The Right Persuasion
Allen Iverson is “The Answer” — not government
08/20/2009
Can you hear that? That’s the sound of an angry mob. And according to U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer D-Calif., a very well-dressed mob to boot. A few weeks ago, I wrote about how conservatives and Republicans alike needed to get “mad as hell;” and while I take no credit for the passionate town hall outbursts, it’s good to see the Democrats fumbling for words when everyday citizens use the open forum microphones to start a word riot. President Obama’s health-care plan appears to be a leftist elite idea as Gallup’s latest poll, as of Aug. 9, shows only a 43 percent approval of his handling health care; but now the GOP needs to direct the protesters and their passion into relaying the message that government isn’t “the answer.”
As conservative thinker Dennis Prager points out, government hasn’t been “the answer” in public schools. How many of us are happy with the government’s job in education? There might be a reason 45 percent of our U.S. senators send their kids to private school, with 43 percent of these senators being Democrats. The Heritage Foundation’s 2007 report showed how out-of-whack the number was, considering there are only 11.5 percent of total students in private schools across America. Many have no idea that almost half the U.S. senators out there don’t believe in the product they continue to run and fund. It would be like finding out that half the McDonald’s CEOs were spending their lunch breaks at In-N-Out. Sure, In-N-Out might not have a dollar menu or toys or parfait, but they just make a better burger. Many private schools don’t offer every program a public school can, but they might just offer a better education due to smaller class sizes and the ability to hire teachers who didn’t get run through a teaching credential program. By the way, President Obama agrees that private schools are doing a better job than government-run schools as he chooses to send his girls to a private school with “Quaker values,” according to the Sidwell Friends School Web site.
Government isn’t exactly doing the best job at delivering our mail, either. On Aug. 11, President Obama made a Joe Biden-size gaffe when he declared, “U.P.S. and FedEx are doing just fine … it’s the post office that’s always having problems.” Maybe our president’s advisers will let him know that the post office is the government’s responsibility. But when Obama makes a good point, I should congratulate him on it. The private sector is doing a good job in education and mail delivery, according to our president, so why can’t we allow it to prosper in health insurance as well?
Let’s also remember that we have universal health care already. There are clinics in many big towns, and it is illegal for a county hospital to turn away immigrants and poor people. In fact, after receiving service, many of these people are placed on payment programs of good faith in which the patient pays monthly any amount he or she can afford. Some pay $5 a month until the bill is paid, and some make budget adjustments and pay the total within a few months. Now instead of the burden being on the user, it will go on the people using private insurance, public insurance, or never using anything because they are on the apple-a-day diet. I know Obama wanted to share the wealth with Joe the Plumber, but he never said anything about making us share the burden.
Obviously, government has done some good, but it is not “the answer.” In the NBA, basketball star Allen Iverson calls himself “The Answer.” He has led the NBA in scoring for four years of a 13-year career. He was the 1997 NBA Rookie of the Year, the 2001 league MVP, an eight-time All Star, and Olympian. Yet there is one thing that remains interesting. He has only made 43 percent of every shot he’s ever taken. Impressive by basketball standards, it allows for the justification of being called “The Answer.” But if government is “the answer” and it parallels the success rate of Mr. Iverson, then government won’t be “the answer” at all, but instead the problem.
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