My Life

It seems apparent to me that very little in life will ever be considered ideal or perfect--especially in matters of public policy.  This is why I believe the practical approach to discussing policy is not strictly talking about the pros or cons of one particular policy, but rather considering all available alternatives. I give as my first example the question of healthcare.  Just yesterday a conservative voiced his concern that if we had government healthcare (as nearly every other developed country has), we would be subjected to "death panels" and he cited the case of Charlie Gard to support his claim.  Now, discussing the finer points of that case could be a discussion on its own, so I set that aside.  Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that the prospect of changing to single payer invariably comes with death panels.  That is to say, the courts of the land will be given authority to terminate care for a patient due to whatever reason it seems to find r...

A friend shared this article , and I shared it myself on Facebook.  I wanted to start by mentioning the points that I believe the author got right.  It is true that liberals are often smug.  It is true that liberals wish to impose their views on other people in many ways.  When NYC banned soft drinks larger than 16 ounces, I'm sure they felt like they were doing what was best for its citizens.  Sugary drinks can cause health issues.  They can make you fat, they can inflame diabetes, and they can cause other problems as well.  This is an example of what I would call unnecessary meddling in personal lives.  I don't think it's the role of the government to do things like that.  I think it would be good to educate the public on the harms of consuming large quantities of sugars, but I do not believe it should be made illegal in this way. However, this meddling in personal lives (the "hamburger problem" as the author calls it) is not unique to l...