The anti-Arnold runs for governor

Former Congressman Tom Campbell, who won praise this week from the stuffy George Will, is running for governor of California.

Libertarian-leaning (and unashamed), the economics professor who studied under Milton Friedman faces long odds at getting the nomination, much less winning in November 2010. But he has remarkable insight — "don't just do something, stand there" — when it comes to economics.

As Mr. Will wrote, "Colorful he is not." And among his opponents he counts the extremely colorful Jerry Brown and rainbow-tinted Gavin Newsom. But he seems to know his stuff.

Dear HUAC: I'm guilty

Whilst Reps. Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi call names, their union thugs (Pelosi might describe this as a "grassroots movement") stomp and kick normal people.

Upset at America's angry reaction to their attempts at a hostile takeover of the health care industry, Mr. Hoyer and Mrs. Pelosi today co-authored an op-ed piece arguing: "Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American." They ought to remember that town-hall meetings take place so a Congressman can listen to his constituents, not the other way around. And they ought to recognize that enthusiastic rejection of the left's lies is not the same thing "drowning out the facts."

Pelosi, Hoyer, et al swear up and down that "if you like your current plan, you can keep it." They don't mention the adjective "qualified" that appears more than 100 times (usually in front of the words "plan," or "provider") in the House's bill. When they say you can keep your plan if you like it, they mean you can keep your plan if they like it.

Lots of folks have read that, among other things, in the House bill. Most Americans are opposed to such nonsense, so they're saying so.

In response, congressmen are shouting at their constituents. And the senior leadership -- Pelosi and Hoyer -- have formed a brand new, two-person House Un-American Activities Committee, which has ruled all opponents are in violation.

As of this writing, the merry pair has yet to comment on the violent physical attack against Kenneth Gladney by uniformed members of the Service Employees International Union. The attack sent him (at least temporarily) into a wheelchair.

It makes one wonder if either new-HUAC member would recognize un-American activity if it showed up in a SEIU T-shirt, slammed them to the ground and started pounding. Drowning out opposing views is un-American? How about grabbing the opponent and flinging him to the pavement?

E-mail this blog to flag@whitehouse.gov

Suppose President Bush had asked citizens to inform him of every anti-war comment made "in casual conversation." He might have been impeached. He probably would have deserved it.

I understand that President Obama and Co. do not (yet) intend to prosecute or persecute Americans just for disagreeing with him on health care reform. Yet it is extremely creepy that the president of the United States has asked Americans to rat out one another, to e-mail his hotline so that he can keep track of the viewpoints opposed to his.

This behavior from the federal government is instructive in another way. It shows that Mr. Obama is being flooded by the issues he's taking on. We already have a destructive recession, a crippling federal deficit, rising anger between Americans of differing political persuasions, and six or eight international relations issues that might erupt into something very ugly in the next year. That's plenty for the plate of any one president (or three).

The current debate on national-level health care reform adds another, huge layer. It's one more reason for conservatives and libertarians to dislike and distrust liberals and statists and vice-versa. It's one more massive strain on the federal budget, and the federal budget really can't handle what it's already got. It's one more thing that is distracting intelligent people away from the war in Afghanistan (and, from everything I've read, we need every available intelligent person to contribute to that effort).

And it's one more thing that the president and his staff must spend political and intellectual effort on. Mr. Obama and his people are so busy with other things (other, legitimate federal concerns that are genuinely at crisis levels) that they can't keep track of this debate.

By their own admission, they're taking on too much.