Social Point Network
If you're looking for the Social Point Network, the social television experience available on Time Warner Cable, you're in the right place. This is the home of social TV. You may have noticed some changes to the SPN website. There's much more than just television content. Winston Edmondson, the founder of the Social Point Network, took some time off to run for mayor of Lewisville, Texas. While campaigning, he discovered that there was a real need for community based online social networking tools. Now that he's back, we'll be looking at ways we can help address that problem. Please be patient while we get everything back up and running.
Health Care Reform Now!
I'm encouraged by the debate this county is having about health care. Although it may not seem like it at first glance, I believe that both sides are actually pretty close to one another. We can come together, I believe, at the various town hall meetings and protests with a joint rallying cry. "Health Care Reform, Now!"

Who among us believes that our health care system is in perfect order? Is anybody pleased that so many people can't afford health care? We all want the same thing. We want to pay a fair price for health care, we want our health care services to be top notch quality and readily available, and we don't ever want to be unfairly denied.

The health of our loved ones is something we all want to safeguard. We don't know when sickness will strike, so the urgency we feel in wanting to get our system fixed is understandable. It's important, however, to look at the big picture. We must ensure that we're making the decisions that will result in a long term fix that we, and future generations, will be satisfied with. It would be a mistake to buy in to any politicians claims of a health care magical elixir.

"Let's let the government take over health care." That's an option that is on the table. It's an option that has considerable popularity. When politicians offer to fix your problems for you, it's very tempting to go along with it. I'm urging you to resist that temptation, and here's why.

The Federal Government has no credibility in this area.
They're terrible at running things. The Fed is consistently low on quality and efficiency. The Pentagon works pretty well. We're good at waging war and protecting ourselves. Other than that, we have a dismal track record.
Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare are in big trouble: (read about it)
Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, two financial disasters: (read about it)
They can't seem to get it right. From Farm Subsidies to the tax payer owned Congressional restaurants that consistently lose money, the Fed fails time and time again. Why would we want to put health care in their hands? The common answer is, "Because, like it or not, we need them to fix the broken health care system." Don't be so sure. Who do you think broke the system, anyway?

Government is not the solution to our problems. Government IS the problem.
Why is health care so expensive? Government. Not Republicans, not Democrats, not Liberals or Conservatives. Government, period. If the Government would get out of the way, we could really put affordable health care on a fast track.

Do you think that there might be some doctors out there that would be willing to take regular monthly or annual payments from individuals or families in exchange for full coverage? Certainly, there are. Do you think any hospitals exist that would be willing to do the same thing? Indeed, there are. Why couldn't local solutions like that work to drive down some of the health care prices? Why aren't they doing this? Government. The Government's bloated, red tape, is wrapped tightly around the insurance industry, preventing this solution from happening. If a doctor or hospital were to do this, they would technically be an "insurance company". Government insurance company regulations won't allow that to happen. Rules, regulations, red tape, preferential treatment, overly restrictive patent laws...these are only some of the government obstacles that hinder true competition.

When we assume that this is the natural state of things, we're playing into the hands of the government. All the common sense solutions that the market would come up with naturally if allowed to compete are stopped by government road blocks. I'm pretty impressed with my new HTC Touch Pro mobile phone, and my HP Tablet PC. The innovation that you see when walking down the aisle at Best Buy isn't exclusive to electronics. It's the best of our ingenuity that is brought out by the free market. Strip away the red tape, and our ingenuity will work wonders in the health care industry, too.

We need health care reform right now. When politicians learn to check their egos at the door and get government out of the way, we'll be able to benefit from the reform that exists within us all that just needs to be unleashed.