Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote in 1932 that “a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” On Tuesday, citizens in left-leaning Oregon blew up the state’s progressive experiment of giving government health insurance to families making three times the poverty level. The Wall Street Journal editorializes:
Governor Kulongoski said the vote failed because the “tobacco industry bought the election,” and, sure enough, the New York Times ran an editorial today titled: “Big Tobacco Defeats Sick Kids.” If the Times editorial writers read their own op-ed page, they would learn that a cigarette tax is a regressive tax paid by “relatively poor, politically immobilized people.” Perhaps a much more progressive way to fund S-chip expansion would be through a $10 tax on every half-caf caramel macchiato. We know that the New York Times is fearless enough to speak truth to the power of Big Tobacco, but would the newspaper of record have enough courage to stand up to Venti Coffee?
