Last week the San Diego Union Tribune published a debate, on whether the government should require people to buy health insurance. I am the author of the "con" position. The debate will likely appear in several more newspapers across the country over the next week or so.

I submitted my draft of the article several weeks ago. An author for the "pro" position had not yet been determined. I suggested a few Democrats' names who have supported mandating people buy health insurance. So you can imagine my surprise when I was told that a pro author had been found . . . my longtime friend Bob Moffit of the conservative Heritage Foundation.

While having two conservatives take the opposite side of an issue makes the debate more interesting, it also makes it a little awkward. Almost no other conservative policy group supports an individual mandate; indeed, most are actively opposing it.

But the fact that the well-respected Heritage Foundation does support it aids and abets our opponents -- to the point that I am beginning to wonder if the organization's name is "Even the Heritage Foundation." That's because when I hear some state legislators, both Republican and Democratic, expound on their massive new plans to get the government involved in the health care system, they often justify their schemes by concluding, "Even the Heritage Foundation . .