Republican Stolle Steals a Tea Party Page

Dr. Chris Stolle offers many simplistic solutions to complex problems. He finds comfort relying on mantras to answer issues for which he has no philosophical or experiential foundation. Here Stolle ignores both historical and economic reality when he provides this non-answer to the healthcare conundrum. You'd assume he supports "free markets."

Stolle, who is running against Delegate Joe Bouchard (D-83rd-Virginia Beach), prescribes the very steps that led to the development of the health care system in place in Canada today. But no doubt he would never embrace that outcome and is unaware of the facts. Such is the problem faced when you rely upon popular and familiar panaceas. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. In a group with shared misconceptions, it usually brings you acceptance and admiring embrace. But in the light of day it demonstrates a superficial reaction to the visceral emotion generated when confronted with a problem with which you are unfamiliar. Stolle may be able to deliver a baby blindfolded and underwater, but the complex reality that provides operating rooms and the financing to pay for them is beyond his grasp.

For Dr. Stolle's edification: Canada's healthcare system evolved from a system exactly as he proposes. The Canadian federal government handed actual execution of healthcare coverage to the provinces. Each province was responsible for providing a healthcare safety net. Each province was and still is a single payer for its residents. The coverage is not truly portable. You change residence, you change your single payer. The coverage is not the same across the provinces. It grew into the behemoth it is today because the unintended consequences were never considered at conception nor dealt with along the way.

This is complicated with only 10 provinces. Imagine 50 states and a variety of territories and protectorates that reflect a much more complex history and set of relationships. Just think about Puerto Rico alone. Remember that, to a large extent, her residents do not pay Federal taxes. Ken Cuccinelli would spend almost every waking moment figuring out ways to employ the 10th amendment to recoup costs of healthcare from other states, territories, protectorates and the Federal government when their residents relied on Virginia facilities for care.

My own poor experience in Canada taints my attitude toward that healthcare system. But that is not the only out of kilter institution there and reflects the culture, resourcefulness, and history of Canada and Canadians, not ours. That is one reason why so many Canadians, like Edison, came to the United States to achieve their potential. I have no doubt we can do better and should strive to prove just that. But I digress.

Chris Stolle has spent his campaign laying out a litany of deceptive solutions and charges against his opponent. That is what you do when you have nothing of substance to offer. And the proposal he offers for the healthcare debate is as insufficient for the argument as is his potential as a legislator. It would be humorous if it weren't so tragic that the constituency might be drawn in by this pied piper of poor patient care. It would be interesting to hear him reconcile his "free market" solutions mantra with the anti-trust exemption for the health insurance industry. But there may be more embarrassment than this for Stolle before this campaign is done.

Cross posted at VBDems - Blogging our way to Democratic wins in Virginia Beach!