The Civil Rights Act barred private businesses such as hotels, bus companies, and restaurants from refusing to sell their products or services to customers on the basis of race. The ACA bars state-licensed health insurers from refusing to sell products to individuals on the basis of health status. … This basic reconceptualization of health insurance as a good whose availability is a matter of national public interest essentially frames health insurance the way the Civil Rights Act framed other business interests.

As a practicing pediatrician, I, too, feel the nobility and privilege of my profession, and count myself lucky every day that I am able to do what I do. But to denigrate lawyers and journalists as somehow less valuable to society is beneath us as a profession.

Science aside, I find it objectionable to single out low-income people for control by their government. Let’s not further insult the dignity of those who need food stamps in these difficult economic times by fighting the obesity battle on their backs.

Bottom line: If you want to avoid a government shutdown, or the “dysfunctional and failed republic” scenario, vote on November 2 for candidates who support health care reform.

The only thing highly developed countries can do in the face of cheap foreign labor is to play their ace card. Where these countries excel is with industries that are knowledge intensive – “capital-intensive advanced industries where knowledge counts for everything.” But we are unable to teach the skills required for those jobs as rapidly as the need for employment requires. Those skills constantly go out of date.