You Can’t Have A Free Country When Govt Makes Choices For You

Editor’s note: This is the first of a series of articles written by former Sen. Jim DeMint. You can read the introduction, “How The GOP Can Stop Being The Do-Nothing Party And Offer America A Vision To Vote For” here.

In Milton Friedman’s classic book, Free to Choose, he describes the vision that accounts for America’s political and economic success:

“[W]e know of no society that has ever achieved prosperity and freedom unless voluntary exchange has been its dominant principle of organization.”

The true essence of freedom is when individuals can make their own choices about the things they value. And people have very different opinions about valuation. Free societies must respect the fact that people have very different views about what they want. By contrast, the notion that everyone should have the same things is a core principle of socialism.

Liberty flourishes when millions of people are free to choose between hundreds of products and services offered by many competitors. Unlimited choices are available when multiple providers compete to provide a wide variety of products and services at the best quality and value to meet the needs and wants of a diverse group of consumers. And when providers are forced to compete for customers, even greedy and unscrupulous people will work hard to give people what they want. This is not true for government services.

The outcomes of free markets are evident. We have seemingly infinite choices of grocery products, computers, cell phones, restaurants, retailers, and online supplies of virtually everything imaginable. The opposite is also evident when choices are limited by government or monopolies such as in education, health care, and energy.

Democrats insist most people cannot make good decisions about the education of their children or their health care. And they have falsely maintained that infrastructure-intensive services such as electricity or mass transit must be provided by the government or heavily regulated monopolies. Democrats have consistently promulgated the myth that free markets are unfair and discriminatory just because everyone doesn’t end up at the same destination with the same things.

The Democrat arguments were heard years ago about computers and telephone services. The average person was not capable of figuring out how to use a computer or a complicated cell phone. But as soon as personal computers and a variety of cell phones were available, people quickly figured them out. Today, even a 10-year-old can use a computer or cell phone — accessing dozens of apps and video games.

The lesson is clear: People will become experts about what matters to them when they are free to choose what they want.

The key to creating a free market system for essential services such as education and health care is assuring that consumers have access to the knowledge and financial means to make good choices. The good news is there is already more than enough information and money available for individuals to make their own education and health-care decisions. The problem is that this information and money is being diverted to third parties and away from individuals.

The opportunity to use our proven free-market system to fundamentally change our education and health-care systems in America has never been greater. Nearly two dozen states have created education savings accounts that allow public school money provided by the state to go into accounts for individual students. Unfortunately, federal education dollars are still directed to the schools rather than students.

More school choices are improving education for children and, as the number of education shoppers increases, so does the number of better education alternatives. Creating shoppers out of parents has increased the number, variety, and quality of available schools. And increased competition encourages public schools to improve. Unfortunately, because the public school teachers unions are one of the most powerful political forces in America (and virtually all their campaign contributions go to Democrats), the expansion of school choice has been slow and restricted. Thankfully, many states are overcoming Democrat obstruction.

The same market forces that are improving education will create better health-care choices if we give consumers more control of health-care dollars. Health savings accounts have been in place for years, but Democrats have limited the ability of HSAs to lower health insurance costs and create lower-cost health-care options.

HSAs could become accounts where individuals, employers, Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ health-care plans deposit money for people to buy their own health insurance and pay for doctors’ visits, prescriptions, and other health care directly. If the money individuals and employers now spend on health insurance went into individual HSAs, these accounts could easily accumulate over $10,000 a year. If this money is allowed to roll over year after year, most Americans would have plenty of money to buy low-cost, high-deductible insurance plans and pay for most of their healthcare with their HSA credit card.

Individuals could own insurance plans that are not attached to their jobs. These plans could follow them from job to job throughout their lives and when they retire, Medicare could make deposits to their HSAs so they could keep their private insurance plans.

Education savings accounts and health savings accounts are common-sense solutions for two of America’s most difficult public policy issues, but Democrats will continue to vigorously fight them because their party benefits politically from public employee unions that control public education and much of health care. And Democrats consistently use these issues to frighten and manipulate voters.

America needs more informed citizens who are free to choose, and more courageous politicians who will fight to give them more choices.