Former Colorado Senator Gary Hart criticized Bush’s
economic and military policies while advocating a more extensive
healthcare system Tuesday night at the Anderson School at UCLA,
engaging in a discussion about the economy with Merli Baroudi and
Anderson Forecast Director Edward Leamer.
The event was hosted by the Los Angeles chapter of
Anderson’s alumni association and sponsored by The Economist
magazine. It was made possible in part by the efforts of
Hart’s son John, an alumnus of the Anderson School’s
Fully Employed MBA program.
Hart, who was senator of Colorado between 1975 and 1987, and ran
for the Democratic nomination in the presidential elections of 1984
and 1988, is considering another run for his party’s
nomination in 2004. Baroudi works as director of country risk
services for the Economist Intelligence Unit, which works with The
Economist magazine in assessing business operating risks across 60
countries.
Throughout the program, Hart emphasized the importance of
national security, defining post-Cold War era security as an entity
inclusive of a secure economy, environment and community, in
addition to the protection from violence.
Putting special emphasis on the idea of healthy children, Hart
suggested a system of health care that would provide for all
children, as well as universal access to “the best education
in the world.”
“Children are the message that a civilized society sends
to a future it will never know … and this country is wealthy
enough to invest in its future,” Hart said.
Much of the discussion focused on health care. Noting that the
United States already spends a large portion of its gross national
product on healthcare but does not have a system that provides for
all of its citizens, Baroudi suggested a universal system of health
care.
“I think many societies have made fairly successful
attempts, throughout Western Europe and our neighboring
Canada,” Baroudi said. “If we look at these solutions
we can learn quite a bit.”
The three also tackled the tax cuts implemented by the current
Bush administration. Hart, an outspoken critic, said the cuts
effectively reduced funds needed to finance construction of
highways and other public projects that belong to the people.
Leamer added that the administration’s tactics reflect a
“fantasy” ““ more specifically, the politics of
abundance and the reality of scarcity. He said the tax cuts were
made based on the assumption of an abundance of money in the
future, when in reality, the opposite is true.
“You cannot have a tax cut without a spending cut,”
Leamer said. “The current government spending has to be
financed in some way. If you finance it by borrowing, the next
generation’s going to pay it later on. It’s
irresponsible.”
Also a critic of the current administration’s push for a
war with Iraq, Hart linked the possible war with the
administration’s energy policies.
“Energy policy today is to depend on foreign oil and if it
gets cut off send our sons and daughters to fight for that
oil,” Hart said. “I think that it is an immoral energy
policy and it must be replaced, and it can be.”
Baroudi, who has lived in London for over a decade, said many
believe the United States has an ulterior motive in the war, and it
would be very difficult to get world opinion to be in support of
the United States.
Eleanor Brewer, who graduated from the Anderson School at UCLA
in 1986, said she attended the event to learn more about
Hart’s perspectives and to hear Leamer speak.
“Ed Leamer is always wonderful to hear from, and he always
tells it like it is,” Brewer said. “If anybody’s
under an illusion, Leamer will get rid of it.”
Marina Zona, another Anderson alumna who was in attendance, said
that as a foreigner, she wanted to gain a better understanding of
the United States and American politics.
“I think it was completely satisfying,” Zona
said.