When Matt Miller Demagogues, Liberal Elites Listen

Matt Miller demagoging responsibly at the Royal Institute of London.

Last night I joined other liberal elites at the Royal Institute in London to hear Matt Miller talk about his book The Two Percent Solution, a subversive piece of literature if ever there was one.

The book claims if we were to spend just 2 percent of GDP-—2 cents of every dollar we earn—we could afford to cover the uninsured, hire better teachers for the poorest children, and basically fix our domestic problems.

I didn't have my calculator with me, so I couldn't do the maths, but hey, any plan that calls for covering all 45 million uninsured Americans sounds good to me right now. Here's another math question: How many states would it take to hold all 45 million if we decided to segregate them geographically? The answer, as Matt Miller provided by theatrically whipping out a cheat sheet, is 24:

Link: Matt Miller Online.

"The uninsured are equal to the combined populations of Oklahoma, Connecticut, Iowa, Mississippi, Kansas, Arkansas, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, West Virginia, Nebraska, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming."

Liberals are very smart, and this guy is no exception. There's no shortage of solutions among liberals—ever since the price of calculators came down, we've been cranking them out pretty regularly. The problem, of course, is selling them to the American people.

Yes, we've been told, when Americans hear the facts, they agree with us. Give them a pretend budget, and they slice and dice it in a way that would make any liberal proud. (These are actual people, I mean, not Econ 350 students.)

So why don't politicians get it?

Probably because they fear the certain death that would occur if they, say, advocated any cuts in the defense budget, much less the drastic cuts the average un-foxed American would advocate: "No cherries in your pie, Mr. DoD. Better shop at WalMart like the rest of us for your toilet seats."

But when politicians talk like this, the New York Times et al. take them to task. Tom Friedman, a supposed liberal, would be the first to accuse them of being soft on security, as would Peter Beinart of the pseudo-liberal New Republic.

Maybe Matt Miller would make better use of his time showing his colleagues Tom and Peter how his calculator works.

There was some grumbling among my fellow liberal elites, especially when Miller used the "C" word: Compromise. We've made all the compromises, someone complained, only to have them smeared on us like cream pie. Miller responded he wished to compromise from a position of strength, perhaps after we've won a landslide electoral victory on a platform of massive social change.

I write fiction too, and as an editor once told me, "Interesting plot, but the characters aren't plausible."

Is it just a matter of finding the right messenger? If so, the primary process we have now isn't the way to go about IDing the person who can convincingly argue for a solution that involves taking money out of one pocket to put it in another.

If the problem is bigger than that—if what we need to do is change attitudes, convince Americans those less fortunate are no less deserving than the Donald Trumps of the world, then one book is not enough.

Not even the Bible could do that, and it tried awfully hard.

This compassion gap, which Miller spent some time discussing, is at the heart of American domestic policy. Are we who we are due to luck or hard work, he asks, and again, the polls he cites—indicating Democrats and Independents both answer "luck," a basically liberal belief—simplify the harsher reality. Americans are collectively convinced they will win at Powerball tomorrow, and thus wipe away all their debts and forego any need for further savings. Luck, therefore, is heaped on those who deserve it, i.e., those who play the lottery.

I don't want to poo-poo what, at least in a soundbite, sounds like a perfectly reasonable solution. But my ears and eyes are wired differently from most Americans—I hear "tax cuts" and see children in need. My neighbor hears the same words and sees a new hi-def TV.

But I also know a lot of Americans who have no health insurance. Whose children attend sub-standard schools. Who work two jobs and still can't afford to retire at 65.

Who, as it turns out, don't vote.

The optimist in me wants to believe all they need is an honest politician to vote for, someone who'll stand up, speak the truth, give 'em hell—a taller Howard Dean maybe.

The pessimist in me, however, knows anyone can and will be Swift Boat-ed.

There was one glimmer of hope: As Miller pointed out, George Bush Senior had a plan to insure 30 million out of 35 million uninsured Americans, and Democrats turned it down, hoping to have a better hand when they won back the White House. Nixon also had a universal health care proposal that went nowhere once our Democratic forebears smelled blood.

Which leads me to believe, the only way we'll see universal health care in our life time is to bring Nixon back from the dead, and send Barbara Bush in as his running mate.

(Nixon would know how to handle those Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, trust me.)

Barring that, liberal elites like me and Matt Miller will continue to propose pie-in-the-sky solutions, whip out our cheat sheets, and, as he put it, "demagogue responsibly."

Comments

[egalia]

"Which leads me to believe, the only way we'll see universal health care in our life time is to bring Nixon back from the dead, and send Barbara Bush in as his running mate."

Or,we could all get off our collective butt and occupy the 50 state governors' offices until they wake up. That's what's happening here in Tennessee. This is Day #8 of the sit-in (that's days AND nights).

If the Guv of TN succeeds in his plan to cut hundreds of thousands from the state's expanded Medicaid plan, we'll likely need to make that 25 states.

[KathyF]

I haven't heard about that. I wish I could join you. I also wish the federal govt would be occupied--by enlightened liberals for a change.