Turning the Tables

Gary J. Andres makes and interesting comparison between the republican's policy initiatives and Winston Churchill's turning the devastating battle field defeat at Dunkirk into a cry of national unity.
Is this a stretch?

with the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act in the last Congress and the Social Security reforms promised by President Bush this year, Republicans have an opportunity to create their own bona fides on these two explosive issues.
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Proposed Republican reforms also fit well thematically with other macro-societal and economic trends -- namely, replacing highly regulated, one-size-fits-all government programs with policies encouraging choice, competition and individual empowerment.

Notice the word competition, I have long thought competition would assist in sovling several problem, healthcare not the least of these… We are all aware that competition tends to decrease consumer cost while increasing satisfaction with the product - and this product can be services as well as "tangible" items.
I can further agree with the writers words of caution -

Yet Republicans need to also proceed with a blend of conviction and caution on both of these reforms because change is two-edged political cutlery.

Mr. Andres further observes -

Unfortunately for the Democrats, animus is not an alternative to Republican policy. As Majority Leader Tom DeLay suggested last week in a House floor speech, the Democrat's policy enterprise is bankrupt. "The party that was once an idealistic, forward-looking policy colossus (that advocated) the New Deal, the Marshall Plan, the Great Society, the space program and civil rights ... is hard pressed to find a single positive substantive idea.

Read the article here.