A Real Conservative Sounds Off on Health Care

by Jim Washburn

Now that American conservatives have had plenty of time to froth at the mouth over our health care reform bill, it's time to hear from a serious conservative:

"Welcome to the club of states who don't turn their back on the sick and poor."

That was French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking at Columbia University today, quoted by the AP. He continued, "When we look at the American debate on reforming health care, it's difficult to believe. The very fact that there should have been such a violent debate simply on the fact that the poorest of Americans should not be left out on the streets without a cent to look after them, it is something astonishing to us. If you come to France and something happens to you, you won't be asked for your credit card before you're rushed to the hospital."

Ah, but he's French, Joe Semi-Auto might say. But Sarkozy is typical of conservative leaders around the globe, for whom universal health care is an accepted, welcomed tenant of modern civilization, as embraced by parties on the right as Medicare now is by the American conservatives who, of course, vehemently opposed it when it was being passed.

We're still a long, long ways from the compassionate, effective medical systems other nations have created, yet even the modest, industry-appeasing gains in the current bill are now going to be fought tooth and nail in the courts and in the electoral money pit.

Oh, for the days of Bill Buckley and Barry Goldwater. I suspect they both would have opposed the health care bill-though both took some surprisingly bold positions in their day-but they would have done it in a principled, reasoned way, not running around like a bunch of goobers biting off chicken heads; not like these idiots likening Obama to Stalin because he promoted modest health reforms that pale beside what Ronald Reagan's soul-mate Margaret Thatcher administered three decades ago.

Hey, here's another way foreign conservatives aren't crazy: Sarkozy also used his speech to stress that America needs to pass some meaningful financial regulations so that we don't drag the world to the brink of financial ruin quite so often. He also said, "The world needs an open America, a generous America, an America that shows the way, an America that listens." Silly French person.

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