Behold the People’s Glorious Five Year Plan

I wonder, when Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts proposes a five-year plan for healthcare reform, followed by Projo columnist Charles Bakst writing approvingly of it…

It was a pleasure to hear Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts deliver a thoughtful speech Tuesday calling for a program of compulsory, affordable health insurance for Rhode Islanders….
“Where is the vision? Rather than whittling away at our safety net and trimming at the edges of the personnel budget, we should be thinking about the long-term role of government”, [asked Lt. Governor Roberts]….
She pledged to work to bring interested parties together to devise a five-year plan;
…is it the result of a lack any sense of historical irony, or of a sincere belief that government-created five-year plans are unquestionably the best way to do things, but have never properly been tried?

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brassband
brassband
16 years ago

Hey, don’t knock it, it’s completely consistent with Comrade Rodham-Clinton’s “Great Leap Forward.”

Will
Will
16 years ago

“Compulsory” … “long-term role of government” … “five-year plan” — all truly glorious terms — so much for us having a free society. Those five-year plans worked so well for the Soviets and Cubans, we should definitely try it in the People’s Republic of Rhode Island, right? Just what will our imperious leader Madame Roberts think of next? Of course, I’m sure she has a fantastic way of paying for it that won’t cost the prols anything, just those big, greedy, impersonal corporations, right? God help us all.
PS I’ve never taken to check, but does Madame Roberts happen to wear Mao-style coats and pant suits? 🙂

Ragin' Rhode Islander
Ragin' Rhode Islander
16 years ago

Gee, I wonder if she chose 5 because if one picks that right start date then a “5 year plan” – and its 5 year successors – will never complete during an election year when one could be blamed for the failure to achieve the stated goals?
Nah …

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