April 21, 2008 10:54AM 

# How “the Party of Limited Government” Abets Its Opponents 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

I’m sitting at the [5th annual World Health Care Congress](http://www.worldcongress.com/events/HR08000/) listening to [George Shultz](http://www.amazon.com/Putting-Our-House-Order-Security/dp/0393066029) and others debate the merits of the presidential candidates’ health care reform plans.

Rep. Jim Cooper (D‑TN), speaking for Sen. Barack Obama’s (D‑IL) plan, noted that Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D‑NY) [plan](http://www.hillaryclinton.com/feature/healthcareplan/summary.aspx) would not get a single Republican co-sponsor because it includes an individual mandate.

Speaking for Sen. Clinton’s plan, former (Bill) Clinton health policy advisor Christoper Jennings responded that there are plenty of Republicans on [the individual-mandate bill](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:SN00334:@@@L&summ2=m&) sponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D‑OR) and Bob Bennett (R‑UT). And not just Republicans, but conservative Republicans.

So much for that talking point.

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).