Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

United States Senator Bernie Sanders, who never met a socialist or a socialist plan he didn't like, calls the Republican Party "the party of do-nothingism." Does that make the Democrat Party "the party of do-somethingism"? There are two questions, not one: first, should we do something?; second, if so, what should we do? Sanders assumes, without argument, that we should do something. Sometimes it's prudent to do nothing. Not all Republicans advocate this, however, so, strictly speaking, Sanders's description of the Republican Party is false. Senator Tom Coburn (together with three other legislators) has proposed a health-care reform bill that would not get the government involved in health-care decisions. That doesn't sound like do-nothingism to me. It sounds like do-somethingism. Progressives would like to frame the debate as a choice between ObamaCare and nothing. Conservatives should reply as follows: first, that's not the choice we face; but second, if it were the choice we face, we should choose nothing (i.e., no health-care reform at all).