Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin...

...was on CNBC this morning talking about, among other things, health care reform. He seems like a very reasonable, intelligent man and is probably the future of the Republican Party. At one point he outlined his own plan for health care reform, which was not surprisingly free market-oriented. And it was actually a good, workable plan. The only problem is that it takes a Democratic plan to get the Republicans to put forth a plan of their own. And if the Republicans ever retook Congress you can be sure that Ryan's plan would never be heard from again. And that is because at the end of the day, the Republicans don't want health care reform. They are most interested in protecting the status quo. No less than John McCain himself once said that health care reform will never happen as long as the Republican Party is owned by the private insurance companies.