Health Care Reform Letter to the Editor Contest

Nearly all Americans can agree: health care and health insurance policy, as they currently exist, no longer meet our needs. We disagree on the solution. President Obama and most Congressional Democrats see profit and competition as expendable inefficiencies and believe that coverage can be expanded and prices lowered by government entry into the insurance market. Libertarians and other supporters of free-market health care reform see the markets in health insurance and health care as being broken by poorly thought out Federal and State regulatory policies, especially by promotion of overinsurance and coupling of health insurance to employment, and wish to use the best economic advice available to fix these markets.

Nick Coons, currently seeking the Libertarian Party's nomination for U.S. Congress, AZ 5th District, has been giving radio interviews and pounding the pavement talking to ordinary voters and promoting the role of markets and choice in health care reform.

He's just one voice. Claiming that a government program will take care of everything is easy. Explaining how to fix markets, how to expand coverage and choice at the same time, that's difficult, more so because the public and the popular press are unfamiliar. Promotion of real health care reform has been the province of policy wonks and economics nerds for too long. It's
time to take these ideas to the masses.

That's where you come in. Stand up for your health care, and help make Nick Coons's job easier, by spreading the idea of free-market health care reform via guest opinions and letters to the editor. Between now and October 24th, get your letters and guest opinions promoting free-market health care reform printed in Arizona newspapers, and submit them to our contest. The author of the best letter or guest opinion will receive a Nick Coons for Congress T-Shirt, in any color desired as long as it's blue, and a $25 kiva.org gift certificate.

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The Rules:

Prize:
A single winner will receive one Nick Coons for Congress T-Shirt and a $25 kiva.org gift certificate.

Where and when letters must be published: Entries must be published between 5 September and 24 October 2009 in a daily or weekly Arizona newspaper with circulation of more than 5,000 copies per day. Both guest opinions and letters may be entered. Web-only publication of a letter does not constitute publication for purposes of this contest.

Submission:
Participants must register their entries by e-mailing a link to the page of a a newspaper's website containing the letter to bennett@kalafut.us, or by mailing paper clippings to

Goldwater State
Attn: Bennett Kalafut
1939 E Hedrick Drive
Tucson AZ 85719-2420.

Entrants must include their name, home address, and e-mail address along with their submissions.

Participants may enter multiple letters or guest opinions.

Privacy:
The name and town or city of residence of the winner and other notable or remarkable entrants will be posted on Goldwater State. Addresses and e-mails will be kept private.

Selection of winner:
A single winner will be selected by 30 October Bennett Kalafut, Nick Coons, and Nick Coons campaign manager Kim Ruff, using Condorcet voting if there is no consensus. The judges' decision is final. If we are unable to contact the winner by 7 November 2009 October, the prize will be given to the second-place finisher.

Final details:
By submitting an entry to the Goldwater State Health Care Reform LTE Contest, you agree to the rules above, and agree to indemnify and hold harmless Goldwater State and the contest judges. Contest is a project of and funded by Bennett S. Kalafut doing business as "Goldwater State" and is not affiliated with Nick Coons for Congress. Bribes will not be accepted and flattery will get you nowhere.

McArdle on firearms at protests

If you think that his position on healthcare changes the likelihood that he will discharge that weapon, is this a rational belief?

Megan McArdle writes sensibly about open carry at protests, ultimately deciding that the practice is wrongheaded albeit harmless.

On the same topic, it turns out that the AR-15 was part of an Ernie Hancock publicity stunt. (Hancock is the paleocon who runs Freedom's Phoenix. Hat tip on this one goes to Mike Ross.) No demonstration like this is not centrally organized--it turns out that the Left has actually been paying people to work the demonstrations!--but to reveal such an act as "staged" is to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Who will thwart health care reform?

If you're living in Arizona, look roughly in the direction of Mi Nidito. Nothing against the restaurant--I recommend the cazuela--but it's a convenient landmark, known to have been frequented by the culprit back in his days as a Pima County Supervisor.

That's right: you're looking toward the Seventh Congressional District, and Raúl Grijalva. The New York Times has the story:

Representative Raul Grijalva, the co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Representative Keith Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota, said on Thursday they will not support a bill that replaces the public insurance option with health insurance cooperatives. The co-op idea, formulated in the Senate Finance Committee, is a toothless substitute for a government-sponsored alternative, they said.

Those teeth? Crowd-out. Grijalva is a supporter of single-payer, and the "public option" was little more than a stealth route to that regime of harsh egalitarian rationing. Or not--I could be wrong about the "stealth" part.

Anyone else see "progressive" as a joke? What does rationing have to do with human progress?

Dissidents carry openly to a political event, act responsibly, and don't even shoot anyone: if you have the press's prejudices, this is newsworthy.

Update: "Chris" is exactly who I think he is, a libertarian-leaning paleocon, affiliated with We are Change.

By now you've probably heard that at least twelve people exercised their right to openly carry firearms to one of the satellite demonstrations associated with President Obama's Monday Morning visit to Phoenix. Somehow, if gun owners carry openly and have the gall to act civilized and not even shoot anyone with whom they disagree, it's national news. It flies in the face of everything reporters, editors, and the still-anti-RKBA establishment expect from gun owners.

A few remarks:

• I'm 95% certain that "Chris", the man carrying the AR-15, is someone I know. If he is who I think he is, I'll try to get him to answer a few questions here. No guarantees, but don't be surprised if you see something about it here. And if he is who I think he is, he's a levelheaded, well-spoken professional, the sort you'd want to be carrying.
  
  
  
• Reports of an "assault rifle" are exaggerations, a manifestation of reporter ignorance. "Semiautomatic assault rifle" is a glaring contradiction. "Assault is a behavior", or so the mantra goes, but we have to acknowledge that "assault rifle" is a class of infantry weapon. By definition it is selective-fire. AR-15 rifles that are both assault rifles and legally ownable by private individuals (i.e. not licensed firearms manufacturers or police departments) are very rare.
  
  Note that the M16, which is the military assault rifle version of the AR-15, was designed based on studies of real combat in WWII and made for closer combat than the M1 Garand, which, by the way, isn't an assault rifle (confused yet?). If one wanted to assassinate the President, far better choices of weapon exist, and could be obtained from Cabela's or Bass Pro Shop. None of these necessarily fall into the political scare category of "assault weapons"--which aren't assault rifles, either--except by choice of magazine or if someone chooses a folding stock. A folding stock would, by the way, make it less appropriate for assassinating the President.
  
  I'm still of the opinion that all reporters who might end up covering a story such as this should be required by their employers to both go shooting and be familiarized with firearms.
  
  
  
• It's not very often that police conduct is remarkably good. In this case, the Phoenix PD or Maricopa County sheriff's deputies--it's not clear who was involved--are to be commended. Rather than caving in to obvious demands to arrest or remove those exercising their right to open carry, on invented "disorderly conduct" or some other excuse, they merely explained the law to complainers. Classy. Very classy. Contrast this with the abuse and occasional assault open carriers have faced in other parts of the country.
  
  
  
• Many commentators (here's a representative example) have leapt to the conclusion that those carrying openly at this event must have been doing so to intimidate others. With no evidence whatsoever, they have slandered these men and women by declaring their intent malicious. It's true that some others present may have felt intimidated, but that B feels intimidated by A does not mean that A is out to intimidate B. It's also possible that B's feeling of intimidation is due to some defect of B's thinking. Hoplophobia, for example.
  
  Note that there were no reports of menacing conduct by any of the 12 carriers! That someone else is merely visibly armed is not grounds for feeling intimidated, that is, unless one would otherwise have physically attacked those who are armed. If they were brandishing the weapons or threatening to shoot people over the content of their speech, that would be different. Short of that, any feeling of intimidation is irrational, especially given that (legally or not) anyone in the crowd could be concealing a weapon!
  
  
  
• For the benefit of readers from out of state, it's worth noting that open carry is a common form of political expression in AZ. It's especially common at Bill of Rights Day and Independence Day parties. If an Arizonan is afraid of mere open carry it is a sign that said Arizonan doesn't get out much--that his social circle is so limited (he's probably a far leftist who only associates with far leftists!) that he hasn't encountered peaceful open carry, and possibly, given that in every crowded public place in Arizona except the universities it's likely that someone is carrying, either openly or concealed, that he is deranged. Open carry and concealed carry are both so common in Arizona that anyone afraid of mere carry is either ridiculously sheltered or deranged or both.
  
  There's an old, silly argument, that used to be part of ACLU policy--those days are long gone, and ACLU-AZ now explicitly acknowledges RKBA as a civil liberty--that the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment and those guaranteed by the Second are incompatible. In Arizona we know that empirically to be false, from years of evidence. There's no better illustration of that than today's events. People carry, openly, to an event where others can be emotional, over a perhaps irreconcilable difference of opinion on public policy--it'll be reconcilable when the "public option" crew learns some economics so we can have a reasonable discussion on fair and reasonable terms--and nothing bad comes of it. (Perhaps the police presence had something to do with it--keeping the hoplophobes from trying to do something stupid to the guys who are carrying!)
  
  But sometimes, too, carry is itself an act of political expression. In the U.S.A., and foreigners I've met have difficulty understanding this until they learn quite a lot about our history and our political culture, the two are intimately related.
  
  
  
• I'm not going to write too much about the semiotics of open carry in a free society, at least not right now, because I do not wish to speak for the demonstrators. But I'll throw this idea out there. In recent weeks, opponents to the Democrats' crowd-out plan for health care have been assaulted by union goons at "town hall" meetings at least twice, the worst of this incident being the beating outside a St. Louis "town hall" meeting of button vendor Kenneth Gladney, including kicks while he was on the ground, at the hands of one SEIU official and at least two members of the union wearing union t-shirts.
  
  In light of this, open carry to one of these events is a way of saying "bullying is off the table." That's not the only possible meaning, and it may not be why the group of 12 was carrying in Phoenix yesterday morning.
  
  Given the strange racialist nature of the Gladney incident--Gladney was the target of a Black minister/union organizer's rage because he was Black--at least one person among the dozen carrying openly may have wished to make an especially strong statement. I don't like to identify people by their ethnicity/"race" on Goldwater State as I believe strongly that this is something we need to move beyond, but it might be relevant that the gentleman who was carrying the AR-15 is also Black.
  

It isn't often that responsible conduct by gun owners gets covered in the mainstream, popular news. I'd say I'm enjoying the coverage, but they're trying so very hard to demonize this peaceful conduct--and this is the same popular press which glorifies left-wing protest--that it's painful.

Remarks? Think I'm way off on this one? Have any peculiar insight? Leave a comment. Traffic from Blog For Arizona is welcome. As usual, anonymity is highly discouraged. And if you say something silly, including referring to me as a right-winger or a Republican or something similar, I'll gladly call your ridiculous assumptions ridiculous and otherwise deserving of ridicule.

One on health care.

Associated Content put out a "call for content" asking for summaries, with commentary and a statement of my own position, of the positions taken on health care reform by my representatives in Congress; I wrote a few hundred words, which are now published to the site.

It isn't my best work, but it's a reasonable place to get started.

Just in: Health care demonstration at Giffords town hall, tomorrow (Thursday) at 6 PM

Via Tom Jenney of the Arizona chapter of Americans for Prosperity:

WHAT: "Casual Conversation" with Gabrielle Giffords

WHEN: Thursday, August 6, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

WHERE: La Placita, 110 S. Church Ave.

Parking info: The address is 110 South Church Avenue, at the intersection of Church and Broadway. Parking is available across the street (West of La Placita), off of the street "Jackson" in the five-story parking garage. Parking is reportedly free after 5 p.m. on Levels 3 and above.

Remember: the "progressives", including Obama's "Organizing for America", are trying very hard to get Giffords and others to adopt the far-left "single payer" position on health care, framing Obama's proposal as a moderate alternative. We need to pull back.

Note that, while boosting protester numbers has value, there's also value in not being part of "the mob", of participating normally and asking very, very tough questions. Such as: Why not just fix the market and offer vouchers to the needy?

I'm on the road, 'blogging right now from Palo Alto. As usual, if you are able to attend and would like to be a guest 'blogger, just send me an e-mail.

Nick Coons to attend healthcare tea party

I just received word that Congressional candidate Nick Coons will make a campaign appearance at the health care "tea party" rally at Harry Mitchell's Scottsdale office, 7201 East Camelback Road, Suite 335, on Saturday the 8th of August at 9 AM.

If you'd like to meet Coons, shake his hand, get him to kiss your baby, and maybe even pick his brain re: health care reform, this would be a good place to do so. +1 to Coons for showing a bit of leadership on this--and extra points to anyone who shows up with a good Nick Coons for Congress sign or T-shirt.

Stand and be counted: Health Care Reform "tea parties"

Via Americans for Prosperity, this announcement. The "Tea Party" group is putting on demonstrations in favor of market healthcare reform and against government takeover at nearly all Congressional offices in the state on Saturday, 8 Aug.

Especially important is influencing Harry Mitchell, Anne Kirkpatrick, and Gabrielle Giffords, who have expressed concern about the mainstream Democrats' plan. We can count on all of the state's Republicans to at least oppose the truly bad ideas out there on this one. Since Giffords has started leaning in the wrong direction thanks in part to heavy lobbying from would-be "progressives" in the Tucson area, and Grijalva is ideologically committed to single-payer, those of you in Grijalva's district should consider augmenting the crowd at Giffords's office.

The "tea party" is a little too tin-foil-hat (and see their totally repugnant sixth talking point!) for me to be associated with as a professional, but I'd make an exception for this event, however, I'll be in Palo Alto on the 8th. Let me know how it goes.

Throw Blue Dogs a bone: call Giffords, Mitchell, ask them to support market reform, trigger

A few weeks ago I recommended that readers living in Gabrielle Giffords's district phone her Tucson office and ask that she support the Blue Dogs's draft statements on health care.

The so-called "progressives" are lobbying hard to get the Blue Dogs to support Obama's plan. It's important that those of us who understand and support free-market healthcare reform lobby as hard. I'll repeat my suggestion with an update: If you live in either Giffords's (8th) or Harry Mitchell's (5th) district, phone your Congressman's office, express your thanks that he (that's the "he" that includes "she") is standing with the Blue Dogs on health care, and if asked, recommend

• That any bill with a "public option" be restricted by a "trigger" whereby government participation only occurs if private sector reform targets not be met
  
• For insurance to be decoupled from employment
  
• That the third-party payments problem be taken up in earnest, that overinsurance to the point of insulation be discouraged and HSAs encouraged.
  

It won't hurt to call your representative if you live in other districts, but don't expect to get anywhere with Grijalva, a committed ideological proponent of single-payer.

Giffords's Tucson office can be reached at (520) 881-3588 . The phone number to Mitchell's Scottsdale office is (480) 946-2411. Be polite and upbeat. No need to tell them that Kalafut sent you, either--office staff are known to take messages more seriously if they are not part of any obvious campaign of duplication or repetition.

Put more recommendations and the responses you receive in the comments section.

Gabrielle Giffords and health care. (Almost, but not quite.)

A short digression into Federal issues:

Without explanation, on this 'blog I've characterized 8th District congresswoman Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords as a non-leftist moderate. I've taken a bit of "heat" about that backchannel from a few movement-libertarian readers.

In Democrat circles, two documents about health care reform have provoked outcry from the far left (the soi disant "progressives"):

1. A leaked draft memorandum from the >Third Way organization recommending that any "public option"--that's the term now being used on the Left for a government-run health insurance (or insulation) scheme--compete on a level playing field with private insurance and come with a sunset provision. This is still a draft, and not yet an official Third Way position, but we shouldn't expect the final product to be different in spirit.
   
2. A statement by the "Blue Dog Coalition" caucus recommending, among other things, that the "public option" be defecit-neutral, compete on equal footing with private schemes, and only be offered if "triggered" by a failure of market reform.
   

The Blue Dog proposal for a "trigger" is quite interesting, and deserves support, as it would change the terms of the debate for the better. If the "public option" is treated as an experimental fallback in case of reform failure and not, as the "progressives" would have it, a goal in itself, dialog about how to fix the market will naturally follow. That is the discussion we should be having. What is broken, and how do we fix it?

Giffords is a Blue Dog Democrat and an honorary Congressional chairwoman in the Third Way organization. It's reasonably likely that she supports market reforms and a "trigger" for the public option. Yet someone (who will go unnamed) who attended her recent "town hall" meeting on health care reported at the most recent Pima County Libertarian Party meeting that she's a supporter of government-run universal health care.

That's funny. I don't recall hearing anything to that effect during either of her campaigns. And Michael Bryan, apparently back to 'blogging at the far left Blog for Arizona, isn't reading her that way. Libertarian Party or Ron Paul/Mises Institute libertarians, especially of a certain age or educational background, have a peculiar difficulty listening to and understanding people from anywhere else on the political spectrum. (Or even people who largely agree: I've lost count of the number of times old-time or autodidact LP libertarians have taken me to be a "socialist"!)

They ought to slow down and quit concluding that anyone who doesn't speak their code-words is a left-wing extremist. Republicans, too, need to learn to take her for what she is. Building a winning coalition for real health care reform is going to be difficult; writing off Giffords as being solidly on the other side is incorrect and strategically foolish. The "progressives" are trying very hard to convince her and her fellows that only a "no-trigger" public option is acceptable; those of us who prefer fixing the market to destroying the market need to keep her in our camp. Voicing our support for the Blue Dogs' proposed conditions for a public option is a start. If you live in the 8th District, give her office a call at (520) 881-3588 (Metro Tucson), (520) 459-3115 (Cochise County), or (202) 225-2542 (Washington DC).

Health Care "Town Hall" with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

Rep. "Gabby" Giffords from the Eighth Congressional District is holding a "Town Hall" meeting on the topic of health care reform on Tuesday, May 26, 2009, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. at Sahuaro High School Auditorium, 545 N. Camino Seco.

If you think you will attend, her office is requesting a response by May 21 to 520-881-3588.

Giffords is no free-marketeer but in my experience isn't a leftist ideologue, either. It may be worth readers' while to speak out in favor of market reforms and against crowd-out and "soft rationing". Cameras may be there. I don't know.

Whether or not I'll be there myself is a toss-up; those who do attend are welcome to guest post about it here. Send me an e-mail if interested.

Bush's healthcare merely a baby-step in the right direction.

This isn't an Arizona matter, so I'll keep it brief and just say that I've had yet another guest opinion get printed in the Citizen (albeit in the online edition for timeliness's sake).

Health care requires real fix, not socialism