Up & Coming Weekly

22 UCW OCTOBER 21-27, 2009 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM You probably won't find an adult more Disney-friendly than I am. I've got most of the Disney animated classics in my library. I have most of the sheet music for the Disney musicals on my piano. Although I'm not a fan of crowds, I enjoyed my visit to Disney World — and would happily send my boys again and again as long as someone else braves the lines so I can stay home and watch The Incredibles. So I mean no disrespect when I say this. Left-wingers in America ought to shed their "liberal" and "progressive" names and give themselves a more ac- curate label: imagineers. They need a new label. I'm delighted that the Left has decided to stop (mis)using the term "liberal" to describe their big-government philosophy. I'd like to rehabilitate the term so that limited-government folks can reclaim it as the proper term for our philosophy of liberty. As for "progressive," the label has two defects. First, expanding the size, scope and cost of government is hardly a recipe for progress of any kind. Second, the voting public doesn't appear to like it much better than they do "liberal." It still sounds condescending. It is condescending. Now consider the virtues of the term "imagineer." It associates the cause with a popular cultural institution. And it more accurately reflects what the modern Left believes. The Right believes that human progress is possible but only if policymakers first accept the reality of human nature. The Left believes that reality can be rewritten — imagineered, if you will — simply by passing a law. There's a good example in the current healthcare debate. One of the key legislative goals of the Democrats in Congress is to forbid health insurers from charging different premiums to men and women who are otherwise similar in age and background. "I think that equal premiums for equal coverage is what we're looking for under healthcare reform," Sen. Kay Hagan said recently. There is a difference. A Blue Cross comprehensive policy with a $2,500 deductible costs a 38-year-old Durham man $182 a month. For a Durham woman of the same age, the cost jumps to $269. The price differential is simi- lar among other insurers. Now, when the Left hears such a thing, the inevitable response is legisla- tion. There ought to be a law! But when the Right hears such a thing, the in- evitable response is, first, investigation. Why do men and women pay different premiums? Do they always? Is there a rational basis? Insurance premiums aren't just pulled out of thin air on a whim. They re- flect expected costs. The reality is that young and middle-aged women tend to consume more care and thus make greater claims on their insurers than their male counterparts do. However, by their 50s men start costing more than women to insure — and their premiums are, correspondingly, higher. Legislation can't just make inconvenient facts magically disappear. If women make greater medical claims than men but can't legally be charged more, then government will have made health insurance artificially cheap for women and artificially expensive for men. In the latter case, fewer men on the margin — those who are relatively young and healthy — will bother to buy health insurance if given a choice. That's why the bills moving in Congress don't just raise premiums on those young men but also force them to buy in- surance. In other words, the bills guarantee them a raw deal. The Left engages in wishful thinking all the time. Leftist legislators raised the minimum wage — the cost of hiring relatively young, relatively unskilled workers — and then denied the obvious reality that fewer of these workers would be employed as a result. Now, youth unemployment is skyrocketing. In education, transportation, the environment, and so many other areas, they as- sume that their good intentions will lead to good results. They assume wrongly. Like one of Mickey Mouse's most memorable roles, they play with forces they don't understand and can't control. They should call themselves "imagineers." That will allow free-marketeers to describe ourselves, accurately, as the liberal progressives. Imagineering a Political Label by JOHN HOOD NOVEMBER 12, 2009 CAMPBELLTON LANDING GATES OPEN AT 6:30PM CONCERT STARTS AT 8:00PM TICKETS*: $25 IN ADVANCE $30 AT THE DOOR TICKETS AVAILABLE: ONLINE AT WWW.CAPEFEARBG.ORG LOCKS CREEK RESTAURANT CAPE FEAR BOTANICAL GARDEN *INCLUDES MEAL AND SHOW ALTERNATE MEAL WILL BE PROVIDED FOR THOSE WITH SEAFOOD ALLERGIES CONCERT AND SHRIMP BOIL 888$"1&'&"3#(03(t Rhythm Benefiting Cape Fear Botanical Garden BLUE DOGS IN CONCERT FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER HEALY WHOLESALE HEDGECOE DENTISTRY JIM'S PAWN SHOP VALLEY AUTO WORLD BMW/VW SPONSORED BY John Hood, Columnist. COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com

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