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| | Email this article • Print this article | Rob Crowe
My father-in-law is a Democrat.
I don’t recall ever asking Paul point-blank, but the back bumper of his Century 2000 sports a green Wellstone sticker … still.
He is one of the neatest guys I know.
He and Alvera, my mother-in-law, are devoted to each other and their family.
They raised four children of which my wife is the oldest.
I am very grateful for their decision to be parents.
A lifelong educator, Paul never gets away from it.
He will give the grandkids a lesson in ping-pong at the very least each visit, infrequent though they are.
Retired now from being a principal, he still substitute teaches, and regales us with the latest experiences when we visit.
I think we agree on many things about education.
I feel comfortable discussing ideas about education with him, he is a great resource.
He loves to play piano, seldom does he pass the piano without sitting down and playing something.
Many of our visits to them revolve around my involvement with Republican politics.
They live in Cambridge, and if there is a convention or meeting to attend, we will travel to Cambridge the night before, stay overnight before and after if possible.
Grandma is usually willing to baby-sit if circumstances permit.
While we don’t generally discuss politics per se, on occasion I will give them a blow-by-blow account of a political floor fight or other event that occurred.
Either they are interested or very polite, in either case I give them lots of credit.
This Wednesday after the election, I don’t know which household is rejoicing or which household is grieving, or if the race is unresolved.
I do not expect it to affect our relationship.
In the 15 years that we’ve been a family, each scenario has happened and I don't recall any side gloating or pouting when we are together.
We are a family and although each of us feel strongly about politics, it hasn't affected our feelings about each other.
I pray that never changes.
Finnish Strand
It was an interesting column by Dave Strand about his experiences in Finland.
I’m glad he had a good experience with the private health care system.
On the other hand, a trip to Grand Rapids to talk with some UPM employees will garner a totally different perspective about how many hours of work a year the Finnish expect and on how gentle and civilized they are.
Dave does make an interesting point about the new Medicare prescription drug benefit.
One would think that the ability to bargain with the pharmaceuticals would be important.
On the other hand, price controls rarely work to the benefit of all, Hillary’s meddling with the vaccine business in the form of price controls and no liability protection is recognized by some as the cause of the current shortage as seen from this excerpt from the Wall Street Journal:
“The reason for today’s shortage – as well as seven previous preventive vaccine shortages since 2000 – is that there are just five vaccine makers.
This lack of suppliers is partly thanks to Hillary Clinton, who as first lady turned government into the majority buyer of vaccines and pushed prices so low as to make business unsustainable.”
And from Robert Goldberg, the director of the Manhattan Institute's Center for Medical Progress, “The current mismatch of immediate demand and available supply can be blamed on the federal Vaccines For Children Program ...
which buys up nearly 70 percent of all childhood vaccines at government-set prices, then distributes them to states according to a federally set formula ...
Vaccine prices have remained stagnant since 1994, while new regulations and lawsuits have driven up the cost of producing old vaccines and developing new ones.”
Credibility is important to me.
I like to see a balance in discussions about prescription drugs, not a wholesale vilification of the drug companies, which both Strand and Kerry engage in when they constantly complain about drug company profits.
Since Strand says he worked in this industry, I find this puzzling and sad.
Kerry’s engagement in this came at a cost, New Jersey (home of several of the pharmaceuticals) is trending toward Bush as I write this column.
The employees are very concerned about the effect a Kerry administration would have on their children.
I don't know if New Jersey will end up in Bush’s column, but Kerry should have had it easily.
Also, Strand’s comments about “corporate welfare” are presented as fact and were unsupported.
This erodes his credibility.
I am an asthmatic.
I’m not an expert on drugs, but I use several to maintain a somewhat normal lifestyle.
I use primarily four different drugs to do this: Albuterol, Serevent, Flovent and Singulair.
All are prescribed by my doctor.
I’m not certain of what it would cost to use these at the maximum level and full price, but it would probably be in the neighborhood of $250 per month.
I have a Medica policy that brings the out of pocket expense to about $50.
I could get worked up about the cost of these drugs, but I know what happens if I have a full blown asthma attack.
In that case, whatever I would pay is cheap.
The companies who produce my asthma drugs provide a great service to me for a price.
They need to continue to be profitable, otherwise we are looking at the same situation as with the flu vaccines – unreliable supply and borderline quality.
That is also the reason, I believe, that it would be dangerous for the government to set drug prices by demanding huge discounts when providing the Medicare Drug benefit.
Yes, look at getting a break on prices but also realize that the worst thing that can happen is to pay too little.
Rob Crowe chairs the Aitkin County Republicans and raises kids and cows on a farm near Hill City.
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