Reason.com
Rational Ignorance
Anne Applebaum writes that even those shouting loudest on both sides of the Medicare debate don't seem to know precisely what's in the bill. Why am I not surprised?
Most Popular Stories
- St. Louis Cops Worry That In-Car Cameras 'Are Being Used Against Them' (5.23)
- Here Are the 15 Senators Who Voted to Stop Armed FDA Agents From Conducting Warrantless Raids on America's Farmers (Not One of Them is a Democrat) (5.24)
- Reason "Hero of Freedom" Larry Flynt's Latest Stunt? Photoshopping a Penis into Mouth of Conservative Pundit S.E. Cupp (5.24)
- When Government Privileges Trump the Rights of Citizens (5.25)
- Plastic Bag Ban Will Put Los Angeles In Landfill (5.23)
Reason RUPE: Public Opinion Survey
- Reason-Rupe: Wisconsinites Favor Increasing Public Union Retirement Contributions to Address Budget Deficit (5.25)
- Reason-Rupe Poll Finds Support for Public Union Reforms (5.25)
- New Poll: Obama Leads Romney In Wisconsin, But Gary Johnson Could Impact the Race (5.24)
- Wisconsin Recall: Walker Leads Barrett 50-42 Among Likely Voters (5.24)
- Reason-Rupe Poll: Walker Leads Barrett 50-42, Obama Leads Romney 46-36 (5.24)
advertisements
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSSGet Reason E-mail Updates!
Manage your Reason e-mail list subscriptionsSite comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment or disable your ability to comment for any reason at any time.
|11.26.03 @ 3:21AM|#
The people who voted on the bill don't know what's in it, why should anyone else?
Maybe the rule should be that congresspeople have to pass a short quiz before they can vote on anything, but then we'd never have a quorum.
|11.26.03 @ 6:05AM|#
"...but then we'd never have a quorum."
Excellent!
|11.26.03 @ 10:41AM|#
Anne Applebaum, who writes mostly about foreign policy, has missed the point completely on this subject.
The point is that almost everyone involved in putting together the Medicare bill and the opposition to it sees it primarily in the context of the 2004 election. The administration is rejoicing in its triumph because the prescription drug benefit appears to "inoculate" President push against the traditional, potent Democratic charge that as a Republican President he is hostile to the popular Medicare program. Democrats are seething that Sen. Baucus and a few others allowed the Republicans to get away with this. The nuts and bolts of the bill are irrelevant except insofar as they impact on the coming campaign.
In the real world, of course, the nuts and bolts matter. They have political consequences too -- this bill will have consequences its supporters cannot have thought about too much, though probably not before 2004. But in the political world what is required to maintain some focus on what the new legislation would actually do is a group of politicians prepared to insist on it. At one point in our history that might have been the Senate, or at least a few in the Senate; at another, the administration's budget office. Who we have to play that role now I have no idea.