Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Creeping Anarchy

I think it was my good friend Justin who recently pointed out to me that one Anarchist viewpoint is that societies are largely self-organizing -- and government is a sham. There's something interesting in this argument, though I am not yet ready to accept it in total. It's an empirical statement, and as such it's either right or wrong.



I DO think that our would be overlords are generally helpless to impose unpopular policies, thanks to our democratic institutions. And no matter how you poll it, healthcare reform is hugely unpopular.This recent AP News blurb documents the likely shedding of still more features from the planned healthcare legislation package. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that mean there is no meaningful healthcare reform left in either of the bills? Sure there's that thing about how the states should maybe do something about the lack of competition in the market for health insurance, but that doesn't count, especially compared against what was planned but has since gone missing: the public option, a requirement that large companies provide health insurance, regulation of insurance, elimination of the tax break on employer provided plans, meaningful provision of aid for the poor, any means for containing costs, and funding.

I think this all has to do with the fact that,

"...rules are hard to change (because they) reflect the values that are embedded in a culture."

Sound wisdom.

2 comments:

  1. Cultural values contradict and disagree, and the health care legislation has been stripped of anything meaningful until it is rendered completely useless. And why? To satisfy too many demands.

    With the grand diversity of opinions and the lack of any popular consensus, this is sounding like we should all settle in for a whole lot of stagnation.

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  2. I think "too many demands" is part of it. I think that no clear (and agreed upon) vision of what health care SHOULD look like is part of it. No one wants to give up the care they are happy with for some plan that is ill-defined and involves a lot of interference from our politicians and government bureaucrats.

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