Latest Edition also includes Q&A interview with Respected Political Scientist Larry Sabato

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Ripon Forum focuses on health care in its latest edition, looking at, among other topics, the efforts being pushed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and other Republican Governors around the country to strengthen health care in their respective states.

“States have been called the laboratories of our democracy, said former Minnesota Congressman Bill Frenzel, the Chairman Emeritus of the Ripon Society and Chairman of the Ripon Forum’s Editorial Board.  “They’re places where policy experiments are carried out.  If the experiment is successful, the lessons are often applied nationwide.

“When California voters approved a ballot initiative known as Proposition 13 in the late 1970s, for example, they were not only voting for a Constitutional Amendment that limited property taxes in the state, they were also setting the stage for the tax cuts Ronald Reagan enacted nationwide a few years later.

“Similarly, when Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson signed into law a bill that reformed his state’s welfare system in the early 1990s, he was not only enacting a piece of legislation that required people to work in order to receive a government check, he was also setting the stage for similar reforms that would be approved for the rest of the country later in the decade.

“In this edition of The Ripon Forum, we look at another policy experiment being carried out in the states.  In this case, though, there is not just one experiment underway – there are many.   Across the Nation, Governors and State Legislatures are exploring ideas and pushing policy proposals intended to address what polls indicate is one of the top domestic concerns of the American people – health care.

“We anchor our coverage with the experiment being pursued in California, where the State Legislature is meeting in Special Session to consider the health care reform plan being pushed by Governor Schwarzenegger.  We take a look at this plan – the good and the bad.  We also look at what other Republican Governors are doing to strengthen health care in their states, and also consider an important question in all this – is reform even needed?

“This edition of the Forum also includes an article about the Medicare Prescription Drug program by Gail Wilensky, who headed up Medicare in the first Bush Administration and offers her expert assessment of how well the plan is working nearly four years after its enactment.

“We are also very pleased to feature a Q&A with University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato, who discusses his new book on ‘A More Perfect Constitution.’”

A complete list of authors and topics featured in the October/November edition of The Ripon Forum is below:

• Dr. Larry Sabato – discussing his latest book, “A More Perfect Constitution.”
• Gail Wilensky – assessing the performance of Medicare Prescription drug law four years after it was enacted.
• David Hebert – writing about the challenges facing the United States when it comes to providing long term health care for our Nation’s senior citizens.
• David John – discussing entitlement reform, which he calls the “800 pound gorilla that’s being ignored in the 2008 presidential campaign.”
• Kim Belshe’ – writing about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s health care reform plan in California.
• Mary Voris – providing a snapshot of some other initiatives being pushed by Republican Governors to strengthen health care in their respective states.
• Diana Ernst – providing a critical assessment of the Schwarzenegger reform plan.
• Michael Tanner – offering a reality check on the U.S. health care system and whether it needs to be reformed.
• Mary Brazelton – writing about how the legacy of government control is weighing down China’s health care system.
• Olympia Snowe – writing about the SCHIP program and why she believes the program should be expanded.
• Dave Camp – writing about the SCHIP program and why he believes expanding the program would increase government control over health care without improving the quality of care for our kids.

In addition to the above articles, the latest edition of The Ripon Forum also contains a profile of Illinois Republican Judy Biggert.

The Ripon Forum is a journal of political thought and opinion that was first published in 1965 and is now published bimonthly by the Ripon Society.  The Ripon Society is a public policy organization that was founded in 1962 and takes its name from the town where the Republican Party was born in 1854 — Ripon, Wisconsin.

One of the main goals of the Ripon Society is to promote the ideas and principles that have made the GOP — and America — great.  These ideas include keeping our nation secure, keeping taxes low and having a federal government that is smaller, smarter and more accountable to the people.

For more information on the Ripon Society and to view the August/September edition of The Ripon Forum, please visit https://riponsociety.org.