Brookfield Basics

I wrote earlier this month about health care, and the need to implement consumer driven initiatives into this area of public policy. I have been traveling and have not had the time to complete this subject.

But the plan unveiled by the Democrats of the State Senate regarding universal health care is one that warrants some short and immediate comment. The damage inflicted by this plan would be so far-reaching and so utterly irreparable, that it is something every citizen of this State should seriously consider. It would be nothing less than a carcinogen unleashed upon our State’s economy and fiscal health.

When considering large matters like this we too often get bogged down in the detail of it all, and pretty soon we can’t see the forest for the trees. If we are to understand how flawed this plan is, we need to step BACK a bit, and think of it in BIGGER terms.

Mark Twain once remarked that, “the only difference between a man and a dog is that a dog won’t bight the hand that feeds him”. Nowhere is Twain’s insight more clearly demonstrated than in such misguided legislation.

More than fifteen years ago P.J. O’Rourke, the former Rolling Stone columnist turned superb political writer and commentator, succinctly and acidly observed that, “if you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it’s free”.

I have written frequently about the laws of economics. They are immutable, and operate with or without our consent or approval. One of those immutable laws is that the more you TAX something (such as wages and employment), the LESS you will see of it. And the more you SUBSIDIZE something (such as the indiscriminate and unbridled provision of “free” health care), the more DEMAND you will see for it. We KNOW these things to be true, and no rhetoric from Madison can obviate that surety.

So when you consider this horrific plan, don’t get caught up in its detail. Focus on the BIG picture and the BIG questions.

Ask yourself what the logical outcome is of laying SIGNIFICANT additional taxation upon employers and wage earners.

Ask yourself what the logical outcome is of using those tax proceeds to provide “free” and unlimited health care to ANYONE who decides they want it, when they want it, and how much they want to receive.

Ask yourself what this will do to the population of this State in terms of numbers and content. Who do you think it will attract to Wisconsin and whom do you think it will drive out?

Then ask yourself what the implication of all of this is twenty years from now, as your kids and grand-kids decide where they want to live.

THESE are the questions to consider. THESE are the questions to put to your legislatures.

More on consumer driven health care and public policy soon.