Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday is tomorrow. Being an Illinoisan, I feel slightly less useless on Super Tuesday's primaries than I do on national election days.

The debate on health care plans, noted in Paul Krugman's article "Clinton, Obama, Insurance" as "the principal policy division between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama," is somewhat silly. Insurance plans have very little to do with a President's job. As we all know, laws are supposed to be made by Congress. Even with a President's ability to push legislation, it is doubtful (especially with the congress we have now) that any candidate's agenda will get passed. Rather, it will be stalled into non-existence or compromised into unimportance (Krugman notes this as well).

Reading Krugman's article, I wondered if we could try making more useful debate during our presidential elections. Perhaps we could spend time asking candidates questions about, well, presidential things. What would they do if America was attacked again (especially in light of our troop commitment in Iraq)? What type of cabinet would they head? And so on.

Then, I realized that, while the details of these health care plans are not important in the voter's decision making process, the plans clearly indicate each candidate's political world view. Through their plans, candidates give voters an idea of how much of a socialist each they are, and how much of our lives they would want to control.