Joe Rago of the WSJ died this week at the age of 34. He had won a Pulitzer Prize.
Here is an excerpt from his article on the ACA just before it was passed, "The Obamacare Crossroads," March 20, 2010:
Here is an excerpt from his article on the ACA just before it was passed, "The Obamacare Crossroads," March 20, 2010:
Democrats are on the cusp of a profound and historic mistake,
comparable in our view to the Smoot-Hawley tariff and FDR's National
Industrial Recovery Act. Everyone is preoccupied now with the politics,
but ultimately at stake on Sunday is the kind of country America will
be. . . .
In our world of infinite wants but finite resources, there are only
two ways to allocate any good or service: either through prices and the
choices of millions of individuals, or through central government
planning and political discretion. This choice is inexorable. Stripped
of its romantic illusions, ObamaCare is really about who commands the
country's medical resources. . . .
A self-governing democracy can of course decide that it wants to become this kind of super-welfare state. But if the year-long debate over ObamaCare has proven anything, it is that Americans want no such thing. . . . The ugliness of the bill, and of its passage, means that some or all of it might be repealable, but far better not to make the tragic mistake in the first place.
A self-governing democracy can of course decide that it wants to become this kind of super-welfare state. But if the year-long debate over ObamaCare has proven anything, it is that Americans want no such thing. . . . The ugliness of the bill, and of its passage, means that some or all of it might be repealable, but far better not to make the tragic mistake in the first place.
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