect it and take advantage of it, but if it is granted by an individual it will be appreciated. And finally, medical care starts at home. Encourage all kinds of nutritional and body-building guidance and put alternative remedies and “natural” health providers on a more-equal basis.

Democrats for many years have set their goal for government to take over the nation’s medical care. They have very nearly succeeded, by secret back-room deals, buying votes, and making outrageous promises about “free” medical care for the poor, reduced health insurance premiums for the middle class, and lower costs and more-efficient procedures. But now all their lying promises are starting to ring hollow, as medical costs skyrocket, insurance premiums double, doctors flee the system, hospitals go broke, and government bureaucracy crashes down on our heads. America, you had the best medical care in the world, and you were warned. Whatever made you think that a government that can’t even balance its own budget can manage something as intimate and complex as medical care?

The Environment. We’ve done a lot of good things in the last 30 years. We’ve learned how to treat sewage and where not to dump it. We’ve reduced some of the pesticides and dangerous chemicals. We’ve made the workplace a lot safer. Yes, we have a ways to go. We still put poison in our teeth (mercury) and in our drinking water (fluorides), we still use pesticides, antibiotics, preservatives, and chemical fertilizers by the ton, and we still use dangerous drugs, radiation, and highly toxic chemicals in our medical treatments. But we’re learning. Those who are careful can expect a pretty long and healthy life. Again, I would prefer the government minimize its regulations and let the free market take its course, only keeping the public well-informed. Government cannot prevent all harm to the environment, but it can minimize it by letting people know the effects their activities are having. An example: a sign on a trail up Mt. Rainier saying, “Please stay on path. This meadow is fragile.” That’s all it takes. Most people are glad to care for the environment, and protect rare and endangered wildlife, when they know what to do. Everyone wants clean air and pure water.

Democrats, once again, want to control people. Threats of “global warming” (which used to be “the coming ice age” and have now turned into simply “climate change” ever since global weather again turned cooler) are simply opportunities to gain more control. They like to play god. Their scare tactics are still believed by some, but most of us have moved past their Chicken Little “the sky is falling” days. Normal people realize that the primary threat to our planet is not the CO2 in the atmosphere, it is the hot air blown around by our politicians, many of whom aren’t smart enough to realize that CO2 is in the air they exhale in every breath.

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