Dean and southerners who fly the confederate flag
First of all, thanks to axinar@yahoo.com for commenting on my last post regarding health care. He makes a good point and it is worth reading.

Now to the topic at hand. Isn't everyone making a little too much out of this? Here is what Governor Dean said:

"I intend to talk about race during this election in the South. The Republicans have been talking about it since 1968 in order to divide us, and I'm going to bring us together. Because you know what? White folks in the South who drive pick-up trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back ought to be voting with us because their kids don't have health insurance either, and their kids need better schools too." Howard Dean web site

I think the meaning is very straightforward. Unfortunately what was an economic remark turned into a "racial attack" like Dean was supporting racist attitudes. Now I'm not a supporter of Dean, nor do I intend to vote for him, but fair is fair. He was not supporting flying the Confederate flag. He was reaching out to southern whites who have it on their truck.

But, as is too often typical in the American political scene, comments are taken out of context and instead of calm discussion, candidates go for sound bites that can be seen on the evening news and used in commercials. But that is a topic for another day.

Health care (cont.)
To continue with yesterday's thoughts, i researched the Democratic candidates positions on health care. Basically it falls into two groups. Most say they would repeal the Bush tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and insure every child in America has health insurance. Two (Moseley-Braun and Kucinich) would go to a single payer system similar to Canada where the Federal government pays for the health care.

While there are some good ideas (or at least seem good to me at the moment) floated, the bill for paying for all of this is what bothers me. A federal program never stays as small as it is when it is begun. Members of Congress have to admend acts with their pet ideas.

The bottom line is all of the ideas would mean higher taxes. Period. If you want health service, you gotta pay for it, one way or the other. The problem is not health care service, among the best in the world, if not the best. The problem is the underlying causes of what drives the price of health care up.

Health care
Is this a no brainer, or what? Everyone wants affordable health care but how do we do it? The Democratic candidates all promise something but i haven't heard too much about how they will pay for it. How do we? Increase taxes? No way. No one is going to advocate that. But that's the only way other than gutting the military. There's no other money available.

11 Nov. 2003
I have no idea where this will go. I consider myself a conservative, but some conservative positions trouble me. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older and not quite as fanatic as I once was.

Anyway, I'm gonna use this space to ruminate about things that happen on the world scene. Maybe you agree, maybe you don't. If you would like to comment, feel free. They will be posted directly to this site.