The Administration is proclaiming a victory for Obamacare: The level of “uninsured” has fallen to the lowest point ever. Well, maybe – but one can wonder what the numbers would be if insurance was NOT mandatory. Remember, if one doesn’t have insurance, one is fined. So, rather than risking the fine, many folks have signed on for insurance, and, assuming the federal government’s numbers are accurate, the share of uninsured has fallen to under 10%. We are not sure why there are still 10% uninsured; with coverage “mandatory” it would seem to follow that close to 100% should be covered. Perhaps those of us who are covered should make an effort to find out the techniques of the 10% who aren’t, so we can join their ranks.
By John Shaffer The Administration is proclaiming a victory for Obamacare: The level of “uninsured” has fallen to the lowest point ever. Well, maybe – but one can wonder what the numbers would be if insurance was NOT mandatory. Remember, if one doesn’t have insurance, one is fined. So, rather than risking the fine, many folks have signed on for insurance, and, assuming the federal government’s numbers are accurate, the share of uninsured has fallen to under 10%. We are not sure why there are still 10% uninsured; with coverage “mandatory” it would seem to follow that close to 100% should be covered. Perhaps those of us who are covered should make an effort to find out the techniques of the 10% who aren’t, so we can join their ranks. By John Shaffer Absurdity seems to be one of the main components of modern progressive government, and it's not only the federal government. There are plenty of America’s cities whose policies are as mind-boggling as anything that comes out of Washington DC. Let’s take New York City, where there is a movement to forbid bar owners from refusing to serve alcohol to pregnant women. Yes, you read that right. The “Human Rights Commission” of the city of New York [and let’s note that the iron law of self-identified nomenclature demonstrates that boards whose names include the words “Human Rights” are far more likely to quash someone’s rights than to defend them, and almost certainly will turn a blind eye to major violations while sparing no effort to put the screws to insignificant offenses] has issued “guidelines” [in other words, do it or else] that state that pregnant women cannot be denied alcoholic beverages merely because they are pregnant. There is more than one reason this guideline is mis-guided. In the first place, a bar owner can be ultimately responsible in the eyes of the law for consequences of his service. So if he serves a pregnant woman, and the baby suffers in some way – or is claimed to have suffered – he probably will be sued by one of those lawyers at the end of the bar. Yes, the Human Rights guidelines would prefer that he sell the woman alcohol, regardless of his personal misgivings. Those lawyers will have a field day with that. And what about the label that is likely to be on any container of alcohol sold in America, you know, the one about pregnant women avoiding alcohol because it can lead to fetal damage? So on one hand, “big government” warns pregnant women not to use the stuff, but another arm of “big government” threatens the bar owner if he doesn’t sell her the stuff. As indicated a few sentences ago – the lawyers will love this policy.
With a decisive win in the Indiana primary, Donald Trump appears to have secured the Republican nomination for President. His main challenger, Sen. Ted Cruz, must think so, because he suspended his campaign. On the Democrat side, Sen. Bernie Sanders defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Although it still is far more likely than not that she will be the Democrat nominee for President, he has been giving her a much stronger challenge than anyone would have suspected six months ago.
The Republican race for the nomination at one time included seventeen candidates and they subdivided the votes so completely that large segments of the Republican party are disappointed, disaffected and disgruntled – but perhaps the most certain way to bring the fractured party together is the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency. Donald Trump himself may not be capable of reuniting the party, but Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee might do so. That remains to be seen, but before those defeated Republican challengers are forgotten, let's speculate what may have happened if there had been only sixteen candidates for the party’s nomination – not seventeen. |
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