It is worth noting an important difference between the NeoCons and the Libertarians. The NeoCons had a blind faith in the power of the American military and industry, whereas the libertarians have a blind faith in the free market. NeoCons did not really trust a free market. For them, the government was a tool of personal power by creating privileges for the oligarchy of banks, insurance companies and munitions manufacturers. It was a gravy train with a lot of boxcars.
Libertarians, in contrast, tend to be free-thinking individuals who are sensitive to the hypocrisy of both Democrats and Republicans. They do not trust any government program or statist control of their personal lives. What they do believe in is the old Adam Smith straw that the economy somehow magically à ‚¬Ëœself-regulates.'
It is important that Progressives understand the differences between NeoCons and Libertarians. The NeoCons collapsed on their failures. Progressives did not win the political battle; cause and effect simply caught up with NeoCon idiocy. Progressives again seem to be losing the political battle, as the recent vote that excluded single-payer demonstrates. Progressives have been unable to draw a distinction between what the government can do well, and what the government should not do. The Libertarian position, fed by fear, principles, a general distrust of government incompetence, and a faith in free enterprise is where the policy debate is centered. Standing in the center of this debate is the unlikely hero, Ron Paul.
If Progressives are to make any advances, then they need to make a better rebuttal against both the conservative Republican ideology (shared by many Democrats) and the Libertarians.
Dennis Kucinich has been correct in describing the reforms thus far as InsuranceCare. The questions we should be asking, and that Ron Paul should be asking, is à ‚¬ËœWhy do we need insurance at all?' All insurance is a ponzi scheme. When Libertarians claim that they want the à ‚¬Ëœright' to purchase their own insurance in the free marketplace, they are really saying that they want to join a ponzi scheme of their own choosing. Nobody can give you back more than what you gave them originally. Insurance, like taxes, is a system of redistribution with a huge overhead expense. The traditional complaint against government is that taxation is illogical and wasteful. There is a lot of truth behind this complaint. Taxes are also a ponzi scheme.
To pay one ponzi scheme to protect, promote and require membership in another ponzi scheme is totally absurd. Yet, that is exactly what government mandated insurance or government regulated insurance entails. Libertarians contradict themselves. They want to be free of contracts, but they also expect for the government to protect whatever contracts they make. They do not seem to recognize that part of the impetus for healthcare reform is that insurance companies cannot honor their contracts. No ponzi scheme can honor all their contracts. The ponzi scheme is maintained by adding new pigeons. Once you reach saturation point, there are no new pigeons to attract. Therefore, the system must collapse.
One good example of how absurd the InsuranceCare system has become is in regrad to childbirth. When I was born, my mother spent a week in the hospital, and the total cost was $150.00. Today, and Ob-Gyn pays in excess of $150,000.00 annually for insurance. In effect, we purchase insurance to pay doctors who then must also purchase insurance. We have insurance purchasing insurance!
The libertarians are having a tough time following the math. They are only looking are the dollars, and believe that their contract with the insurance companies represents a valid contract. They do not realize that all insurance is a ponzi scheme. We will not reform healthcare until everybody realizes that ponzi schemes do not work, and that all insurance is a ponzi scheme.
We need a system of healthcare delivery, from one citizen to another. We have made the number more important than people. When people say they trust the marketplace, they have unconsciously substituted real goods and services for imaginary numbers. This is the heart of Ron Paul's complaint against the Federal Reserve. He objects to their creation of imaginary numbers that we call money. Progressives need to educate Libertarians that their faith in actuarial numbers created by insurance companies is equally wrong.
