Politics of SCHIP not entirely obvious

A USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday suggests that the SCHIP veto may not be the public relations victory that advocates of socialized medicine and the president’s political rivals were hoping for.

While the poll showed greater confidence in Democrats than in President Bush to deal with health care as an issue, other aspects of the poll bode well for those of us who continue to believe in liberty and limited government, not to mention the right to choose our own doctors and treatments free from the dead hand of government (pun intended):

Quoting from the USA Today article:

• 52% agree with Bush that most benefits should go to children in families earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level — about $41,000 for a family of four. Only 40% say benefits should go to families earning up to $62,000, as the bill written by Democrats and some Republicans would allow.

• 55% are very or somewhat concerned that the program would create an incentive for families to drop private insurance. Bush and Republican opponents have called that a step toward government-run health care.

While supporters of HillaryCare might make arguments that those who oppose the massive expansion of SCHIP “hate children”, it seems likely (and I hope it’s true) that American voters are smarter than Pelosi and friends give us credit for. However, we should not take that for granted. From the president to pro-free-market organizations like FreedomWorks to us simple bloggers, the case for freedom (in this case freedom for people and their doctors not to take orders from Big Nanny government) must be made intelligently and effectively as the case won’t make itself despite how “right” it seems to us.

For those who believe in the importance of liberty in general or keeping the Democrats from becoming your doctor’s boss in particular, make it a point to say so to at least one other person…and encourage them to do the same. At least as importantly, for anyone who lives in a Republican district, contact your Congressman and urge him or her to sustain the veto of the single biggest step toward socialism which this country has seen proposed in a generation.