This is my third attempt to write a new post about Obama’s Health Care proposal (fourth if you count a version that was unwritten, but composed inside of my own head). First, I wrote about hypocrisy, about how “what goes around comes around”, and how the recent town hall meeting outbursts have been a conservative spin on traditionally liberal protest-tactics. My second attempt drew a comparison between Democrats and Ostriches, arguing that ignoring the legitimacy of town hall participants’ rage was like shoving their head into the ground in response to a threat. But, neither of these felt right. Each approach too greatly confined the direction of my message, leaving too little room to address the myriad of issues that I have with the current discourse over health care.
So, this is more of a free wheeling vent session.
My problems with the health care debate are as follows:
Democrats have attacked town hall outbursts as being organized.
Of course they are organized! They’re unruly, contentious, defiant, and organized, organized, organized. But aren’t nearly all demonstrations organized? Protests against the Vietnam War were organized. The civil rights movement was organized. And the vast majority of the public demonstrations against former President George W Bush were, yes, organized.
Organization is not an impediment to democracy, it’s a symptom of it. Grass roots campaigns, either liberal or conservative, are a cornerstone of our political system. Just ask President Obama. He was just elected by one.
Opponents to health care are un-American.
This point is probably best addressed towards Nancy Pelosi: Shut up.
Disagreement and debate, much like organization and assembly, are also prominent elements of a democracy. Like eyes, a nose, and a mouth come together to form the human face, our disagreements and our discourse form a recognizable portrait of what America is supposed to represent. To call those who disagree with you un-American is, well, simply un-American. Or worse. It is despicable.
Obama’s “Death Panel”.
Democrats are not alone in distorting the debate over health care. The blame is shared by conservatives and Republicans who flood the marketplace of ideas and beliefs with false truths. Those who engage in fear mongering and who try to defeat legislation by creating fictitious claims of “death panels”, or by labeling their opponents as socialists and Nazis are doing a disservice to their own cause.
What’s the point? Obamacare is a horrendously constructed, over one thousand page piece of legislation that is scary enough without the assistance of false claims. The current proposals do NOT include any mention of death panels. But a government-provided health care WILL drive our deficit to unimaginable levels, force employees out of employer-provided health care, and create more bureaucracy in a society best described by Ronald Reagan when he argued that “Government is not the solution. Government is the problem.”
We can win the debate over healthcare on fair and honest terms. There is absolutely no need to mislead anybody.
The evolution of anger.
I see the town hall forums and the outbursts and I recognize them as a true expression of animosity and anger towards the entire package being presented. Anger towards costly and misguided healthcare reform. Spite towards a government that has not earned any trust. Resentment against government intrusion into the economy. Fear of a growing deficit that is unsustainable. I identify and agree with all of these concerns. But, I also recognize that there will come a time, and it is soon, that this anger has to evolve into something productive.
We can’t degrade and shout down elected officials forever. These groups need to recognize that healthcare reform, in some form and of some kind, is going to have to happen. Change, like it or not, is coming down the pipeline. There is a dialogue that is happening, and we must choose whether or not we want to participate in that dialogue. We need to promote real alternatives to what is currently being proposed, and we need to agree upon commonplace and commonsensical principles of reform to our established system.
Anger is important. Anger serves a purpose. But anger, like all things in our natural world, must evolve.
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