Word: carefully
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David Brooks is not the first to lay out forks in the road during the health-care debate. Other false dichotomies have been: Growth vs. equity, risk vs. safety, innovation vs. stagnation. Yet these kinds of approaches are not only invalid but are also incredibly, well, unhealthful...
...believe the health-care system is presently in less-than-robust condition, the argument that we’ll become less dynamic with change makes little sense. If you take a moment to reflect on the last few years, Brooks’s premise that the unregulated market normally directs capital to the fresh, flourishing, and socially productive doesn’t seem entirely truthful. Indeed, we’ve seen throughout the economic crisis that unregulated capital is often prone to fall to the aged, entrenched, and socially disconnected...
...case of the health-care debate, the equivalence of dynamism with unregulated markets falls even flatter. It is not merely the old, poor, and vulnerable who lack access to quality insurance and care today. Those who suffer from the high costs and limited scope of the system are seemingly some of the most “vital” groups in the country: working-class families and young, self-employed entrepreneurs. Those who are un-wealthy are at high risk to be unhealthy, but those who merely work hard outside government and corporate safety nets also need a powerful dose...
...argument that American vitality will diminish if we pass the health-insurance bill is ultimately not only misleading, but also dangerous. When we wedge complicated issues between incompatible moral principles, we often drift further from pragmatic reform. There is no doubt that the health-care debate is just as much about values as dollars, but reducing the values debate to a pleasant, soothing dichotomy only solidifies the status quo. Claiming we can’t currently circumvent a tragic choice only postpones the change we need...
Although forecasting the economic climate is difficult, we know that, in the past, security and vitality have tended to be more complementary than conflicting. In the greatest episodes of our American journey, vitality and security have gone hand in hand. Making it easier to take care of the basics of life strengthens the middle class and spurs future growth...