The Rod Martin Report: May 15, 2015
You can read about the world anywhere. You read The Rod Martin Report to understand it.
by Rod D. Martin
May 15, 2015
Dear Friend,
The Rod Martin Report has never been intended as a run-of-the-mill newsletter; rather, it is a personal letter, to the many of you who are close to us, do business with us, are involved with us in someway, or just happen to have crossed our paths and cared. We are grateful to each of you for being part of our lives.
You may have seen National Journal's piece last month entitled "Conservative Leaders Plan Two Secret Meetings Aimed at Picking a 2016 Candidate." If not, you should take time to read it. We are currently at the first of these two meetings (see the picture above: our little Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Supper Club had dinner together last night).
I have to say, I am extremely impressed with the men and women we've heard so far. Republicans have the strongest field of my lifetime this year. Most will present a genuine conservative reform agenda, and will push Congress not just to get America working again, but to restore the vision of the Founders and lead us into a 21st Century we can be proud to be a part of.
These are not the bad old days of Ford, Dole and McCain. Moreover, however frustrating our Congressional leadership may be, there's a lot of new, better blood on the Hill too. The right President would have a lot more to work with than any of his post-war GOP predecessors.
All that said, if we're going to beat Hillary, Putin and Fauxcahontas, we're going to have to get a lot more serious than we were in 2008 or 2012. Paying attention to this might help. Sadly, the Republican establishment never has, and it has cost all of us dearly.
By the way, did you miss my Daily Caller op-ed a few weeks ago, "Jeb and Hillary: the Two-Edged Sword of Inevitability"? It's worth a read, especially if you're not as familiar with the inside baseball stuff.
Last Saturday, I had the honor of giving the commencement address at Hannibal LaGrange University, one of America's best Christian liberal arts schools, nestled on the banks of the Mississippi in Mark Twain's home town. I talked about the future: the golden age coming thanks to technology and innovation, and the various ways we might blow it by allowing the culture to succumb to a gilded barbarism. We'll get you a copy of the video very soon: in the meantime, you can stay tuned at RodMartin.org.
Speaking of speaking, Tuesday I had the honor of keynoting the Yunus (as in Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner who sparked the microcredit revolution) Global Summit on Health. This was the inaugural year, and it was just an outstanding event, with top leaders from around the world speaking and collaborating on the most important issues facing health care, with a particular focus on innovation, technology and education.
I principally addressed three things: (1) the need to stop taxing the money people save or spend for health care, (2) how best to streamline the drug development process to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, so as to implement (3) what my friend Jim Pinkerton calls the "Cure Strategy": focusing on cures rather than costs.
A cost-based approach starves research in favor of maintenance, because CBO accountants (and politicians in both parties) imagine (to the degree that they are capable of imagination) that research is open-ended with no payoff. But how much has the U.S. health care system spent on polio in the last 60 years?
If you want to bring health care costs down, there are six or seven very simple things you can do, that no Democrat and too few Republicans are willing to do, but that would make an extraordinary difference almost overnight. But that's only half the battle. The real goal should be extending human life expectancy, something we are doing daily but can reasonably expect to see explode in the next 40 years, possibly to as much as 150 (and by the way, I am part of a group of leading researchers and Silicon Valley leaders aiming to do exactly that).
Cost-cutting is for bean counters. We should be making lives longer, better and more productive. We should be pushing back the effects of the Curse wherever and whenever we can. As Jim says, "the cure is cheaper than the care." The goal is better too.
Yesterday was the Lewis and Clark anniversary, about which I wrote briefly on RodMartin.org. I also wrote something you might find useful regarding innovation and the rule of law.
A few weeks ago, I was profiled along with some colleagues in Investors Business Daily. IBD said I brought "bench strength" to a particular NASDAQ-listed company. Nice.
One last thing before I head to a dinner for which I'm already late. Today is the blessed birthday of Number One Daughter (pictured here on the right, with her sister and mommy). It's hard to express how proud she makes us (of course, her baby sister does too, as H. M. Willow continues its expansion across the fruited plain. Their brother isn't too shabby either). I miss her a lot this weekend: she and her dear husband Jerry are the only ones missing, and it's her birthday! Oh no! Any proud papa would understand.
Happy birthday sweet Dolly. (Oh, and also Happy Birthday to Dani DeLay Garcia: we love you!) And to all the rest of you, thank you again, for your friendship and your various kindnesses toward us.
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You can read about the world anywhere. You read The Rod Martin Report to understand it. Do your friends a favor and pass it along; and remember, there’s a lot more we publish each week that doesn’t make the newsletter.
For Freedom,
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