Editor's Desk: Choice and Freedom

Sherrie Gosset
Winter 2011 issue -- When you are in need of surgery or medical treatment, who should decide what type of hospital you use? You? Or politi­cians and interest groups? Your health, pocketbook, and life may be at stake in such a decision.

Understandably, you want to be the one to make that decision, and you can, if you have the freedom to choose. In this issue, investigative reporter David Hogberg gives us a disturbing and in-depth look at certain key provisions of ObamaCare, provisions which will “all but guarantee that no new physician-owned specialty hospitals will be built.” As David explains, “The new restrictions all but end a major source of innovation in the health care system.” Hogberg traveled to several states and conducted extensive research for this report, which includes two “behind-the-scenes” accounts: one at a physician-owned spe­cialty hospital, where we marvel at the clockwork precision and planned professionalism of every detail; and one at a general hospital, with its vexing lack of accountability and misaligned incentives. This is a report you’ll want to read several times and share with friends.In this issues's theme section, "Radical!", Will Thomas com­pares and contrasts radicalism and normality, and leads us to understand what radicalism is and why it's the right way to ad­dress the world's problems. Alexander Cohen uses the example of the Declaration of Independence to reveal how radicalism and conservatism interlock. And in "The Challenge of Remaining Radical in Power," Brad Doucet surveys the career and missteps of Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper. A spe­cial thanks to Will for creating and editing this theme section.

Writer Sarah Perry traveled to New York City to bring us the intriguing story of Daptone Re­cords. In an era of digital audio gloss and shallow performance and personalities, two seasoned R&B sidemen are burning it up with Daptone Records, a label which produces vintage soul, funk, boogaloo, and gospel. First they found some of the finest unsung musicians around—who brought sizzling backbeats, fatback grooves, and deep soul. Then they recorded it all in a ramshackle Brooklyn row house, using old school audio gear (yes, lots of glowing vacuum tubes) and then, pressed the results into vinyl—yep, vinyl—for that sound that just can’t be obtained any other way. One of their show­case groups is Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (currently on my iPod). Music behemoth Sony once told Sharon that she was too black, too fat, too short, and too old. Her huge fan base begs to disagree, as they pack venues across the world to take in her powerful and moving perfor­mances.

As you make your plans for 2012, is a similar lie holding sway over you? That you’re too young, too old, too skinny, too fat, uneducated, overeducated . . . to do what you really want? Replace the lie with the truth—it’s your choice and your freedom. Then watch a new reality be created by you—before your very eyes.

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