२३ मार्च, २०१०
It's the new Bloggingheads — with me and Matt Welch!
It's called "It's Fun to Be Goo" and is mostly in response to the passage of the health care bill, but there's some cool miscellaneous material in there, like the story of Matt and Mickey Kaus in Eugene Volokh's swimming pool, which includes my idea for a Speedo based on the California flag.
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The big bear state flag as a speedo?
I think Dr. Freud is paging.
Here's my fave clip: Oaf's fave clip
Sounded like nervous laughter from Althouse when she tried to say more people would've gone to the Tea Party rally on Saturday (that she conspicuously didn't attend with Meade) if they knew everyone there were perfectly normal Americans with not a flavor of racism to them at all, and Welch was all, "Well, I wouldn't go as far as to desrcibe them to be ordrinary...."
Most beaches in this country won't let you go bear-assed.
Blue eyes I hold you near...
I can't listen to that -- his audio is horrible horrible horrible.
"Well, I wouldn't go as far as to desrcibe them to be ordrinary...."
Having been to a number of Tea Party events, I would say that the overwhelming characteristic is their normalcy. It's like a giant block party in a suburban neighborhood.
I would suggest to Matt that Libertarians probably have the strangest members of any political group, NTTIAWWT.
I think this may be the first time I've seen you rant on blogging heads .... matt goes silent for several minutes just listening silently. are you being protective of your husband, who as you said, was on a bus for 48 hours and away from you for the first time in your marriage ? i guess bloggers are not expected to stay more objective ...
normally you give others who also watch the MSM more credit. i dont know anyone who thinks all TPers are racist. I think even you'd admit some of them have motives that are not on the up and up.
wow. matt welch is good. normally you run circles around the people you debate ... but not this time. i guess you're more of a slightly conservative, skeptical of all things (esp things like government with power), pop culture critic kind of blogger.
I disagree with your argument that it makes more sense to subsidize health care than education. (I understood you to mean K-12 education.)
There are very good arguments to privatize education, and might be some good arguments for government not subsidizing it, though I'm not sure what they are.
I agree with you that our current health care system is a mess, but that's mostly due to bad laws. So, we agree on the need for reform.
But this new HCR abomination includes all sorts of horrible payoffs to politicians and unions, and bad incentives, without including any of the reforms that are really needed. Among the top: decoupling insurance from employment (i.e., correcting bad tax laws), national markets to increase competition, tort reform.
This HCR bill also is a serious assault on liberty. We'll now have the IRS prying into one more area of our lives. So, my in-laws are going to be penalized because they cannot afford health care. If they ever can afford it, they'll pay more than they should because the politicians gave in to interest groups that wanted coverages for acupuncture and sex-change operations.
But the most serious assault on freedom will come down the road. Health is mostly an issue of private lifestyle choices: weight, smoking, substance abuse, etc. Government subsidizing HC is going to lead to attempts to control many private lifestyle choices under the guise of cost control. (Like mandatory motorcycle helmet laws.) JS Mills is turning in his grave.
Yes, mandatory schooling is an assault on freedom also, but it only applies to children, and public schools have largely become warehouses for keeping kids off the streets. Not ideal, but not the same as ordering adults how to live their lives.
I'm not saying that this bill means the end of American liberty. But it's a step toward greatly increased government control of private choices (as will be global warming laws).
I also think that it will mean less innovation in future treatments, again a result of government cost control efforts. At least, government-subsidized education does not produce that negative externality.
Finally, though it does not directly relate to your point preferring government-subsidized health care over education, it bears noting that the costs of HCR were egregiously and dishonestly understated. With our current and looming budget deficits (Soc Sec, Medicare, public pensions), we cannot begin to afford what we've already committed, without adding the costs of HCR. With the signing of this bill, we've taken a big step toward becoming the United States of Greece.
Loafing Oaf, I was reading in reverse chronological order today, and just left a paraphrased version of your favorite clip in the Kaus thread. LOVED it! And glad you figured out how to pop it in here.
As usual, Ann, loved the new Bloggingheads, and this one even more than most. It was great dialogue between two, very thoughtful people who seemed not to want to be politically classified in the usual democrat/republican sense that has become all too common.
If I were to use those common designations, you sounded much more like the democrat, and Welch like the republican...well, until...
My second fav moment on the tape when Welch utters the word "Republican" and seems to get the jitters just from uttering the word.
Wish I could insert that here. If Loafing Oaf sees this, maybe he would do me that favor.
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