Monday, April 09, 2007

My Favorite Conservative


Comes from south of the border. Well duh. It is none other than John McLaughlin. The master of the quick quip. Host of the McLaughlin Group on PBS. The original Hardball discussion group.

McLaughlin remains a consistent libertarian in the face of populist and demagogic conservatism. He understands that capitalism demands a social democratic infrastructure to survive while advocating for individual liberty. A classic liberal.

His predictions are usually right on when it comes to realpolitik. On a scale of 1-10, one being political oblivion of being on Fox, ten being 'metaphysical certitude', I give McLaughlin a ten.

Industrial Revolution III

Here's what George Halvorson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente, says, slightly redacted: Health care is in need of an industrial revolution. To reform health-care delivery, to improve its quality, to stabilize its costs, we must have access to data, reliable data, shared data. The only viable source of data is the computer. Patients' medical records need to be computerized. A well-connected, fully interoperable computerized system should be a major government goal, with appropriate funding to support it. For scale, we should think in terms of the Hill-Burton Act that gave us a national infrastructure of hospitals. The equivalent of that federal transformation, and others like it, must be undertaken now towards our health-care system. Medicare must step up to the plate to provide the funding that, over the course of the next half-decade, will completely wire U.S. health care. Health-care electronic connectivity is essential. Paper kills.

John McLaughlin
It is a central pillar. If you don

It is a central pillar. If you don't have the data, you cannot evolve public policy.

-John McLaughlin
't have the data, you cannot evolve public policy.



Also see:

Mr. Conservative


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