Tropes of Wrath: Virtue, Markets, and the Family

The left lost the culture war on a sunny winter day in 1994-at least that's as good a day as any to mark the defeat. Donna Shalala, the secretary of Health and Human Services, met the press to explain the Clinton administration's progressive centerpiece, an ambitious universal health insurance plan. First question: "I have good health insurance, why should I pay more for someone else?" Oh, explained Shalala with the Democrats' cheerful B-School logic, thanks to our new efficiencies there is already (almost) enough money in the system to cover everyone. The administration offered the nation economic self-interest, technical wonkery, and a smidgen from the pork barrel. They did not serve the free lunch with moral arguments or family values.