As Warren once saw herself as a Republican, I once identified with the Conservative Party of Canada.

For me, it was a question of fear of excessive government interference screwing things up. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” I would rail. It was also a matter of freedom. As long as you aren’t hurting anyone, let people live their lives.

Things changed dramatically for me in the early 2000s. Mostly over the issue of same-sex marriage. Conservatives expressly campaigned to deny the right to marry for same-sex couples. Why would they do this? Why would a Conservative party explicitly want to deny rights to an identifiable group?

For most of my life, I believed that conservatives wanted to expand fundamental individual rights. But they didn’t. They wanted to expand rights for some, but limit them for others, based on what they deemed to be moral reasons.

I also believed the conservative lie that liberals and socialists were the same. Socialists want to seize the means of production to bring about fairness and equity. The problem with this philosophy is that just because you believe that the free-market doesn’t exist, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Even in Soviet Russia, free-markets crept into areas of their economy because centralized planning proved to be too slow and cumbersome to adapt to change.

Liberals believe that the free-market is the best way to allocate scarce resources, except when it isn’t.

It’s the “when it isn’t” part that can lead to disagreement. Most people accept a socialist solution to provide military, police, and courts. It’s socialist in that it is a government-controlled monopoly. Most people wouldn’t accept a socialist solution for grocery or department stores. When it comes to buying consumer goods, why have a government-controlled monopoly when the free-market works perfectly well?

The crisis facing American’s these days is one of how to deliver health care.

It is clear to me that the free-market doesn’t work at all when it comes to delivering health care. It also seems clear to Elizabeth Warren that the free-market isn’t working either. The system of private insurance to pay privately run hospitals is way too expensive, and it leaves far too many Americans without health care coverage.

It is the proper role of government to solve problems that the free-market cannot. Healthcare in Canada isn’t free. We pay for it through our taxes. If the United States were to start paying for healthcare through their taxes, almost everyone’s taxes would go up. But you wouldn’t have to pay your health care premium or enormous deductibles and co-pays any more.

When I lived in the United States, I added up how much I paid for both taxes and health care when our family income was about $80,000. When we moved back to Canada, I added up everything again at the same income level. My taxes were indeed higher in Canada, but the amount I spent on health care was a mere fraction. I calculated that my family had about $5000 more each year to spend on other things, living in Canada.

That’s the reason why I’m a Liberal today. I want a government that will examine the data and tackle problems that the free market can’t solve. I want a government that will regulate a credit industry that manipulates the market to gain profits at the expense of consumers.

There can be honest disagreements between people of good conscience. How much government involvement is too much? Sometimes governments can try and tackle problems and only make the situation worse. The most important thing is, do like Elizabeth Warren and go back and examine the data. If the data conflicts with your opinions on an issue, then maybe you need to re-examine your opinion.

If I could have one wish for the New Year, I would ask the government of Justin Trudeau not to lower my taxes. Canada needs investments in health care and education. We need dedicated civil servants who are working to solve difficult problems to make all of our lives better.

I may be an outsider looking in, but I hope that Elizabeth Warren wins. America needs a President who uses facts to drive decisions and not the other way around.