Mandate outrage sputters

The mandate embedded in national health care reform seems to flummox a lot of people.

“You can’t make me buy something! That’s un-American!”

As if politicians awoke one day and thought of forcing people to shop for insurance to stimulate the economy. The reason for the mandate gets lost in fulminations about lost freedoms and the alleged totalitarian dreams of reformers. But change the subject to insurers, and most flag-waving, capitalism-loving Americans are all for limiting the companies’ freedom to assess risks before selling policies. By wide majorities, polls show that Americans favor the reform that prohibits insurers from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

The reason for assessing pre-existing conditions is obvious. People with cancer or diabetes or other chronic conditions are going to run up bigger bills. Similarly, nobody is going to sell you auto insurance that covers yesterday’s collision. I’d hope we can all agree that if insurance companies are commanded to do that, they should get something in return that keeps them in business.

Enter the mandate. If enough healthy people enter the market, the risk can be spread and insurers can still make a profit. You can say this is the wrong way to go about widening access to health care and still be on firm ground. It isn’t the only solution.

But you can’t kill the mandate and keep the ban on risk assessment. They work together. It’s like stopping auto emissions by removing the engine. You won’t get very far.

America the beautiful.

My favorite reflection about the Tucson shootings was relayed by commentator Mark Shields of “NewsHour” on PBS: “There was one observation that was made this week I just have to pass on to you by a friend of mine, Allen Ginsberg, who is a historian up in Maine. And he said, this week, we saw a white, Catholic, Republican federal judge murdered on his way to greet a Democratic woman, member of Congress, who was his friend and was Jewish. Her life was saved initially by a 20-year-old Mexican American college student … and eventually by a Korean American combat surgeon.”

Postscript: The judge’s life was remembered in an African American president’s eulogy, and that heroic college student, Daniel Hernandez, is gay.

Not like the movies.

The worst comment about the Tucson shootings comes from Arizona state Rep. Jack Harper: “When everyone is carrying a firearm, nobody is going to be a victim.”

Interesting. So those four police officers gunned down at the Lakewood, Wash., coffee shop weren’t victims, according to Harper.

I suppose he could’ve meant something else, like armed citizens could’ve headed off the shooting. But as New York Times writer Timothy Egan points out, several people were armed. One of them, Joseph Zamudio, almost shot the wrong person.

From Egan’s column: He saw people wrestling, including one man with the gun. “I kind of assumed he was the shooter,” said Zamudio in an interview with MSNBC. Then, “everyone said, ‘no, no – it’s this guy.’ ” To his credit, he ultimately helped subdue Loughner. But suppose, in those few seconds of confusion, he had fired at the wrong man and killed a hero? “I was very lucky,” Zamudio said.

Chilling thought.

Imagine if the alleged Tucson gunman were named Hernandez, rather than Loughner, and was in the country illegally. Many people who are now focused like a laser on the lone gunman/mental illness angle would surely widen their field of vision.

Clutch performance.

The Spokane Valley City Council has declared an emergency so that it can quickly change zoning to allow for a used-car lot near University Center. If you think this really is an emergency, the sales team has the perfect deal for you.

Free for all.

Those who say there are no real-world examples of the libertarian dream have never tried to drop a kid off at Chase Middle School.

Most drivers pull over to the curb on the right, near the sidewalk. But some are impatient and pull over to the left. The middle “lane” is where you exit, after letting the kids dropped off on the left cross in front of you. Or not. Your choice.

Actually, getting into the middle lane can be an adventure, because some drivers let their kids out there, too. Then you have to watch out for the drivers who pass your idling car as they seek an opening to cross in front of you and dart to the curb. Plus, there are those drivers on the left who are also vying for the middle lane after they’ve deposited their kids.

Sure, some “nanny state” single-file solution could be brought to bear, but just think of all that personal freedom that would be lost.