Year: 2020

You Say Class, I Say Caste

Dave Davis Commentary, Policy, The Future Party, Uncategorized

When prominent people take the extreme step of abandoning their longtime political party to support the other party’s standard-bearer, it’s generally for irreconcilable policy differences. They usually write a lengthy explanation of why they now agree with the other party’s positions. Winston Churchill switched twice, and you knew at length what the policy differences were. In my last two posts, I’ve shown this isn’t the case for those switching to support Biden. I’m not seeing well thought out explanations why the policies of Joe Biden and the Democrats are so much better for America. Instead, they claim Trump is dangerous and has destroyed the Republican Party.

Two Political Action Committees (PAC) have been leading the effort to help the Democrats crush Trump. Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT) and the Lincoln Project are actively campaigning to bring down the present President. The former puts its efforts into dumping Trump while the latter also works against down-ballot Republicans. It’s a distinction without a difference. If both get their wish and Trump loses in a landslide, both houses of Congress would almost certainly be in Democratic hands. With complete control, nothing would stand in the way of enacting the whole progressive agenda. Some form of the Green New Deal, packed courts, and government healthcare are among many other things that would become law. With two more states, a newly renamed District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, good luck winning back the Presidency. Neither of these PACs has offered any detailed explanation of why thy now favor these policies.

Two of the leading Republican defectors are syndicated columnist George Will and former Ohio Governor John Kasich. Will has loudly announced becoming a Democrat, while it’s reported Kasich will actually speak at the Democratic Convention. I’ve enjoyed Will’s well-reasoned articles for more years than I’d like to admit. If Kasich had won the Republican nomination, he would’ve had my vote. Surely these communicators have statements of their reasoning.

Continue reading →

Adding It Up

Dave Davis Commentary, Dave's Healthcare Plan, Policy, The Future Party, Uncategorized

In my last post, I gauged the Trump administration has a more robust awareness of the world dangers facing us. It seems more appreciative of the goals of the leaders of China, Russia, and Iran. Nothing in the Obama-Biden administration’s history showed they were genuinely apprehensive of these players’ real motives. Biden may surprise us, but a man with no deeply held principles will probably do as he has always done. He will go where the current wind is blowing. Trump seems closer to the traditionally conservative world view. For this group of pro-Biden conservatives, the reasons for their move must lie with domestic policy.

Conservatives, if they are known for anything, stand for smaller government. A government not invading all facets of our lives. Governments are intrusive by expanding regulations. In the wake of the Great Recession, the Obama-Biden significantly increased rules in most areas. Many conservatives saw these as the main reason for the worst recovery from a recession in history. The regulations made it more difficult and expensive to do business. It showed a particular disdain. The “you didn’t build it” attitude.was hardly welcoming. Remember, business goes and grows where it’s welcome. Many economists give more credit to a better regulatory climate than tax cuts to the high employment pre-COVID-19 economy.

Continue reading →

Arriving at a Decision

Dave Davis Commentary, Policy, The Future Party, Uncategorized

Looking through my morning Washington Post Opinion email, I noticed many of the Op-Ed articles were authored by people once known to be right of center. Max Boot, Joe Scarborough, and George Will were once Republicans but now compete to show how much they loath President Trump. They are joined by a legion of other writers once on the right at the Post and other opinion outlets. In the Sunday New York Times, Frank Bruni crowed the Lincoln Project made up the last Bush administration staffers had raised $18 million to run anti-Trump ads. Apparently, the online journal “the Dispatch” raised its capital to criticize the President. All seem poised to cast their vote for Democrat Joe Biden.

As readers of this blog know, I’m no great fan of our present President. I didn’t vote for him in ’16. Faced with the choice between Trump and Clinton, I opted for the Libertarian Ticket. By voting for two successful governors and a chance to expand our options, this was the best I could do. With Justin Amash’s failure to launch, this time, there is no reasonable alternative to the two major-party candidates. It looks like I’ll have to choose between Biden and Trump. (Still time for Michelle)

To come to a decision, a look at how each stands on the significant issues foreign and domestic is mandatory. Neither is going to fully satisfy me, but on balance, which in my opinion would be better. Let’s look at how each candidate might approach Foreign and domestic issues.

Continue reading →

It’s Time to Think About the Children

Dave Davis Commentary, COVID-19, Policy, Uncategorized

We are about to make a horrible mistake. In numerous parts of the country, grade-schoolers will be going back to school on a less than regular basis or worse, not at all. We are regularly being lectured by many of our elites; we must follow the science. Yet, some of the same people have willfully ignored it. President Trump is excoriated for merely pointing out our children need to be in school. Already our children have fallen behind by up to a half year. This loss falls most heavily on our most vulnerable. We’ve found the younger the student, the less well distance learning works. The American Academy of Pediatrics has pointed out how important it is for children to be in school. Not only for education but also for social development they want the kids in school. If we don’t get them in school this fall, they may never catch up. This would be a devastating loss for our children and for our country.

The odd thing is we are having this conversation at all. There never was a coherent reason for closing the schools in the first place. Sweden never closed its primary schools. Its neighbors, Denmark and Norway, have been re-opened for months. Norway’s prime minister Erna Solberg has asked, “Was it necessary to close the schools?” She answered her own question, “Perhaps not.” In any case, they all opened without significant problems. A recent study showed schools in Finland closed schools between March 18 and May 13 while Sweden’s schools remained open. Despite that, the authors concluded, “Closing of schools had no measurable effect on the number of cases of COVID-19 among children.” It seems the worldwide consensus is the danger of keeping kids out of school far outweighs the risks of being in school. After all, the data shows children are much less affected by Covid-19 and spread it less.

Given the data, schools across the nation need to be formulating plans to open at least primary schools ASAP. There may be Covid-19 flareups in individual districts, but the goal has to be open all as soon and as much as possible. As in other countries, some employees, from teachers to bus drivers, may have pre-existing conditions that preclude their physical presence. If they can’t contribute remotely, they will need to be replaced. With double-digit unemployment, substitutes should be available. Any problems such as supplies and testing need to be identified so help can be delivered in a timely fashion. The Federal government could anticipate needs and be ready to backstop. The big thing is everyone needs to commit to getting the kids back in school. The assumption has to be we are going to be open in the fall.

Continue reading →

Why Not The Best?

Dave Davis Commentary, Dave's Healthcare Plan, Policy

Recently one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Ezekiel Emanuel, wrote a Wall Street Journal OP-Ed. In the article, he concedes the ACA has mostly been an expansion of Medicaid.This is a program paying providers so poorly many refuse or severely limit service. In light of this, Emanuel now acknowledges the ACA isn’t working and needs replacement. His recommendation is we look to the health plans of Germany or the Netherlands. He chooses these two, “where citizens choose among competing private health insurers called “sickness funds,” are closest to the U.S. system.”

Why would we want something close to what we have? Our present healthcare system is a costly mess. Just 11 days earlier, George P. Shultz and Vidar Jorgensen had an article on the same Op-Ed page. It pointed to Singapore as providing top-notch healthcare at a low price. By most measures, Singapore is at the top national healthcare heap. Why ignore this success? Why promote the lower performing German and Dutch systems? Maybe Emanuel only writes for the WSJ Op-ed page rather than reading it.

With the possibility of the ACA being declared unconstitutional, real discussion healthcare has to take place. Even if a decision is delayed, it will be a significant topic in the upcoming election. It’s no embarrassment to look to other nations to find what might work better. According to Shultz and Jorgensen, Singapore is the place to start. Some may say Singapore is too small to compare. Yet, many people keep throwing up comparisons to the Scandinavian nations. Only Sweden has a larger population. Singapore also measures up favorably on a per capita wealth basis.

Shultz and Jorgensen mention Scripps College economist Sean Flynn as a statistical source on Singapore. Strangely, this name came up in Steve Forbes’ fact and comment in his magazine’s June/July issue. Forbes lauded Flynn’s book “The Cure That Works.” I found it on Amazon and immediately downloaded the Kindle version.

What I received was a clear and easy to read look at arguably the world’s best healthcare system. The author frames this with an understanding of how we got to our present healthcare system. What’s peculiar is this remarkable book was published over a year ago. Still, Forbes and I are only talking about it now. Regardless of flying under the radar, it is an essential contribution to our healthcare discussion.

Continue reading →