© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com

What is the proper role of government? Many conservatives and libertarians find it hard to imagine anything proper that a government can do. Nevertheless, most people want the government to make sure that the roads are in good shape and we are safe from foreign attack.
In the middle of the last century, liberals lost faith in the ability of the government to represent their interests because of racial segregation and then the Vietnam War. During the Clinton era, however, liberals fell in love with the government. We conservatives, on the other hand, have always had a love-hate relationship with the government. Unfortunately, far too many of us have become so disgusted by the excesses and errors of politicians and government workers that we almost prefer anarchy.
The world has seen, however, what anarchy looks like. In Seattle, in Europe and anywhere elected international leaders meet, anarchists show what the world would look like without government. So what are we to do? It's simple.
We should not immediately reject an idea just because Democrats support it. We should not immediately support an idea just because Republicans support it. We should, always, ask what's best for the American people? Then we should do exactly what the answer to that question demands.
That is starting to happen in Washington, D.C. Just as Bill Clinton stole many Republicans' key issues, President Bush is starting to eat into the Democrats' issues. In the past two weeks, Republicans finally decided to support a modified Patient's Bill of Rights and are forcing Detroit to raise gasoline efficiency.
For a long time, Republicans opposed the Patient's Bill of Rights idea because they saw it as a hunting license for trial lawyers. However, those who have any experience in hospitals know that medicine is as much guesswork as it is science. Mistakes happen. People get old, parts stop working and, in the end, everyone dies anyway.
Our legal system should recognize the fallibility of doctors and not allow lawyers to act like sharks in the bait pool. Unfortunately, lawyers have convinced many that doctors are supposed to be gods who make no mistakes ­ and must be punished if they do.
One reason that health care is more expensive and not as good as it used to be is that many doctors order additional tests to protect them from litigation. I know that thousands of doctors no longer deliver babies because of fear of medical malpractice lawsuits. No one benefits from that but trial lawyers.
Now don't get me wrong. There are bad doctors out there and we should hammer them. However, the overwhelming majority of our doctors are committed to doing no harm. Our legal system too often abuses them.
What has always disturbed me about Republican opposition to the Patient's Bill of Rights idea was their desire to protect Health Maintenance Organizations from lawsuits. I can't tell you how often some clerk denied my medical claim after my doctors said that they authorized the treatment. I can't tell you how many hours I wasted tried to get HMOs to do their job right.
I'm so disgusted with HMOs that I refuse to use them. I pay higher insurance premiums for the right to stay as far away from these socialists' disasters as possible. To this day, I have never understood why Republicans wanted to protect HMOs from the rule of law.
Now, it looks as though a compromise bill might get through Congress that requires patients to exhaust all administrative appeals before they sue. That makes sense. Often, a clerk's mistake can be corrected without the expenditure of tens of thousands of dollars for lawyers. If the problem can't be solved internally, then let the lawyers have at it. I commend the president for getting the GOP off the side of the HMOs and onto the side of the consumers.
We can say the same thing about CAFE fuel standards. For two decades the GOP supported Detroit's bogus claim that making more fuel-efficient cars, trucks and SUVs was impossible. The Japanese, Koreans, Swedes and Germans, on the other hand, just made more efficient vehicles. This year, Republicans have come to their senses and accepted the need for greater fuel efficiency.
Making a Ford Explorer or a Chevy Suburban that gets 30 mph is more than possible. The technology has existed for years. All that Detroit has to do is install powerful hybrid engines. It is not a question of whether it can be done. It is only a question of the will to do it.
When President Bush was Governor of Texas, he was fond of saying that government should do as little as possible, but that what it should do it should do well. I would add that all governmental actions should meet the test that doctors have to meet ­ above all, do no harm.