April 5, 2006 [LINK]
I was taken aback to find that Andrew Sullivan has nice things to say about the "experiment" in Massachusetts, the recently passed bill that would oblige all residents to purchase health insurance. If a man who prides himself on being a genuine small-government conservative (as opposed to a Bushian "compassionate" conservative") reacts that way, it would seem that prospects for reforming society along market principles are bleak indeed. Sullivan seems to think that establishing a base level of medical coverage would encourage a genuine market to develop, allowing consumers to make sane choices. He must be terribly naive for overlooking the fact that legislatures are universally prone to force insurance companies to provide X, Y, and Z services. With universal insurance coverage, people will get the medical services they want by demanding them from their elected representatives, rather than paying for them themselves.
One of the premier Virginia blogs, Sic Semper Tyrannis ("Thus always to tyrants," our state motto), shut down as of April 1. Presumably it was not an April Fool's joke. Now how are people like me supposed to make sense of what's going on in Richmond without a variety of critical perspectives?
The congresswoman from Georgia has said so many outrageous anti-semitic and pro-terrorist things in the past that she would qualify for the unmentionable wackos list if she were not an elected official. Unless she has witnesses to refute the charge that she assaulted a Capitol police officer just for doing his duty in checking IDs, I would say she needs to express humble contrition at her court appearance. No easy task, that.