70 thoughts on “Just A Coincidence, I’m Sure”

  1. For the record, my bolthole list does not include Costa Rica. It consists of Uruguay, Slovenia, Botswana, and Mongolia although Mongolia is quite iffy. I have been unable to identify a suitable location in Oceania.

  3. Just so everyone has a clear understanding of the magnitude by which this bill expands government’s power over us, here is a list of new offices, boards, bureaucracies, committees, councils, exchanges, programs, etc. created in the health care “reform” bill.

    A count of “boards, bureaucracies, committees, councils, exchanges, programs” is a poor measure of a government’s power.

    By the way, USA Today has one of the first post-vote polls out:

    Americans by 9 percentage points have a favorable view of the health care overhaul that President Obama signed into law Tuesday, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, a notable turnaround from surveys before the vote that showed a plurality against it.

    By 49%-40% those surveyed say it was “a good thing” rather than a bad one that Congress passed the bill.

    And the GOP had the gall to argue that reform was passed against the wishes of the people?

  4. Of course they did, and they are right. After the travesty was passed, there are many many people that will lower their heads and accept inevitability and tow the statist line. What option will you choose Jim, the 300% increase in premiums next January, or the fine when you don’t have coverage?

  5. “A count of “boards, bureaucracies, committees, councils, exchanges, programs” is a poor measure of a government’s power.”

    What a ridiculously ignorant thing to write. Go build a commerical building or drill a water well or any of dozens of normal activities and see how many of these you have to deal with then. All of whom have the ability to shut down your project for any number of reasons not excluding they just don’t like your attitude.

    As I have written before, the mindset of the government is good crowd just amazes me.

    One more thing, how can you call the insurance that low income people get with full subsidies any thing but nationalized health care? The government dictates the care, the price of coverage and pays for it. Gee, sounds like a bribe to me. Vote for us, we gave you “free” health care!

  6. For those of us who actually understand what made the founders and the rebels tick (unlike Chris Gerrib), they led one of the most unusual revolutions ever. Whereas the norm is for people to rebel because they never had it so bad, the founders rebelled because they never had it so good, and wanted to keep it that way. I embrace this attitude, whereas the Chris Gerribs of the world — who would make fine Canadians — do not.

  8. What option will you choose Jim, the 300% increase in premiums next January, or the fine when you don’t have coverage?

    I own a business, and pay for insurance for myself and my employees. Health reform doesn’t change much in that part of the insurance market, which already has the sorts of protections (e.g. regarding pre-existing conditions, arbitrary premium hikes, etc.) that will now be extended to the individual market. I am looking forward to the creation of the health insurance exchanges, which will give me new options to choose from, and make it easier to compare them (shopping for insurance today is a nightmare). I am looking into the health insurance exchange that is already running in Massachusetts, thanks to Mitt Romney, since I have employees there.

    Some small businesses will get a tax credit for covering their employees; mine won’t because my employees’ average salary is above the $50,000 cutoff.

  9. “A count of “boards, bureaucracies, committees, councils, exchanges, programs” is a poor measure of a government’s power.”

    In what universe is an enumeration of the bureaucracies a “poor” measure of government power. It’s THE measure of government power, you schmuck.

    Would you rather have it be a body count? That’s where this is heading. And I don’t mean as a result of rebel activities.

    For someone who is allegedly educated, your knowledge of history is second to…anyone’s. It’s second to my Golden Retriever’s, for chrissake.

  10. Roderick, I’m Canadian. Don’t inflict yet another Chris Gerrib on us; we got more than enough of that sort during the Vietnam war. That is unless you want to do a straight trade, me for him – I’ll move down to New Hampshire, no problem.

  12. Jim wrote:

    “A count of “boards, bureaucracies, committees, councils, exchanges, programs” is a poor measure of a government’s power.”

    Why is it a “poor measure”? Because you say so?

    Every item on that list is an expansion of government’s power over us — for every item gives government the power to do something it could not previously do. In some cases the expansion of power is in the form of authorizing government to spend money in a way or for something it could not previously spend. In other cases, the expansion of power is in the form of the creation of a new board, bureaucracy, committee, council, or regulator authorized to create new rules having the force of law over our lives.

    Indeed, an expansion of government power is the whole point and intent of the bill. It reflects the leftist, statist belief that economically better outcomes can be created by government force vetoing the voluntary decisions of private individuals and replacing them with the whims of bureaucrats appointed by such luminaries as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

    The Democrats — along with all of you who support them and act as their apologists — now own the entire healthcare industry. Previously you only owned about half of it — and this gave you the opportunity to blame all problems on the highly-regulated, highly-hampered, only-slightly-free half you didn’t own. Now you’ve lost that excuse and all the failures and the horror stories like the ones we hear about England’s National Health Service will be your responsibility.

    You won — you have the power — so quit trying to weasel out of what you’ve done.

  14. Jim wrote:

    “A count of “boards, bureaucracies, committees, councils, exchanges, programs” is a poor measure of a government’s power.”

    That’s true–on Bizarro Planet, where Jim comes from. “We have boards, bureaus, committees, councils, exchanges and programs that regulate, oversee, and/or tax every Bizarro Planet man and woman, from cradle to grave. We have limited government!”

  15. In what universe is an enumeration of the bureaucracies a “poor” measure of government power. It’s THE measure of government power, you schmuck.

    That’s crazy. A single government agency can have more power than a thousand random boards and commissions, it all depends on what they have the authority to do. Just counting them makes no sense at all. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the U.S. has more separate government bureacracies than, say, Saudi Arabia, but it hardly follows that U.S. citizens are less free than Saudi citizens.

  16. Jim, Here’s a poll that didn’t oversample Democrats.

    It was taken over four days, three of them before the bill passed. It’s also strange that the article never says what percentage of voters polled oppose the reform.

  17. That’s crazy. A single government agency can have more power than a thousand random boards and commissions, it all depends on what they have the authority to do. Just counting them makes no sense at all. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the U.S. has more separate government bureacracies than, say, Saudi Arabia, but it hardly follows that U.S. citizens are less free than Saudi citizens.

    I mostly agree with Jim here. It’s obvious that the creation of large numbers of boards and committees is harmful to US democracy even if they do nothing but siphon public funds, but a single committee which has the power to hang people in the streets on a whim would be a much worse violation of our freedom.

  18. A single government agency can have more power than a thousand random boards and commissions, it all depends on what they have the authority to do. Just counting them makes no sense at all.

    It does make sense for a simple reason. Suppose you have so many agencies. Now add one. You have just added power to the govt. even if the agency itself has no power. How? You now have another place to park those slobs that no longer have to be responsive to the voters. They don’t worry about the next election because they have another job waiting just in case.

    However, your basic assertion is true.

  19. “I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the U.S. has more separate government bureacracies than, say, Saudi Arabia, but it hardly follows that U.S. citizens are less free than Saudi citizens.”

    That wasn’t the argument. Adding all of the extra layers will intrude on our freedom. The IRS now has more power. Boards on prices take power away from private citizens. Every new regulation, even if it is for a good reason removes power from the private and gives it to the government. Why don’t you just go live at a prison. They’ll tell you when to sleep, eat, sh#t, excercise, watch TV. Every part of your life will be controlled by the government and you’ll be happy.

    Oh yeah, read this poll and weep.
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/rasmussen/20100325/pl_rasmussen/healthcarerepeal20100325_1

  20. Come to think of it, Jim, there’s a big flaw with your argument. Why compare our freedom to Saudi Arabia? That’s a big lowering of standards, Jim. It’s like saying, sure you lost a leg, but you still have more legs than a sea sponge, so what’s the problem?

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