Republicans Ally with Hillary Clinton to Bring On Socialized Medicine

George Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger jointly get credit for empowering Hillary Clinton to once again seek socialized medicine. Bush led the way by accepting the premise that government must provide for medical care when he initiated the government provision of prescription drugs to the elderly. He also endorsed the idea that it was unfair for drug companies to charge a lot for their drugs and make money, since he initiated that plan in response to a public outcry over "high" drug prices.

Gov. Schwarzenegger took this further and has proposed de facto socialized medicine in California, the nation's largest state. As goes California, so goes the rest of the country.

One should not be surprised by the leftist actions of two of the leading Republicans of the land. The spiritual father of George Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger is Republican President Richard Nixon who, when he was president, radically expanded the welfare state and the government's regulatory apparatus. It is doubtful that any Democrat could have gotten away with such things as: the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and OSHA, the imposition of nationwide wage and price controls, the abolition of the remaining gold standard, and the endorsement of the near hyper-inflation of the currency.

Republicans are often worse enemies of capitalism than Democrats. If they decide to advocate a statist policy, their fellow Republicans are ham-strung from speaking out in opposition, as they would if a Democrat were taking the same position. Out of a mistaken view that it is "pragmatic" to placate the opposition by hijacking their ideas, they enact avowedly left-wing programs such as the expansion of welfare spending, raising the minimum wage, etc. However, such a tactic, while it may be "pragmatic", is far from practical. All they succeed in doing is demoralizing their party and at the end of the day, all they have accomplished is the enactment of a laundry list of left-wing policies that would make any Democrat proud to have accomplished.

The bottom line is: NO party stands for anything remotely resembling even a semi-free society. Even when judged strictly on economic terms, I cannot endorse a Republican over a Democrat.

I might add that many Democrats have done "Republican" things such as John Kennedy, who lowered income taxes, Jimmy Carter who deregulated railroads, trucking, and the airlines, and Bill Clinton, who presided over welfare reform and partial deregulation of telecommunications and electricity.

I think it is very important to withdraw support of Republicans until they begin to actually stand for limited government. Don't think that we will get worse economic policies under a Democratic administration. Odds are, we won't.