Liberal Vision

Scarlett’s Seven on Sunday – 16th August 2009 Health Edition

Well hello my darling’s and welcome back to Miss Scarlett’s Seven on Sunday- this week’s a health edition…

Jock Coats kicked off the week in style before the hysteria set in: The debate in the US over the merits of socialized medicine appears to be being successfully portrayed in the rest of the world as the great majority forces of light and twentieth century social liberal ideals of care for all against a tiny minority of the forces of darkness, right wing nut-jobs who really want an agonizing death for anyone without the savings to be able to buy a heart for transplant from some Indian street urchins.

Charlotte weighs in: Why disheartening? As with most things in the political realm, one emotion dominates: Fear. Fear trumps everything else. Most of the hostile comments I get on this blog come from people absolutely terrified of something or other.  For many unscrupulous politicians, fear is the simple and easy way to bypass people’s reason and make them believe… well, whatever you want them to believe, really.

In the UK it’s fear of losing free at the point of use health care that makes people go quite mad at any suggestion of tampering with it. In America they’re afraid that by adopting a universal health care model, especially a ’single payer’ model where there’s only one source of health insurance they’ll end up with rationed health care ‘as bad as the UK’s’.

Next up Iain Dale ponders the debate itself: The campaign via Twitter to force people to declare their “love” for the NHS is not one I shall be participating in. I do not “love” the NHS any more than I “love” other major national institutions like the Police or the armed forced. These institutions are not there to be “loved”, they are there to provide public services, and if they do a good job they should certainly be respected. But “loved”, give me a break. This is puerile politics at its worst.

Constantly Furious said “Do #welovetheNHS? – well not really”: Do the public love the NHS? Of course we don’t love it. How can you love any absolutely massive, necessarily faceless bureaucracy? Does anybody ‘love’ the Indian Railway company? No? Well, they’re one of only two organizations larger than the NHS. The other one is the Chinese Army. Do you ‘love’ them? Thought not.

The debate got the Dizzy treatment: If you do not stand up and be counted as a “lover” of the NHS you must have some other feeling toward it that is negative? This was masterfully illustrated by the Lib Dem blogger James Graham who effectively said that if Tories didn’t say they loved the NHS that it was telling of their true feelings. Has rational and adult debate in the UK really been reduced to the same simpleton logic that existed in Bush’s 2001 speech? If it weren’t so sad it would be funny.

Despite having it on terrible authority that Anarcho-capitalism means people die alone… this little lady is of the impression that a little anarchy never hurt anyone: Notice how the Tuckerite socialist model would work. It would ensure that poor people had more money. By eliminating monopolies (and quasi-monopolistic market distortions like tax subsidies for particular insurance choices), it would also ensure that prices for health care services—whether purchased directly or provided via insurers—were lower. By keeping a competitive market in place, it would ensure that competitive market pressures would tend to elevate overall product and service quality. And because it wouldn’t involve the installation of yet another czar, or the equivalent, because it would leave people free to make their own health-care choices, it would preserve liberty rather than limiting it. It would achieve all three of the goals proponents of current health-care reform measures say they want.

And last but certainly not least:

Shane Greer weighs in giving us some medical advice from the States…

And the staple: if you’ve seen any posts you think should feature on “Scarlett’s Seven on Sunday” – then send me the link at sara.scarlett@liberal-vision.org. I’m not looking for “the best” posts but anything eclectic which may go under the radar otherwise. Have a lovely week my honeys…!!

Scarlett’s Seven on Sunday – 2nd August 2009

Hello everyone!! I made it back for the second week. Below are the links that made me think over the past week: enjoy!! Hat tip: The Newest Demotivator for the excellent pic!!

1. William Easterly over at Aidwatch reports that USAID are actually funding Iraqi insurgents: “So why was CSP suspended? According to a USAID statement, an external review begun in February discovered “inconsistencies” in the implementation of the project in one of the target cities. This deadpan response from USAID leaves aside just a few other reasons to be concerned about the project, namely a 2008 audit that found evidence of fraud, phantom workers, and money being diverted to insurgents through trash collection contracts.”

2. Shane Greer makes an excellent point regarding Assisted Suicide: “The status quo therefore is quite simple, if your loved one wishes to end their life and you wish to assist them by travelling with them (and indeed enabling them to travel) to a clinic abroad where they can end their life, everything’s fine, not a problem at all; we’re happy to turn a blind eye.  We only have a problem if you wish to do it in this country; that would be terribly wrong.

And here’s the great injustice I spoke of a moment ago; if you’re comfortably middle class and can afford to circumvent British law in order to end your life abroad, we’re fine with it.  But if you can’t afford to pay the necessary fees, well, tough luck; the right to die with dignity comes with a price tag. ”

3. Education get the Jock Coats treatment: “I hope that anyone who calls themselves a liberal of any flavour would regard conscription as anathema. It is, after all, a form of slavery; greater even than the slavery we all participate in to a state whose policies we do not agree with but are obliged to conform. So, whilst I realize that it’s a sentiment that does exist within the party, I am a bit disturbed that some amongst us agree with conscription when it comes to education.”

4. Freedom to trade assesses ‘buy local” schemes:“This article in the Independent (UK) illustrates the fallacy with “buy local” schemes that some governments are proposing as a solution to the economic crisis.  By attempting to shift demand away from foreign products to domestic producers, new trade barriers might stimulate temporary short-term growth, but they also cause significant problems.”

5. Beer with an alcohol content of 18% has been developed (Liberal Vision approves), Their Contempt for you is Total sums up the situation beautifully: “It’s enough to make the government shit themselves. Of course, they don’t want to be seen being so authoritarian and pedantic that they control what types of booze you drink, so they did it by proxy via a fake charity. … Except it’s not BrewDog’s responsibility what people drink. It’s the responsibility of the drinkers. BrewDog at no point tie you to a chair and poor the stuff down your throat, that’s peoples own choices. They’re the (ir)responsible ones, not the brewery.”

6. Agent Orange writes another letter to Ros Scott!!

And last but not least:

7. Charlotte Gore tells a story with I greatly empathise with – It can (and must) be read in it’s entirety here!!

And the staple: if you’ve seen any posts you think should feature on “Scarlett’s Seven on Sunday” – then send me the link at sara.scarlett@liberal-vision.org. I’m not looking for “the best” posts but anything eclectic which may go under the radar otherwise. Have a great week.

Scarlett’s Seven on Sunday – 26th July 2009

Hello everyone!! And welcome to “Scarlett’s Seven on Sunday” – because bloggers like lists, apparently – and I like alliteration. So here is where I shall muse over noticeable story from the past week or so. Hopefully Scarlett’s Seven is something you will enjoy waking up to in the morning, however, if you prefer to wake up to a warm mug of Joe then here’s another reason to shun socialism:

1. According to the Adam Smith Institute: “It really takes a certain amount of cunning, if not good sense, to turn a coffee exporter, one acknowledged to produce some of the finest Arabica in the world, into a place where it is now difficult to get a cup of coffee.”

2. Cicero assess George Osbourne’s plans to reform the banking industry: “There is a case for critical regulatory change, but the disruption that Mr. Osborne proposes will be dramatic and long lasting. Almost immediately Hector Sants, the head of the FSA, has had to cope with a rapid exodus of key staff, and this is degrading the institution even before the Conservatives can even enter office.”

3. A good piece by Lester Holloway over at LDV where he examines our reaction to defections: “As a party we really need to start learning some lessons from these regular blows because I, for one, am tired and frankly quite bored of witnessing the same depressing spiral of losing bright young BAME talent followed by a debate more notable for its heat than light, as the membership lob brickbats at the defectors.”

4. Over at Aid Watch William Easterly assesses some of the more shameless behaviour in the name of Aid:

‘nough said…

5. Iain Dale ponders Drug use (not literally I might add): “I don’t mind admitting that I am a complete prude where drugs are concerned. I have never taken an illegal drug and will never do so. It’s never wise for someone with a vaguely addictive personality to put themselves into that situation! But everyone has to answer for their own actions and their own lifestyle. No one will ever win a war on drugs. All government can do is try to limit supply and educate people about the disastrous consequences of taking all drugs, not just class A substances.”

6. The excellence we’ve come to expect from Jock Coats is featured here: “This is because I am, in Hayek’s terms as explained in his “Why I am not a conservative”, a genuine liberal – one who is willing to take a leap forward into the unknown without first having to know absolutely the outcome; that I have an unshakeable optimism that humanity is so damned clever that it will find, co-operatively rather than coercively, ways of dealing with any problems such change throws up; that if the cause is important enough we will find along the way solutions to issues as they arise.”

7. Yet he excels himself with what is the last of my significant seven: “Screw the lot of you. Leave. Now. Don’t come back from your obscene fucking (some of you no doubt literally) vacations. Leave real people to create real wealth; allow real people to work for whatever they can get and with their dignity intact seek to better themselves in one of the many innovative different choices that will spring up in a revitalized education market. Don’t patronize them with quotas to plaster over your screw-ups.”

If you’ve seen any posts you think should feature on “Scarlett’s Seven on Sunday” – then send me the link at sara.scarlett@liberal-vision.org. I’m not looking for “the best” posts but anything eclectic which may go under the radar otherwise. Have a great week.