Tuesday 23 March 2010

On Individual Mandates

It's interesting, and perfectly sensible really, that conservatives, recently and in the early 90s were in favour of an individual mandate. After all, what's better if you're a conservative, a tax to fund health care or a mandate to buy it and thereby ensure the market continues to play a central role in delivery of health care? And really, I don't understand how a mandate to buy insurance would be unconstitutional when income taxes or a requirement to register for the draft aren't.

Wednesday 17 March 2010

Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution Act

Glenn Greenwald discusses the "Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention and Prosecution Act" today. As Greenwald notes:

It's probably the single most extremist, tyrannical and dangerous bill introduced in the Senate in the last several decades, far beyond the horrific, habeas-abolishing Military Commissions Act. It literally empowers the President to imprison anyone he wants in his sole discretion by simply decreeing them a Terrorist suspect -- including American citizens arrested on U.S. soil. (Link to relevant passage from the bill.)

This is a great example of what bothers me about the increasingly spineless Republican party and much of modern day conservatism. The GOP will scream bloody murder about rights and freedom when it comes to something as innocuous, IMO, as mandated health insurance while at the same time giving away the most fundamental rights of the American people. (And what happened to McCain? He wasn't always this evil? Maybe he sold his soul to get the nomination in '08.)