Friday, September 11, 2009

Hsieh TOS Article: "How the Freedom to Contract Protects Insurability"

The forthcoming Fall 2009 issue of The Objective Standard will include my latest article, "How the Freedom to Contract Protects Insurability".

Editor Craig Biddle summarizes the theme as follows:
...[C]ontrary to proposals being put forth by Republicans, a genuinely free market in health insurance is not only moral, in that it respects the rights of producers and consumers, but also practical, in that it enables businessmen to solve problems for profit -- which leads to more and better products and services at lower prices for consumers.
As Diana has noted in her blog, the Republicans are crawling all over themselves to "me-too" the Democrats on this issue of pre-existing conditions, rather than offering principled opposition.

John Lewis makes a similar point in his article, "Obama's Atomic Bomb: The Ideological Clarity of the Democratic Agenda", also appearing in the Fall 2009 issue:
...The protests and the polls are clear: Americans have, by and large, rejected the radical leftist agenda. But the issue is not yet closed. The Democrats have one last resource -- one secret weapon -- with which they can save their plans while avoiding political suicide in the next election. That weapon is the Republicans.

If the Republicans compromise -- if they accept federally-mandated health insurance in the guise of a "co-op" or the like, or a cap-and-trade bill that is marginally less draconian than the Democratic version -- they will have once again capitulated to their opponents, abandoned liberty, and ruined the opportunity to redirect this nation toward its founding moral principle: individual rights, protected under a constitution in a free republic.
As a result of the current political crisis, Craig has graciously chosen to make my article available for free to subscribers and non-subscribers alike.

So if you are inclined, please feel free to forward the article link to friends, family, colleagues, and/or elected officials:

"How the Freedom to Contract Protects Insurability"

And if you're not already a subscriber to The Objective Standard, give it a look!

(For more information, see "What Is TOS?")