Un-American Mobsters

That's what we're being called. Those of us who see Obama's socialist agenda for what it is and are vocal about our dissent are called a "manufactured mob" and "un-American". Of course, when the liberals did the same things and worse, they were exercising their patriotic duty, were all the result of grass-roots efforts and community organization. Hypocrites, the whole lot of them. Pelosi and Reid just keep digging the hole deeper. Pelosi has made it quite clear she doesn't care if she's the most disliked person in the country. Isn't it interesting that a person who is supposed to be representing the people seems bound and determined to do everything to represent herself and NOT the people?

Such is the way of elitist liberalism. Godless, self-righteous, and sincerely wrong.

Here's the thing, folks...we need to continue to be visible and vocal because it's working. Find out where town hall meetings are being held and show up. Bring your signs, bring your passion. Bring facts. Passionate discourse without information is a waste of energy and becomes counterproductive. Believe me, friends, there is plenty of information you can arm yourselves with to bring these elected officials to their knees. Get educated on techniques in logic. Most politicians have a rudimentary grasp of logical arguments and they'll trip most of the public up with disjointed factoids and half-truths, put together in what seems like an unbeatable argument. Arm yourselves with logical arguments.

I'm huge on analyzing processes and getting to root cause and, ultimately, countermeasures. What you're seeing here is not that. I promise you that Obama and the Democrats started with the end-game in mind, their "countermeasure": Universal health care provided by the government. Once they formulated their solution (and they have constantly morphed the exact wording to mitigate your fear or prejudice of it) they then set about task of going backwards through the process to arrive at a sort-of problem statement (which has also gone through some metamorphosis).

So, what is the real problem here? Is it that health care costs or too high? Or is it that not everyone has health care? You see, asking the right question can dramatically change your measurements of performance, performance targets, root cause analysis as to why there's a gap in performance, and the countermeasures that will solve the problem. Here's what I think the liberals think the problem is: We don't have universal health care that relies on the benevolence of the government. I honestly believe that's what they view as the problem.

Now, many of you may believe that the problem statement is, in fact, that not everyone has health care. But, what most of the media isn't letting you hear is the fact that a large percentage of our population simply don't want coverage. And their reasons vary, but usually it centers on the fact that they're healthy with no previous issues and they see it as an unnecessary expense (and it wouldn't matter how cheap). So, how is it that a good solution would be to force coverage onto the people who don't want it? The current versions of the plan do just that and they jack penalties on businesses and individuals who refuse. And if you do happen to have your own, it will likely get taxed as income (the value of your policy is perceived as a benefit).

On the other hand, many of you believe that the problem statement is that health care costs are too high and many who want some sort of coverage either can't afford it or simply can't access it. I happen to think this is closer to the real problem statement. So, using the 8-step problem solving model, what would come next?

Break it down and identify performance gaps. This is extremely difficult in the case of health care, and it's a crucial step that I can promise you the Democrats have done nothing about. Why? It's hugely data-intensive. When you say that health care costs are too high, you have to be able to qualitatively and quantitatively demonstrate it. What is "too high"? What is an acceptable cost? It depends, really. It depends on the type of care and procedures you're looking at. An important piece to all this that almost everyone is forgetting is that health care is a service and a collection of products -- both exist, ultimately, as a way to make money. Liberals only believe in capitalism in a limited form. If it interferes with what they perceive as your "right" to have it, then "someone" should have to make it or provide. This is wrong and it is evil. Our Constitution says you have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Note that there is no guarantee of said happiness. By the way, abortion deprives a person of the right to life.

But I digress. Data needs to be gathered that establishes a fair baseline of what "affordable health care" is. Does this take that form of Routine versus Catastrophic care? Does it take the form of Beginning Of Life, Maintenance, and End Of Life? Each has merit. Show me where the Democrats have done any of this. You can't because they haven't. But here's where we might start: those evil insurance companies. Are they doing right by us? Not always, I'm sure. But remember that they are also a capitalist effort, an "ongoing concern", as they say in the accounting biz, meant to make money. And, like all other insurance, gambles with odds and percentages to balance income against expenditures. But they have data. They have a pretty good idea what differenct kinds of care cost, whether routine or catastrophic, what kinds of care are typically called for at different life-stages. Getting this organized and charted can give us a starting point for what's more often than not needed.

Once you have this you can then analyze what people are actually paying for and at what point they stop being able to pay for it. These points will be the performance gaps. Next, you have to set your improvement targets---these are not solutions, but what you plan to improve. In the case of health care, these targets may be to increase people's ability to pay the costs or it may be to reduce the costs to the level people can continue to pay---or it may be a combination of the two. Again, the Democrats have done nothing about this.

The step to follow that is Root Cause Analysis. Given what our problem statement is and what our improvement targets are, what is stopping us from getting there? Why do costs generally escalate above what people can afford, or why do people stop being able to pay for it, assuming the costs are (or reach a state of being) reasonable? The kind of tools and results you come up with can be wildly different depending on what your performance gaps are. It's even more involved if both gaps are targeted. And I could, without being a medical professional or insurance expert, take you through a number of these and arrive at valid root causes that in no way involve the government or more taxes. I can promise you that.

So, once you've determined the real root causes for the performance gaps, you develop countermeasures. This is not a kitchen-sink approach. These are objective-based countermeasures. Objectives using the SMART model require them to be Specific to the root causes; Measurable, in that the outcomes can be quantified and/or qualified; Aligned to the context of the problem; Realistic, in that we actually have the capability, expertise, etc., to reach the outcome; Timed, in that you can say "by this time the outcome should be reached" or "by these milestones the outcome will be achieved".

Once you have your countermeasures, you need an action plan. Who will be responsible to work the objectives? THIS is where the government could have a role. They could be the "keeper of the gate", coordinating the entities (private business, organizations or, in some cases, governmental) that will execute the countermeasures.

Once all the objectives of the action plan are achieved, a period of time is used to measure the results and see if we achieved the performance targets and if, in fact, the problem statement was satisfied. If so, then the new processes are standardized and shared. Other countries--or even other industries--could share in the success and apply the lessons to their own situations.

The Democrats have done none of this, nor will they do it. Arm yourselves with information, attend these town hall meetings and ask them questions related to the above. Most likely they will stumble around them and give general answers that are non-answers.