Several of “the usual suspects,” including myself, spoke. There’s no doubt, though, that Eric Sterling stole the show. I have seen him speak 10+ times, and he is one of the best and most engaging public speakers I have ever been exposed to. Fortunately my camera was rolling:

Of course the (captial-R) Republican Party has been a miserable failure in representing (small-r) republican views in my lifetime, so I’m not sure why in this instance I expect anything more.

The problem is that in this instance, the statist / socialist perspective is fundamentally correct about one thing: The health care system of the United States is poorly designed for efficiency and efficacy as a system.

Imagine, if the current system were invented as a full system, the kind of conversation leading to its invention: “Let’s base health coverage around employment status – most of the people who are employed can have a product we’ll call “insurance” but that will really be a buffet-style hodgepodge of health services. We’ll have a whole slew of different plans and practices so as to avoid large-scale negotiation for the benefit of the consumer. People who are self-employed or not-employed will be kinda screwed, as will those who happen to be sick the day before they get a job – pre-existing conditions are a liability, you know. People who are young and destitute or people who are over a particular arbitrary age will be covered by a mix of their home state government and the federal government. All the while, no solid block of informed consumers will exist to challenge the status quo as a market force.”

Now I realize that’s an oversimplification, but my point is that, while pretty much everybody sees the need for a massive change to the health care system, only the statist / socialist perspective has risen up with a really great sounding alternative:

“Every single person will be required to pay into a collective hold, for which on their behalf a single entity will negotiate the best prices and practices. Each person then will be entitled to coverage with a fraction of a percent of the system’s resources leaving as overhead or profit.”

It’s not hard to understand how a person can find this alternative compelling!

Making it even more difficult to resist, proponents are able to point to many nation-states around the world where such systems are deployed effectively and to the delight of the citizenry.

Now, on the other hand, look at the narrative of reform offered by the anarchist / republican perspective. I don’t know of one. I can’t think of one! Instead, we merely point out the many (and scary) inevitable pitfalls of asking the most powerful military hegemon in history to take care of our health. We sound terribly academic and disconnected, and we offer no systemic perspective on what our ideal system will look like.

This is the problem.

Thus, henceforth, I’m suggesting that we stop or at least curtail all criticism of the current “reform” proposals. We take Obama (and the curious word “Obamacare”) out of our lexicon and out of our cross-hairs. Instead we relentlessly espouse our vision for taking care of people – all people – without the heavy hand of government.

I don’t know all the details, but just to get us started, it goes something like this:

We start by ending all criminal liability for the act of putting anything into one’s own body. We restore and strengthen the notion that, across the system, each person is the sole owner and operator of their own biological organism.

We restore and re-examine the role of plant-based medicines, making coca, poppy, hemp, and all other plants legal to cultivate.

We repeal those laws which create the artificial concept of “intellectual property,” at least as far as psychoactive compounds are concerned. We thus end government protection of pharmaceutical companies who inflate their prices by thousands of percent. Medicines of all kinds become affordable again, and lo and behold! More, rather than fewer, enterprising young scientists become interested in open source medicine.

We create a rich, comfortable, and easy-to-use wiki-like environment, in which people can list the symptoms of any malady from which they may be suffering. They can also list the remedies which have helped them in the past, and together, as a community, we can create a massive database of trends for all sorts of diseases.

In this online environment, people in similar biological conditions can talk to one another in a live environment and have occasional support meetings and form consumer support-and-wellness groups.

Practitioners of medicine, both conventional and alternative, can advertise their services and be hired as advisors by these support groups, being paid directly instead of through a convoluted coverage system. If, for example, they want to make $50 / hour, they can charge a 10-person group $10 each for a two-hour session, and answer all of their questions.

The concept of “insurance” can be re-introduced and distinguished from buffet-style comprehensive coverage. Most people will likely opt-out of insurance, realizing that the act of purchasing insurance is actually a bet that they will become sick or die sooner rather than later. On the other hand, some will purchase policies to cover unlikely catastrophic events. Such insurance will be very cheap.

People can once again choose for themselves which tests and procedures are important, and the incentive structure will be one of conservation, as they’ll have to pay for each one.

As overhead and systemic costs are reduced, people who currently find themselves spending outrageous amounts on “coverage” for themselves, their families, and their employees can instead invest in medical centers or charities in their communities which can care for people who truly need complicated and expensive procedures but can’t pay for them.

Support groups can also use their presence to help doctors help the poor. In the example above, if each participant pays $11 for the session, the doctor will have an extra $10. Assuming the doctor is willing to work for half price for charity, she needs to administer only five such sessions a week in order to administer a free one for people who cannot afford the $10 fee. Surgeons can work the same way, albeit on a larger scale, just as they did before government regulation got us into the mess we are in today.

Some doctors and other medical professionals will make long-lasting relationships and be able to charge a bit more money as they get older and more trusted. Some of them will make very good money practicing their art, and that’s OK. In fact, that’s great. Young people will again have a reason to follow their passion for caring about people instead of studying pharmaceutical patent law or insurance adjustment expediting.

Of course none of us has all the answers, but I think that most people have never stopped to think about what kind of alternative the republican / anarchist perspective has to offer in the health care debate. It’s time to change that.

Also, and perhaps most importantly, the open-source movement and the progress of technology make all of these ideas (and lots of even more innovate ideas!) not only possible, but inevitable. So it’s time for us to become optimistic and take some pride in our ability to help each other and keep each other well.

Now, without any legislative backing or public hearings, the New York State Health Commissioner has made an “emergency executive order” demanding that Jessica, her mother, and every other medical service professional to be vaccinated with both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines.  If they decline to allow this, they’ll lose their jobs.

Remember, these are not government employees.  They are private citizens who have worked hard to build a career around helping people be healthy.  They know better than anyone the risks of being, or declining to be, injected with swine flu vaccine.

A recent small protest on the steps of the New York State Capitol in Albany got a bit of news attention, with local TV coverage,

Later, a lawsuit filed got more coverage, and the decision of a New York State judge got even more coverage when he issued a restraining order against the State, preventing it from vaccinating people until a hearing is held.  The hearing is scheduled to begin October 30.

Many health care professionals have said they’ll be fired rather than allow themselves to be injected with the vaccine.  As with all flu vaccines, it’s quite risky.  In addition to the typical risks, though, the plaintiffs say that this vaccine was rushed to market hastily and has already caused more sickness than usual.

Does anybody have the relevant documents?  I’m looking for, but cannot find:

• The text of the mandate
• The brief filed by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and the response, if any, from the state
• The restraining order
• Any kind of press release from the State defending the mandate

I have started a facebook group.  Please invite!

Dear Republican Haters,

To quote your own diatribe, “Fuck you. No, I’m not joking. I’m sick of this bullshit.”

I’m sick of the way you have perpetuated the tired, childish, brain-dead notion that there are two and only two polar opposite ideologies in the politics of the USA and that every person must determine their position along the line that connects them.

I’m sick of the way you have pigeon-holed every person who is the least bit inspired by the Republican ideals of limited and enumerated government enshrined in our founding documents into a behemoth straw-man.  You pretend that every Republican favors war, torture, greed, prisons, homophobia, and environmental destruction.  This is the only way that you feel comfortable responding to our thoughts, because it allows you to feel self-righteous about your various causes.

I’m sick of the pretense that the worst parts of the United States Government, particularly 1) the propensity for worldwide military conquest, 2) the disastrous “war on drugs,” and 3) the regulatory structures that have enabled mega-corporate dominance over nearly every facet of human life, are the fault of Republicans.  Democrats, and the democrat philosophical tradition, are at least as much to blame for these evils, and it’s going to take a trans-spectrum collaborative effort to fix them.

I’m sick of the blind, zealotic fervor with which you embrace every policy that comes out of the mouth of the god-king Obama.  Like everybody else, he has some good ideas and some bad ideas.  I think it’s notable that most of his good ideas became taboo once he became President, while his bad ideas have been given front-burner status.

I’m sick of the outrageously and transparently partisan selectivity with which you pass moral judgment on the legitimate role of government.  When George W. Bush turned out to be a jackass and mass murderer, we turned on him (actually, many of us never supported him in the first place!) and joined your chorus of contempt for the bloating of the size of the federal government under his regime.  Now, when we point to the same exact tendencies under Obama, suddenly big government is OK with you.

I’m sick of the ludicrous yet omni-present claim that government is the only solution for providing quality health care for all.  I’m also sick of your comparisons to the health care systems of nations that are 1% the size of ours.  I’m sorry, but no government, much less one infested with decades-worth of pure evil from both parties, can provide health care for every person from the Atlantic to the Pacific and make it work well.

I’m sick of the myth that corporatism is our burden to bear.  Whose side are the big corporations on now?  The biggest, most fucking wretched pharma companies are falling over themselves to support your health care takeover.

I’m sick of the twisted, sadistic legal justifications given for torture and extraordinary rendition.  Yes, I’m talking about those coming directly from the Obama Administration.  Your so-called “anti-war candidate” has taken the art of making excuses for doing evil to an entirely new level.  On top of that, you have the unmitigated gall to refer to this stuff as “centrism!”

I’m particularly sick of you blaming us for the war on drugs.  While some Republicans have said some stupid things about drugs (particularly Nixon and Reagan), none have ever done even a fraction of the damage that your previous messiah, Bill Clinton, did.  He was, by any reasonable empirical measure, the worst drug warrior in the history of the world. Your abhorrently self-styled “first black President” put more people in prison – and in a more racially disparate fashion – than any other leader ever, anywhere.  So yeah, fuck you on that one.

I’m sick of you holding up the worst fringe lunatics of the Republican party and pretending that they represent the mainstream.  Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter are not mainstream Republicans.  They are media-whoring nutjobs.  For once, try responding to our real thinkers like Peter Schiff, Radley Balko, Ron Paul, Jacob Sullum, Ayn Rand, Adam Kokesh, or really just about any everyday Republican you meet on the street.

I’m sick of you pretending that the media favors Republican ideas.  I mean this is really just outrageous.  Look at the idiotic characters the media puts up to represent our corner!  In media-speak, anyone who is paranoid, deranged, and misinformed is a Republican.   Never are thoughtful, open-minded Republicans given an opportunity to participate in the dialogue.  But then, the job of the media is to maintain the notion that everybody belongs on the one-dimensional political spectrum.  Simple.  They make you look stupid and they make us look stupid.  They certainly do not win us any friends, so stop pretending they are in our pocket.

I’m sick of your refusal to talk about spying, wiretapping, and surveillance of US citizens, which your top dogs support enthusiastically.

I’m sick of you pinning of every fear-driven prejudice, from racial bigotry to homophobia to xenophobia and beyond, to some kind of byproduct of Republican ideals.  Just so we’re clear about our respective political traditions:  We always wanted to free the slaves.  You resisted.  We had to go to fucking war against you to get you to admit that slavery is, well, wrong.  We wanted open borders and a welcome environment for immigrants.  You insisted on a federal minimum wage and controls on the economy that make immigration a far more complicated issue than it needs to be.  We never wanted government to be involved in marriage at all, and now you are upset because government marriage led to bigoted regulations on who can and cannot get married.  Imagine that.

Finally, I’m sick of you blaming us for the current state of affairs of our country.  You control both houses of congress and the white house, don’t you?  Or maybe you are finally realizing that no matter what fancy title and political affiliation a power-holder has, he or she will nearly always act in a way that preserves their power, to the exclusion of doing the good for good’s sake.  If you are so convinced that government is the solution, well, 70 million people just handed you the keys to the government.   Don’t whine to us because shit is going terribly wrong.

(Note to commenters: I realize that this post uses divisive language that I don’t usually use or condone.  However, I wanted to respond “in kind” to the original letter, using the same style and some of the same language, although I toned it down from a nearly constant stream of “fuck you” to only two uses of the phrase.  )

UPDATE – I thought of some more:

I’m sick of being made to feel like I’m not allowed to talk about or care about poor people.  Look, the government has done a bang up fucking job taking care of poor people right?  There are homeless in every major city – come to New York in the winter and ask a freezing homeless person if the expansion of the welfare state over the course of the past century has helped them.  There are over 2 million people in our prison system, most of whom, at least at the federal level, are there for non-violent offenses and most of whom are poor.  And then there’s the biggest elephant in the room: the federal reserve system, which you constantly pretend is a non-issue, fucks poor people really really hard.  So yeah, from now on, you don’t get to be the party of compassion.

I’m sick of hearing about “the Government’s lack of response to Hurricane Katrina” and other disasters.  Lack of a response?!  Oh, they responded.  They responded the way governments always do:  by shooting at poor fucking dying people trying to flee New Orleans.  More government was not the solution to this problem.  In fact, paramedics who were on the ground will tell you that the terror there would have been far less if the government had just stayed out and let charities saturate the area with food and fresh water.

I’m very, very sick of brain-sucking references to the status quo as the “free market.” As in the following exchange:

“I believe that the free market can create quality health care for everyone.”

“What, like we have right now?!”

No, not like we have right now.  There are so many laws, regulations, regulatory agencies, trade restrictions, and other bullshit that a person can spend their entire lives studying them and still not be sure if they are allowed to sell a fucking toothpick much less an innovative health care system.  When we advocate market solutions, please don’t say, “but it’s not working now!”  Of course it’s not working now, because your contorted efforts to make the market more safe have predictably resulted in it becoming less non free.

Update: Apparently YouTube deleted this video, along with most other C-SPAN videos of the house floor.  Where to go now for this content?

A google search for the phrase “Connecticut Governor” yields a drug-policy reform site as the #1 result, dropping her official website to #2.

What does this mean?

While Google doesn’t tell the public exactly how its pagerank system works, we know that it primarily assesses links.  It sees each link as a “vote” that the website being linked to is relevant to phrases near the link.

In this case, the phrase “Connecticut Governor” normally points to the official website for the office of the Connecticut Governor.  However, now, with all the attention on the movement to decriminalize cannabis in Connecticut, it seems that there are more and/or stronger links for the phrase “Connecticut Governor” to the website of the Drug Policy Alliance, one of the leading organizations advocating sensible drug policies in Connecticut and around the world.

A few years ago, a concerted effort, called a “Google Bomb,” was made to tie the phrase “miserable failure” to George W. Bush.  This event, on the other hand, seems to be entirely organic and incidental.

Was this intentional and targeted?

As far as I can tell, absolutely not. There is no evidence of efforts to actually game the pagerank system.  Instead, it just seems that many thousands of people saw fit to link to drug policy reform websites when writing about the Connecticut Government.

Why is this politically significant?

As a tech-activist, I often observe that certain types of trends formulate first on the web and later on the streets and in the statehouses.

In this case, I believe this to be the clearest indication yet that drug policy reform is not a second-rate issue or a “third rail,” but is actually the #1 domestic policy concern across a wide array of the American populous.

Check out this screen shot:

A photo snapped today by Micah Daigle at the dispensary in San Francisco.

BREAKING:   I have just received a report from Micah Daigle, Associate Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, that he is watching a DEA raid unfold.  This was sent on SSDP’s mailing list:

SSDPers,

Looks like Obama’s pledge to end the raids on medical marijuana
dispensaries was a lie. (Or the DEA is being insubordinate.)

I’m currently standing outside a dispensary in San Francisco that is
being raided by the DEA. There are already a couple dozen protesters
gathered chanting “DEA to away!”

More updates to come…

The Obama Administration recently pledged not to interfere with medical cannabis dispensaries in states where their operation is congruent with state law, as is the case in California.  As always, I’ll keep you posted.

UPDATE 8:42PM:

(from Micah, on the scene)

The DEA still hasn’t come out of the dispensary. They brought in a
sledgehammer and a crowbar, so it look like this is yet another no-
arrest “smash and grab.” In other words, a robbery.

All the local media is here.

From what I understand, this dispensary was operating in compliance
with state law.

I’ll be uploading lots of video tonight.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A local CBS affiliate is apparently first out of the gate with this coverage, including a video.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Another witness to the scene contacted me and sent me this video: