Political Comment

I heard a part of the President's radio address earlier today, refuting some of the more outrageous charges made against his health care proposal by its opponents. Afterwards, the Republicans offered their response, and in it their spokesman (sorry, can't remember his name) basically said that the free enterprise system will resolve the issue if left alone by the government. Fair enough-- I understand the ideological commitment that drives that position. But here's the thing: it was over fifteen years ago that Clinton tried to overhaul health care insurance, and the same argument was used against that plan. In the intervening years (following the Clinton plan's defeat), the free enterprise system has done virtually nothing to address the iniquities in the system; in fact by most measures (numbers covered, runaway costs, etc.), the situation has gotten worse. So I wonder, just how much credibility does that argument have today? It looks like a distraction to me, representative of efforts to label anything involving government coordination as un-American. I, for one, find that line of thinking silly.