David Frum on Conservatives' stake in health care reform

David Frum on Conservatives’ stake in health care reform

David Frum on Bill Moyers Journal

DAVID FRUM: They’re going to pass something. So the question for Republicans is what do you want that to be? You have an interest here, too. You would like to see the rise in health care costs slow. And you would like to see more room in the federal budget for tax cuts in the future. There are some mistakes in the way that President Obama has presented his case that have made him vulnerable.

You know, he’s made it very clear why his health care reform will be good for the federal budget. He’s not made it so clear why it would be good for the typical person. That’s a point of vulnerability. But if the Republicans win, this is not going to be a great victory for individual liberty. It’s going to be a victory for the status quo. The people who are angriest in those town halls are people who have an excellent deal on Medicare who are determined to protect it.

You can’t blame them. People are very attached to what they have. But understand the message the political system will take if Obama is defeated is not let’s have a lot more free market individualism. The message the political system will take is never tamper with Medicare again unless it is to make it more generous. From a conservative point of view, from a Republican point of view, is that a good message?

BILL MOYERS:You mentioned the Bush tax cuts. You were in the White House at the time those were implemented. And they are due to lapse next year. Isn’t that lapse a good thing because we need more revenue to pay for the health care system that even you want to reform?
DAVID FRUM: I would like to see those tax cuts continued. Especially the tax cuts on capital gains and on dividends. Those are, I think, really important to the future growth of the American economy. And it is precisely in order to protect, the rising costs of health care have to be restrained. If health care costs continue to grow as they have been growing, there will never be another tax cut ever. And the level of taxation to the economy is bound to rise and rise and rise.

It’s a video that’s worth watching. Frum continues to come across as the sanest conservative on the block these days.