Maggie's Farm

From Will Wilkinson on trust in government:

Our government — and by extension our fellow citizens — is capable of terrible things and proves it every single day. Is it really possible to love government so much, to invest so much hope in its benevolent efficacy, that we grow blind to its evident capacity for evil? Anyway, there must be some parts of the government that are not capable of madness. Ezra invites us to think about those when considering health care reform. Will you accept?

Related: "Don't you trust me?" Crowd shouts "No."

Roger Kimball has no particular faith in the virtuousness of government:

Why all the Sturm und Drang? What is it about the issue of health care, or, rather, the prospect of a government takeover of health care, that arouses such passions on both sides of the debate? Sure, there are important issues at stake. It is legitimate to ask whether the Democratic plan will lead to rationing of health care, especially for senior citizens. It is legitimate to ask whether it will limit choice, impede innovation, and lead to longer waiting times for various procedures. It is legitimate to ask about how the new system will be paid for.

But these concerns, while legitimate, do not really explain the level of passion that the prospect of government run health arouses. The real issue, I believe, concerns freedom.

and

Looking at the grinning rogues gallery of mountebanks yesterday — Ted “Chappaquiddick” Kennedy, Charlie “tax dodger” Rangel, and the rest — I thought of Ronald Reagan’s warning about how socialists so often use health care as a wedge to extract not only money but also freedom, including freedom of choice, from the citizenry. “One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people,” Reagan observed, “has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it.”

 The not-so-stealthy plan to eliminate Medicare, quoted at Powerline:

That's the basic issue with Medicare...it's single payer, universal for those over 65, permits unlimited demand and choice....and has no cost controls...and is bankrupting the government while simultaneously;y through cost-shifting wrecking the private market. Politically, it's the only way to control Medicare costs: fold it into a universal single payer plan with effective global budgeting and cost controls.

I guess I am unAmerican to doubt the intentions of politicians. Riehl