PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon, as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

First, let me confess that I did not watch either of the so-called Democrat Presidential Debates because, for one thing, they were not debates, but rather theater to decide who say something idiotic to grab the stage.

Second, after reading commentary on each of the two “debates,” I have one conclusion (and, from here on in this post, I will put quote marks around the word “debate” because of its inaccuracy):

The process focused on competing efforts to spend someone else’s money – yours and mine.

Free health care.

Free college.

Reparations for slavery.

Requiring a so-called “green economy” that would require re-building all structures in the U.S. according to some kind of new code.

I call this socialism, which has been espoused by more than just Senator Bernie Sanders. He had a lot contenders on the “debate” stage this week.

In the Wall Street Journal, one of my favorite columnists, Peggy Noonan, put it this way as she skewered the “debate” participants about their performance:

“Every day, Americans are told of the endless ways they are falling short. If we don’t show the ‘proper’ level of understanding according to a talking head, then we are surely racist. If we don’t embrace every sanitized PC talking point, then we must be heartless. If we have the audacity to speak our mind, then we are most definitely a bigot. These accusations are relentless.

“We are jabbed like a boxer with no gloves on to defend us. And we are fed up. We are tired of being told we aren’t good enough.”

So, many voters ran toward Trump in the last election and may head his direction in 2020, even as the Ds compete to turn the U.S. into a socialist country while they spend more of someone else’s money.

Now, to be sure, there are ills in capitalism, some of which we see every day when the private sector makes mistakes. But mistakes are not all that is done as businesses hire employees, sell or make stuff and participate in the process of earning their way to solvency.

Better, I say, than expecting more government hand-outs.

Through the “debates,” we got another strong indication of the government handout rationale. Not surprisingly, it dealt with health care.

Senator Bernie Sanders, competing again to be president, not only went on record in favor of socialized health care, he said his plan would require every American to enter a government health care abyss whether they wanted to enter or not…

No more private health care. Like your doctor or your hospital?  Sanders doesn’t care. He has a plan for you.

What does not need to happen on health care is more diatribes on the ills of health care from Sanders and his ilk on the far left. We need solid minds from all political spectrums to participate in a process to reform health care in this country.

What would that reform look like? Don’t know. That’s why we need a bi-partisan, collegial process to find out. So it would not be the Ds Medicare for All proposal. It would not be the Republicans saying just “no” at every turn.

It would be a process designed to meet in the middle. A great place to be. Imagine that.