Philosophically speaking, kids deserve to die

State Children's Health Insurance Program is probably one of the best programs run by the government. For the price of a few F-22's about 6 million kids from low and middle (with rising premiums, this is the faster growing group in the program) income families get health insurance so they can go see the doctor, get medicine, etc.

However, in his infinite wisdom the President has decided he will stand tall and veto a bipartisan proposal to add another 3 million kids.

The president said he objects on philosophical grounds to a bipartisan
Senate proposal to boost the State Children's Health Insurance Program by $35
billion over five years. Bush has proposed $5 billion in increased funding
and has threatened to veto the Senate compromise and a more costly expansion
being contemplated in the House.

"I support the initial intent of the program," Bush said in an
interview with The Washington Post after a factory tour and a discussion on
health care with small-business owners in Landover. "My concern is that when you
expand eligibility . . . you're really beginning to open up an avenue for people
to switch from private insurance to the government."

Leaving aside the rife inaccuracies in his characterization of the program, it comes down to him being afraid of forcing private insurance to compete with the government. That's right folks, the President is philosophically opposed to Americans being able to choose for themselves.

It would be almost farcical if it weren't so tragic. Seriously, conservatives (of which I include myself) are supposed to believe that the private sector is superior to the government, not the other way around.

And for those concerned about the budget impact I submit that a) the whole thing would be paid for by increasing the federal tax on cigarettes by 61 cents, and b) The program costs half of what we are spending on a completely useless missile defense program that no one is excited about.