While I was heartened by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision
to uphold the Affordable Care Act yesterday, I was extremely disheartened by
the disgusting wave of anger, hatred and ignorance that swelled around the
issue. It’s ugly; just plain ugly. (I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m
left-leaning in my political ideology and I do believe everyone should have
access to health care, but my comments here are NOT about the pros or cons of
the Affordable Care Act; They are about the shameful reactions of so many that
make me depressed and embarrassed.)
Of course I don’t expect everyone to agree with President Obama’s
health care solution or to agree with the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold
it. We are a large, complicated nation of 313 million diverse people with
widely varying circumstances, ideologies and opinions. And the health care
issue is enormously complicated. I absolutely understand differences of opinion
and support each person’s right to have and express their own thoughts on the issue.
What I can’t accept is the vitriolic, hateful, selfish, and downright ignorant
manner in which it is being done – in the news, in social media, and in
conversations from the water cooler to radio talk shows.
The health care system is broken. Fixing it isn’t going to
be easy and with our widely diverse population it isn’t going to be perfect for
each and every individual right out of the gate, if ever. That’s not the way
big, societal change works. I’m not anywhere close to an expert on the health
care issue, nor am I a constitutional scholar, but understanding that large
scale societal change is incremental, difficult, and often painful seems like
simple common sense to me.
Perfection is the surest way to prevent progress. If what we’re
looking for is a perfect solution – perfect for every individual, perfect for every
circumstance – before we implement anything, it will never happen. Progress has
to start somewhere and that starting point is never perfection.
I’m not a Rah-Rah-Sis-Boom-Bah Obama fan. He wasn’t my first
choice for a candidate in 2008. I always felt his promises of cure-all hope and
sweeping change were unrealistic. But I am pleased that he has managed to begin
to affect change in an area of society that really needs it. We could do with
more elected officials who are willing to make unpopular decisions if it means
getting something done. Of course elected officials are suppose to represent
their constituents, but again, those constituents vary widely and elected
officials can’t expect or be expected to please everyone all the time. They
should see, and respond to, a bigger picture than each individual. I don’t
think they always do the best job, but that’s the idea. I want my elected
officials to make the best decisions for our society, not just for ME, ME, ME.
Obama certainly isn’t winning any popularity points for his
health care solution, so I can’t image he’s sticking with it for political
gain. That leads me to believe he’s committed to it because he truly believes
we need change and he’s doing his best to start the process of making that
painful, incremental change happen. Is it perfect? No. Does it need all sorts
of examination and changing and tweaking to make it better? I’m sure it does. So
let’s get on with it; at least the ball is rolling.
There are those who will, at this point, site statistics and stories about how terribly and unjustly certain individuals and
groups of people will be “punished” by the mandate. Perhaps there is some truth
to those claims, but there are just as many statistics and stories that
not only dispute those claims, but tell of countless people who will benefit.
So what if you’re not one of them? This democracy isn’t about individuals –
it’s about the good of the whole and sometimes individuals have to make
sacrifices for that. Why have we lost touch with that concept?
So many of the comments I’m hearing and seeing around this
issue have nothing to do with the real issue of fixing the health care problem.
It’s as though people are so self-centered and nasty these days, they seize
upon any opportunity to be as pissed-off and mean as possible.
I’ve got news for these people: calling the President “a
worthless piece of shit” isn’t doing anything to help solve any problem. It
doesn’t make you smart or powerful or remotely useful. It makes you negative
and ugly and part of a very sad problem. I’m sure I’ll get crucified for being
an “over-educated, liberal elite” for saying this, but if you can’t string a
few words together in your native language well enough for me to understand
what you’re talking about, I can hardly be expected to assume you have
credibility on anything, much less something as complicated as the national
health care issue.
I’ve seen a form of this one a few times over the past 24
hours: “I’ll quit my job before they get one cent of tax money from me to support
all the worthless people that choose not to work.” Well, if that isn’t an
example of cutting off your nose to spite your face, I don’t know what is; very
mature and productive. If you have the luxury of quitting your job so you don’t
have to pay taxes, great, go for it, but please don’t drive on the roads my tax
dollars pay for or send your kids to the socialist schools I support.
As for all the incredibly insightful “Fuck Obama” comments
and variations thereof (including but not limited to, “Go fuck yourself,
Obama,” “Fuck you, Obama,” and “Obama can fuck himself”), seriously, if that is
the most intelligent thing you can think of to say, you need to go back to
something far more remedial than the health care issue.
You don’t need to agree with the Affordable Care Act. You
don’t need to like Obama. You don’t need to support his policies or politics,
but what I do expect from my fellow Americans is to respect each other as human
beings. Didn’t we all learn that valuable lesson in preschool? I teach my son
not to call names – it doesn’t matter how much you disagree with someone or how
angry they make you, you don’t hit them or bite them or call them names. That’s
not a productive or acceptable way to exist in society. In fact, it’s mean and
counterproductive. So, for those who didn’t grasp that lesson at age four, here
it is one more time: You don’t call any other human being a “worthless piece of
shit.” I don’t want my country to be ugly like that, so stop it.
