Where Federal, State and Local Taxes Go (via Power Line)
THE SNOW CHILD by Eowyn Ivey (by HachetteBookGroup)
"The true conservative knows that the economic problem blends into the political problem, and the political problem into the ethical problem, and the ethical problem into the religious problem."
"Possibly the greatest irony in American political culture is that conservatism — even today — is stigmatized as oppressive to minorities when, in fact, it is literally our only road ahead. We already have equality under the law. Only contemporary conservatism — which simply wants fairness by individuals rather than by groups — offers us the chance for true dignity, for freedom from both bigotry and paternalism."
"The truth is that most of the dysfunctions in our health-care system are the result of gravely flawed federal policies, and so long as those policies remain in place, no amount of experimentation by state governments can create a transparent, efficient, or patient-centered system. Federal policy strongly encourages third-party provision of health insurance, and penalizes its purchase by individuals, in two ways: It subsidizes employer-provided coverage through the tax code; and it grants states the authority to establish regulatory fiefdoms over individually purchased insurance, thus preventing the emergence of a national market. Thanks to these policies, individuals rarely own their insurance policies and rarely even know their true cost; nor do they often know the costs of medical services, or have much incentive to choose lower-cost options. Thus, costs spiral out of control."
"In other words, contemporary liberalism offers religious groups a choice. They can try to serve the widest possible population, in which case a liberal administration will set rules that force them to violate their conscience. Or they can serve a narrower one, in which case liberal journalists will sneer at them (and their most generous benefactors) for only caring about their co-religionists."
— Ross Douthat, Religious Giving and Its Critics
