Obamacare: Pyrrhic Victory

So American Democrats have invested all their political capital in forcing through a healthcare plan against the wishes of most hard working Americans.
The hugely bureaucratic new system will cost an arm and a leg, with little benefit for the so-called uninsured. In fact it will cost them too in the form of compulsory levies.
Just like in Europe before the advent of socialised healthcare, and as in America today, no one was ever turned away from hospital for want of emergency treatment and without the means to pay.
By all means address the two key issues of insurers blacklisting clients with “pre-existing conditions”, and capping claims resulting in two million medical bankruptcies per year.
But don’t bankrupt the entire US healthcare system in the process.
And don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for the guy!

Europe Again v LibDems

Still a hot subject today in the blogosphere, though of little interest to most voters, we read of the disenchantment about the LibDems inconsistency on Europe.
Does their leadership want an “in/out” referendum or not?
Being new to blogging I’ve not yet prepared my blogroll but high up there already was Charlotte Gore (even though my views are diametrically opposed to hers on drugs).
It’s come to a pretty pass when the nation’s top LibDem blogger is severing ties with a party that flip-flops on Europe.
And I didn’t even mention the Mansion Tax.

Europe is Driving Me Nuts

Why are so many Conservative supporters exercised about Europe? It’s bottom on the list of most peoples national concerns.
Yet some Tories are determined to vote UKIP at the next election, in the full knowledge it can do nothing but prop up a discredited Labour Government.
But it is Labour that ratified the Lisbon Treaty. It is Labour that messed up our economy, our health service, our education, the benefit system -- the list goes on.
A Cameron Government would have the strongest mandate on Europe in a generation. He’ll wait for Greece and Italy to implement the directives before we do. He’ll demand the return powers over employment legislation, human rights and criminal justice. And if the other 26 don’t play ball? Stop paying the bill. With the threat of a referendum at the following election.
Europe needs us more than we need them.
I’m having lunch with Daniel Hannan on Friday.

Europe

Seems like the Tory bust up on Europe was a damp squib. You see we really do want to win the Election so much, and Europe is close to the bottom of most people’s priorities.
Funny thing is, we did get some red meat from Cameron, though it was not immediately obvious. Of course a referendum on future treaties is academic because Lisbon allows for greater federalism without the need for any more treaties.
Referenda are only symbolic anyway (except in Switzerland which remains outside the EU), because the result is usually dependent upon the context (i.e. how the question is phrased, and how popular the Government is at the time).
So let’s take heart that a Cameron Government would be the most Eurosceptic since Churchill, and his pledges to return powers over employment legislation, human rights and criminal justice are not empty threats.