In the dining room, speaking to the table
By
The summer doldrums are here, so please forgive that I was away in cooler climes these past two weeks, hence missed much of what passes for civic discourse.
The main topic this month, of course, is the raging debate over health care reform. President Obama’s proposal includes offering a public/government option as an alternative to the high-cost insurance plans offered by the giant insurance firms in the private sector. That issue alone, according to an NBC poll this week, is now opposed by a plurality of Americans – 47% – while support now stands at 43 percent.
But the issue has got caught up in the right wing screed over “socialized medicine.†While the issue certainly is over finding ways to control the runaway costs of health care and provide insurance for the 45 million Americans who are uninsured, the president’s opponents are having success in subverting the debate. Red herrings like health care for illegal immigrants, public funding of abortions, even the euthanising of our elderly population – all proven factually wrong – are being introduced by the opposition in an attempt to scare the citizenry.
In the last two weeks, the following incidents occurred:
– In Portsmouth, NH, a 62-year-old man was arrested at a high school on the morning of an Obama town hall meeting set for that afternoon. The man carried a knife in his pocket, and police found an unlicensed loaded pistol in his car.
– In Arizona last week, a man walked around a pro-health care reform rally “with a pistol on his hip, and an AR-15 (a semi-automatic assault rifle) on a strap over his shoulder,†a Phoenix newspaper reported. When asked why he was armed, he said, “Because I can do it. In Arizona, I still have some freedoms.†A CNN report added that another man was prowling around the rally carrying an assault rifle.
This week, during Congressman Barney Frank’s town hall forum in his district, a woman held a photo of the president, adorned with a Hitler-like black mustache on his lip. She said to Frank, “Why are you supporting this Nazi policy?†The congressman replied, “On what planet do you spend most of your time?†He called her approach “vile, contemptible nonsense,†and added, “Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table.â€
To his credit, Frank acknowledged the woman’s First Amendment right to express her view, odious as it may have seen to others. When some shouted “liar†at the congressman, the AP reports, “Frank said at one point in response to the verbal attacks, ‘Do you really think that advances your argument? I mean, I thought you were thoughtful people here to have a conversation.’â€
In truth, on this issue there really has been very little “conversation.†Civil discourse has been reduced to uncivil diatribes, and the divisions in America are revealed in stark terms.
There is a fault line that runs through America, one that divides our people into two distinct sets of views. It was evident in the Bush/Gore 50-50 split of 2000, and the Swift Boat polemics that defined the Bush/Kerry 2004 contest. Even the Obama win over John McCain ten months ago was close, albeit the Democrats won by a larger margin than the earlier GOP wins.
Note, too, that the healthcare debate plays out in the midst of the current economic woes, and many of our fellow citizens continue to struggle. It is not a happy time in America.
Most agree with the need to reform health care costs, and now that the nation has come this far down the road, there can be no turning back. Demagoguery for the sake of a political win is contemptible, and the hate-mongers need to be recognized for what they are.
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Your reference to abortion funding in the health care bill as red herring that's been proved false is wide of the mark. I sent the Reporter a letter last week to the contrary, but I guess the Reporter doesn't have a letters column. Perhaps the account pasted below might persuade you to look into the matter a little more closely. My hope is that perhaps Representative Lynch might join the 39 Democrats referred to by Bart Stupak o fMichigan. Best regards.
Time's Michael Scherer did some good reporting this week on abortion coverage in the proposed health-care bills: The Commander in Chief has, of late, become something of a fact checker in chief. In town halls, interviews and meetings with interest groups, President Barack Obama repeatedly harps on what he calls the "myths" and "fabrications" about health-care reform. The President routinely mentions the issue of abortion. "You've heard that this is all going to mean government funding of abortion," Obama said recently in a call to religious leaders. "Not true."
But this last statement... does not tell the whole story. The health-care reform proposed by House Democrats, if enacted, would in fact mark a significant change in the Federal Government's role in the financing of abortions. "It would be a dramatic shift," says Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat who has vowed to oppose the bill because of how it would affect abortion. Stupak says dozens of House Democrats may join him in opposing a final health-care compromise unless the abortion language is changed, presenting a clear challenge to Democratic vote counters that could imperil a party-line vote. [...] "We are going to do everything we can to stop the rule, or the bill, from coming to the floor," [Democratic Congressman Bart] Stupak says, adding that as many as 39 Democratic members of Congress may join him in the effort. It remains unclear how the Senate will deal with the abortion issue. There is also no consensus within the Democratic Party about whether a public option should be included in final health-care-reform legislation. In the meantime, Stupak says that Obama's statements during recent public events signal one of two things: either he does not fully understand the current House bill, which Stupak maintains has the effect of publicly funding abortion, or "if he is aware of it, and he is making these statements, then he is misleading people."
FactCheck.org called out the president's misleading statements.
A ignosco est tribuo... A pardon granted Mr. Forry. I'm sure many of us who did stay and drained the electrical grid would have sought the same.
"Demagoguery for the sake of a political win is contemptible, and the hate-mongers need to be recognized for what they are" BRAVO! Mr. Forry, BRAVO!!
This issue, along with others, but this issue of health care reform has become a lightning rod for the recent galvanization of already entrenched camps. We've seen political hinterland cooks of all stripes given a level of legitimacy totally unwarranted by the "mainstream". Your example of euthanising of our elderly population was a sad example this writer witnessed being touted as incontrovertibly on the agenda of our President by a few on the extreme right. The issue of abortion being funded through govt. money however, still resonates with some as an issue that needs to be rectified.
.....I've got to go take off my BUSH/HITLER '04 and "1-20-09" stickers now
Imagine there are three pizza shops on a stretch of Dot Ave. Now imagine that the government is going to open a fourth, Government Pizza, to compete with the three private pizza shops. In addition to competing with the three private pizza shops, Government Pizza will also regulate them. Government Pizza will also decide the cost of cheese and sauce, while not having to make a profit. Therefore, they can buy cheese and sauce cheaper. So they can get a huge advantage on the "costs" side of the business. Additionally, since they can regulate the three private pizza shops, they can determine what they are allowed to charge for pizza. Now you have a competitor that hurts its competition on both costs and revenues. Naturally, the three private pizza companies will soon go bankrupt. And we'll all be eating Government Pizza, whether we like it or not. The Massachusetts health care connector is working, and should be the national model - not Government Health Care - it's a Trojan Horse.