Getting caught up in the intense, day-to-day political and policy battles over the health care reform debate, it can be helpful from time to time to step back and take a look at the big picture. Not that I have time myself, but I can point you to two excellent pieces that do just that.
First, National Review’s Ivan Kenneally identifies evidence of a disturbing trend emerging in the current political showdown. Key quote to whet your appetite:
Unfortunately, the contempt for public debate is one of the hallmarks of Obama’s technocratic approach to politics — in place of a healthy and democratic deference to public opinion, we get the assurance of expertise that comes with a bevy of special-issue czars.
Meanwhile, the always insightful Michael Barone writes in the Washington Examiner that the national political fault-line is shifting right before our eyes — economic issues and debates over the size and scope of government are trumping old cultural divides.
Check them out. Of course, if you still want to be engaged in the day-to-day debates in an entertaining way, check out the Independence Institute’s popular new health reform video.
special issue czars are obviously the corporate lobbyists for big insurance and big pharma. Public debate requires sufficient civility to allow fordebate, something the new gop flunkies fear.
reflect upon the bush years when information sharing let alone debate was discouraged.
be honest, the question isn’t if money flows but into whose pocket. the pendulum requires balance after 8 years of feckless corporate welfare.
Rennie, hard to figure out where you’re coming from. Obama’s special issue czars? Okay…. Corporate welfare and socialized medicine are both evils. I will stand opposed to both. As far as the Bush years went, well … I choose to live in the present. Nothing Bush did justifies what Obama is doing. But I doubt you can come up with any examples of Bush clamping down debate and opposition anywhere near the degree that Obama has already undertaken in 7 months.