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Cato Dispatch for July 30, 2009

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(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)

Is the Tide Turning on Health Care?

The debate on health care continues to rage, with President Obama traveling around the country to tout his public-option plan, while committees in both the House and Senate seek compromises between conservatives and liberals in each party. The committees are likely to finish their work before the August recess, but final votes in both chambers, as well as the all-important conference between the House and Senate to work out a single bill to send to President Obama, will not happen until the fall.

Meanwhile, public opinion seems to be shifting on the issue since last month, with nine percent fewer Americans supporting the idea of the federal government providing health insurance for everyone, according to a recent New York Times poll. Moreover, the same poll reports that the vast majority — 69 percent — of Americans are at least somewhat concerned that a government health-care plan would lead to poorer quality care.

President Obama tried to stifle debate at a town hall in Raleigh, NC, urging critics of his health-care plan to "stop scaring everybody." The Cato Institute continues a campaign to help educate the public on what Obama's ideas for health-care reform really mean, in full-page newspaper ads and on radio.

Writing in the New York Post, Cato senior fellow Michael Tanner explains what President Obama won't tell you about the Democrats' plan:

It is a plan that imposes huge new costs on American businesses and makes it more difficult to hire new workers. It is a plan that limits Americans' choices and would almost certainly lead to the eventual rationing of care. It would do nothing to reduce health-care costs and could increase insurance premiums for millions of Americans. And, it is a plan that the head of the Congressional Budget Office says adds significantly to the federal budget deficit.

Meanwhile, Cato senior fellow William Poole makes an all-too-often-missed point in Forbes: "A basic fact is being ignored amid all the spilt ink in the healthcare debate: A nation cannot afford state-of-the-art health care for everyone."

Make sure to stop by Cato's health-care website for continuing coverage of this important debate.

Sotomayor on Track for Approval

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's nominee to replace Justice David H. Souter on the Supreme Court, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. With the support of just a single Republican — Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — the Democrat-dominated Committee sent Sotomayor to the full Senate for approval, which she is expecting to obtain barring unforeseen circumstances.

Cato senior fellow Ilya Shapiro explains how he would vote:

Given Sotomayor's repeated rejection of the idea that law is or should be objective or discernible from written text, her inability in oral and written testimony to even state a position on important cases and legal doctrine beyond an acceptance of precedent — by which she would no longer be bound in her new role — leaves me with an abiding concern about the damage she could do to the rule of law in this country…. And so, in following the 'burden of proof' paradigm and also respecting the logic of Senator Arlen Specter, who curiously evoked Scottish law at President Clinton's impeachment trial to vote 'not proven,' I would vote that the case for confirming Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is 'not proven' — under American law.

Echoing that sentiment, senior fellow Doug Bandow argues in The American Spectator:

Sonia Sotomayor appears to be a decent person and a capable jurist. But her oft-expressed radical ideas and dismissive treatment of fundamental liberties suggest that she is likely to be a less measured justice than judge. The rule of law, and thus the original constitutional system based on individual liberty and limited government, would suffer.

Happy Birthday, Milton

The great libertarian economist Milton Friedman had his 97th birthday on Thursday. Although Friedman passed away in 2006, his ideas continue to resonate today. For example, an article on health care penned by Friedman eight years ago seems remarkably prescient:

The high cost and inequitable character of our medical care system are the direct result of our steady movement toward reliance on third-party payment. A cure requires reversing course, re-privatizing medical care by eliminating most third-party payment, and restoring the role of insurance to providing protection against major medical catastrophes.

Cato Executive Vice President David Boaz wrote about Friedman's legacy in 2002: "Over his long life, [Friedman] has had the satisfaction of seeing the world turn in his direction." For his 97th birthday, here's hoping it keeps turning that way.

Chris Moody, editor, cmoody@cato.org