This is the guy who's going to (hopefully) clean Orrin Hatch's clock in the upcoming mid-term. I think it's smart that he's getting on the wagon now to try to beat him. He's going to need all the help he can get.
I'm not specifically endorsing him yet, per se. But he certainly gets an endorsement for not being Orrin Hatch. I really can't wait until he updates his issues page to explain to me how he can provide me, and all Americans, with free Health Care. If he does that, he has my vote clinched.
I do have to say though, his stance on copyright laws is impressive. Read about those here.
On an odd sidenote, it appears as though he's married to Robin Ballard. She's a Salt Lake City-based actress who appeared in a short film that Elias and I produced for an old friend a long time ago. She went on to act in a movie for that old friend as well. I wonder whatever happened to all that.
At any rate, check out his website. The more people know about it him, the more they can spread the word that there is actually a human being running against Orrin Hatch. Hopefully, he'll win on something more than a prayer and Hatch will have something less than a chance.
8 comments:
Bryan,
You had said: "explain to me how he can provide me, and all Americans, with free Health Care" in this last post.
I would like to propose a question for you in relation to that. What kind of healthcare are you talking about, Western Medicine, as seen in our hospitals, or more natural methods or Health Care involving supplements and other methods?
I am fascinated that you probably want western medicine to bail you out with a aspirin or tylonel. Doctors do a lot of good things for people, but do not let that overshadow the problems with western medicine. Most drugs do one thing for you, suppress symptoms, not cure them.
I would rethink what type of health care you are talking about.
Personally, I think the government-provided healthcare need not be government run hospitals and doctors, etc. I would like to think that we could eliminate HMO's and for profit agencies like that and create a branch of governemtn that provides insurance to all Americans. That way the current structure of doctors and patients remains the same and everyone can seek out the kind of care they need or want and be able to put it on Uncle Sam's bill.
I mean, I think it would be most important for preventative medicine. Check-ups, physicals, cancer screenings. That's the kind of stuff that's needed for everyone, but it's also expensive. So people would rather save up their pennies for a family vacation than that require colonscopy. It just makes me sad that we can't take better care of each other.
One thing i just wanted to make a quick point about is this, the american people are "Uncle Sam" which means you are talking about taking from the American public there labor and time.
Not a good idea in a free society when the people have to support not only there family, but the rest of the countries.
Hey anonymous. When do you think the long term benifits of an all around more healthy society will take precidence over more take home pay. It's a matter of priorities here. Is renting a movie from blockbuster video once a week a higher priority? Perhaps if you are a strapping young buck at the peak of physical wellness, but guess what? Those young healthy people are in the minority. It's time to think outside of ourselves and consider the future. I have yet to encounter a reasonable argument against guaranteeing the most basic of services to the population of the wealthiest country in the world. What good is the wealth if there is no welfare? I've heard about all the downfalls of "socialized medecine" as have the rest of you. Americans have always been known for their enginuity. Can't we figure this out and improve it? I'd like to think we could be heald to that type of high standad when it comes to something of this importance. One thing is for sure; I've sought medical attention less than half of the times that I should have. Why? Out of fear. I know I'm not alone and that's just sad.
I used to think that government health care or insurance was the answer. I figured that working in a hospital would convince me of this more (I'm a med student), but it hasn't. The biggest down side of government ran health care is lack of inovation. Before I go on let me just say that you want to tell me that we should hold ourselves to a higher standard, well that sounds like american bigotry to me, as if we are so much smarter than everyone else who has tackled socialized care, come on, don't act all liberal and accepting and then talk about how americans can do it better than everyone else.
Back to my first point. Health care has evolved and progressed especially in the last 50 years because of the free market health care we have. Its what drives drug companies to find cures, it drives engineers to develop life saving machines, it drives inovation. If you stop the pressure of the free market on health care this drive will slow down, it won't stop, but it will slow down. Lastly if you don't think we have state run health care check out the budget for medicaid and medicare and you'll notice its more than 40% of the money the nation spends on health care, really if we can't run a health care plan well for nearly half the nation, what makes you think we can run it well for the whole nation. Really I could write about this all night, there is just too much wrong with health care in the US, but at least we have inovation. Before anyone hacks on my spelling and punctuation let me just say I know its bad. And before anyone tells me how dumb I am let me just say I already know. Peace out.
I've listened to quite a few NPR pieces lately that have contended that the idea of the free market is the only way to advance medicine (or anything) is nonsense. I've looked alot into John Stossels' work as well and he contends that everything would be better under a free market system and it's just not true. The one instance where there is a true free market in America has been driven so far out of control it's insane (Trial Lawyers). Look at countries that are showing amazing economic and technological growth: China, Venezuela, etc. and their markets are thriving because they have subsidies in areas where we need them. We subsidize the pharmacuetical companies. Do you realize how much taxpayer money goes to the pharmaceutical companies as it is? So we're footing the bill already while the people in charge of these companies retire to some tropical paradise. We need to control these markets the way Roosevelt controlled the utility systems during the depression, and the way Chavez took back the oil industry. We need to make it of, by and FOR the people.
And we need to take care of each other while we do it. And we CAN make it better than anyone else. We're the only industrialized nation not to offer it. We can learn from the mistakes of all the others. And I know how great medicaid is. My wife delivered two children on medicaid and I never saw a bill. Period. It was all taken care of. It was beautiful. I think all American's should be on medicaid.
Oh, and we don't call people dumb around here. We just like healthy debate, whether we disagree with you strongly or not.
You're right anonymous. This problem is too hard to solve. Maybe our county's legislators should just take a Tylenol and have a nap. Fuck the 40 million people who have no option other than Tylenol. I think your statement about stifeling innovation is idiotic. american drug companies are more in the business of manufacturing affliction rather than cures. I could be on half a dozen designer drugs if I were as insecure as all these drug ads wish a was. And I have no idea how you could interpret my previous comments as arrogant. Our Healthcare system is is borderline fascism. How can expressing a desire or even an obligation to fix something that is broken be construed as arrogant? Seriously. I'm trying to understand the logic here. Does humility require complacence and self destruction? Huh Socrates? I don't even know why basic human rights should even need to be debated in a "civilized" country. EVERYONE deseves to be taken care of when they are sick, no matter how shitty their day job is! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! LET'S STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND FIGURE IT OUT!
I know how to fix the problem that keeps your competition and makes it so the government doesn't monopolize. Mandate that HMO's must be Not-For-Profit organizations and put a salary cap on people who work there. I mean, a reasonable salary cap, sure, but we don't want them to be bloodsuckers. That's the point, they are. But pharmaceutical companies should be put under the same mandate. They have to put their money into R&D, not television ads to please stockholders. And hospitals. Why should people profit on sickness? I mean, people think not-for-profit they mean you can't pay professionals. You can. I worked for a non-profit for a long time and was paid just fine.
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