The Stunted Vision of the Democratic Party | Williamson County ...

There was a moment at this week?s Democratic
convention that seemed to encapsulate the party?s stunted vision.
It came during the remarks of Maria Ciano, a Colorado woman who

presents herself as a former Republican distressed by the
modern GOP. ?I still believe in small government, but I no longer
believe in the Republican Party,? she
said. ?Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan want the government to have a
say in my family planning. They want employers to decide what kind
of birth control coverage I have ? or if I can have it at
all.?

It?s an interesting sleight-of-hand that allowed Ciano?to
get from praising small government to defending a new government
mandate in just three sentences. But that?s not why I?m quoting
her. I?m bringing her up because it?s useful to think
about?why Ciano?s?employer would have a role in her birth
control purchases in the first place.

The answer comes in two parts. First, because the law requires a
woman to get a prescription before she can buy the pill, and it
requires her to get an
invasive and frequently unnecessary medical exam before she can
acquire that prescription. Eliminate those controls, and insurance
coverage would be beside the point; the pill would be cheaply
available over the counter. Second, because changes to the tax code
in the 1940s and ?50s have channeled us into a system where
Americans overwhelmingly get their health insurance through their
jobs. Eliminate those incentives, and far fewer people would be
dependent?on their employers for insurance at all,
substantially reducing the relevance of the boss?s opinions about
birth control.

It goes without saying that Barack Obama has displayed no
interest in rolling back the FDA?s birth control rules. Nor has he
moved away from the policies that push people into employer-based
health coverage, or, more broadly, from a system where so many
medical services are purchased via insurance in the first place.
Indeed, his signature accomplishment is a law requiring people who
don?t have health insurance to buy it.

If you can?t afford

You can read the rest of this article at: http://reason.com/blog/2012/09/07/the-stunted-vision-of-the-democratic-par

Short URL: http://www.txwclp.org/?p=16089

Posted by rbutler on Sep 10 2012. Filed under Libertarian News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Source: http://www.txwclp.org/2012/09/the-stunted-vision-of-the-democratic-party/

nfl mvp lana del rey snl performance nick diaz sheryl sandberg superbowl recipes super bowl kick off chili recipes