We have had a rather expensive seven year conversation about healthcare and its financing. From the get-go, it was clear that many people had misconceptions about this topic. Unfortunately, most of these misconceptions are still with us. This might make for an excellent partisan fight, but it is destructive of
We know that light is both a particle and a wave, but what I have observed in our modern politics is that this kind of “dualism” is everywhere and not in a good way. The need to have one’s cake and eat it too has meant that one side of
Some have argued that health insurance is “not insurance.” That overstates the case, but it is not completely wide of the mark. Because finding out why should be illuminating to anyone puzzling over the issues in healthcare finance, the biggest of which is rising costs, I want to take some
One of the great things about being a citizen of the United States is freedom of speech, which partly means the freedom to argue about government policy. Many of us have to one extent or another become like lawyers, arguing one side of the case or the other, heedless of
In his 2014 book “Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy,” Francis Fukuyama of Stanford opines that good governance requires a centralized state, the rule of law, and accountability. He thinks our three branches of government in the U.S. go a long way
There are a few words that some people use in our political discourse that I have come to hate. I’m not exactly sure why, it is more of a visceral, emotional thing than logic. Let me try to explain each case in turn. Proactive. People often say, “you have to
During the campaign to retake the White House in 2008, Governor Sarah Palin famously said “Drill, baby, drill.” This seemed to establish her credentials as both a conservative and a member in good standing of the boy’s club. Her thoughts are also on target with respect to our public discourse.
The ancient Greeks made a distinction between “theoria” and “praxis.” Today we would call that “theory” versus “practice.” Too often we waste most of our time on a largely circular debate about government intervention. Doesn’t it depend who is doing the intervention and whether they know what they are doing?
Senator Bernie Sanders has built a national campaign on the idea that we have to “reign in the banks.” I like Bernie’s sincerity, but what most of his followers probably don’t know is that even before the Dodd-Frank reform, the banking industry was already the most regulated industry in the
Those who have not read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birth-Mark” should look it up on the Internet. It is the story of a man who marries a perfectly beautiful woman, except that she has a birthmark. He tries various techniques to remove the birthmark. In the end, he succeeds, but she
We have had a rather expensive seven year conversation about healthcare and its financing. From the get-go, it was clear that many people had misconceptions about this topic. Unfortunately, most of these misconceptions are still with us. This might make for an excellent partisan fight, but it is destructive of
We know that light is both a particle and a wave, but what I have observed in our modern politics is that this kind of “dualism” is everywhere and not in a good way. The need to have one’s cake and eat it too has meant that one side of
Some have argued that health insurance is “not insurance.” That overstates the case, but it is not completely wide of the mark. Because finding out why should be illuminating to anyone puzzling over the issues in healthcare finance, the biggest of which is rising costs, I want to take some
One of the great things about being a citizen of the United States is freedom of speech, which partly means the freedom to argue about government policy. Many of us have to one extent or another become like lawyers, arguing one side of the case or the other, heedless of
In his 2014 book “Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy,” Francis Fukuyama of Stanford opines that good governance requires a centralized state, the rule of law, and accountability. He thinks our three branches of government in the U.S. go a long way
There are a few words that some people use in our political discourse that I have come to hate. I’m not exactly sure why, it is more of a visceral, emotional thing than logic. Let me try to explain each case in turn. Proactive. People often say, “you have to
During the campaign to retake the White House in 2008, Governor Sarah Palin famously said “Drill, baby, drill.” This seemed to establish her credentials as both a conservative and a member in good standing of the boy’s club. Her thoughts are also on target with respect to our public discourse.
The ancient Greeks made a distinction between “theoria” and “praxis.” Today we would call that “theory” versus “practice.” Too often we waste most of our time on a largely circular debate about government intervention. Doesn’t it depend who is doing the intervention and whether they know what they are doing?
Senator Bernie Sanders has built a national campaign on the idea that we have to “reign in the banks.” I like Bernie’s sincerity, but what most of his followers probably don’t know is that even before the Dodd-Frank reform, the banking industry was already the most regulated industry in the
Those who have not read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birth-Mark” should look it up on the Internet. It is the story of a man who marries a perfectly beautiful woman, except that she has a birthmark. He tries various techniques to remove the birthmark. In the end, he succeeds, but she
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, 1050 Bishop Street #508, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 | 808-864-1776
Copyright © 2023 Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. All rights reserved.
