Health Care and the Role of Government

Despite earlier reports to the contrary, new rumors suggest Democrats are still planning to pass Obama’s healthcare overhaul with budget reconciliation, a move that would essentially allow Democrats to ram through healthcare legislation with only 51 votes in the Senate.  The public outcry notwithstanding, it appears Democrats in the House and Senate have signed the suicide pact with Obama after all. 

What is missing in the healthcare debate (and in most debates about the Obama administration) is an argument about the proper role of government.  Obama seems to believe it is his job to determine what is best for the masses and set about convincing them his will in perfect.  If the masses cannot be convinced, it is because the masses are unable to see through the cynicism and petty arguments of the right.  Good thing we have Obama, standing outside the cave with Truth in hand, dictating his will on the people.

But is it the government’s job to give the people what they “need” or first determine what people want then set about providing it?  In economist Jude Wanniski’s political model, the electorate itself is “wiser than any of its component parts.”  “Great political ideas,” according to Wanniski, “are not those which can be sold to the people, but are those ideas which the electorate craves even prior to their conception by philosophers or politicians.”i   Applied to the healthcare debate, this model suggests Obama—in forcing his will against the opposition of the people—is no great political leader.  It is not leadership to ignore the advice of the crew while bearing full steam toward the glacier.

Still, there is something to be said for a politician at times doing what he or she believes is right, despite public outcry.  In some cases, leaders have more information and are better suited to determine a course of action.  In these times, it falls on the government to be open and forthright about its decisions, explain them clearly, and hope the American people come on board.  Backroom deals and secret negotiations rarely have the best interest of the people in mind.

Even though there is a time for government to buck the public, in most cases—especially in policy as personal as healthcare—the government should seek to establish open systems through which people can make their own choices about their own lives.  In this way, public policymakers can avoid interfering with the desires of the electorate.  In the case of healthcare, Americans may want a reformed system and most believe universal coverage is a noble goal.  But Americans don't agree with the anti-liberty agenda that is the foundation of Democrat healthcare plans.  If Obama truly wants to lead the American people, he would do well to listen to his critics, scrap his healthcare agenda, and give Americans what they want--a sensible, incremental, and open approach that reforms the system without sacrificing freedom.

 (i) Jude Wanniski, The Way the World Works, (Washington D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 1998) 13.