Turn to Stone

While I try to avoid using this space to flog any particular political position — including my own — the implications of last week’s mid-term elections on the future of health and health care are a topic that cannot be avoided, at least not in good conscience. By this time, the entire world not only knows the results of the election, but has also had ample opportunity to read, listen to or watch the pundits’ opinions of what the vote meant, what the Republicans did right, what the Democrats did wrong and why the President was shellacked. The general conclusion is that the vote reflected “the will of the people,” and both the new and old governmental leadership have bought into that explanation without taking  time to remember that the pundits have their own agenda and should not be confused with either Moses on Sinai or Jesus delivering the Sermon on the Mount. In short, the pundits, even those who claim otherwise, are not providing anyone with divine truths heard from the lips of the Almighty.

Still, it would seem hard to argue that the vote last week reflects the will of the people; after all, that’s what voting means, right? Well, maybe. I would feel a lot more comfortable about drawing that conclusion if there was any evidence that the American electorate actually had some clue about the issues on which the various candidates were taking positions, spewing talking points, or otherwise pandering to what they thought their potential constituents wanted to hear. Now, we might expect that kind of behavior from those voters who are genetically wired to one party or another and are, therefore, self-relieved of their responsibility to think. But what about the independents, the very nature of whom is the supposed careful deliberation of issues which then causes them to move one way or the other in each election? Certainly they knew what they were voting for or against, didn’t they? Well…. not these independents, and not this election.

What the votes of independents reflected in this election was the growing need of Americans for instant gratification. I understand that need in an infant; I have been known to accept it in young children; I can force myself on occasion to tolerate it in teenagers; I find it inexcusable in adults, particularly adults who have access to the ballot box. Two years ago, these independents swung heavily to the Democrats because they were fed up with the results of eight years of the previous administration. This year, they swung back to the Republicans because their chosen Messiah was unable to wave a magic wand and make it all better. It didn’t make any difference that he didn’t create the problem. It certainly didn’t make any difference that he was, in fact, fixing the problem. It didn’t make any difference that the other party was doing everything it could to prevent him from doing anything. The only thing that made a difference was that the problems weren’t fixed. So, “Off with his head; Out with the old and In with the new” conveniently forgetting that it was the “used to be” that got us in this mess in the first place. What the hell, we gave him and his cohort of [insert racist, derogatory or other intolerant adjective here] cronies 18 months and they didn’t deliver. It all reminds me of 12-year-olds on the playground during recess. “Did not. Did too. Did not! Did too!” And speaking of 12-year-old behaviors, let’s not forget we were also treated to the insatiable whining of the extreme wing of the “party-in-power” who, unhappy that all their wants weren’t instantly satisfied, decided to take their ball and go home. Unfortunately all these 12-year olds vote.

So, now that the voters have had their say and the pundits have told us that the voters have had their say, we’re being treated to the politicians’ interpretation of what the voters say actually means. These explanations have two irrefutable truths associated with them; they’re wrong; and they will be pounced on by the pundits and repeated ad infinitum until the voters are convinced that what the politicians say their vote meant is what it actually meant.

For example, by last count, I’ve heard 6,482 times that the voters are telling Washington — whoever that is — that they want smaller government. Only problem is, no they don’t. I’ve never met a voter who wanted smaller government. They may want a government that costs less, although even that’s debatable if you take away the requirement that the voter has to pay for the government with taxes; they may want a government that keeps it’s nose out of their business, unless of course, their business is for the government to stick their nose in someone else’s business; but, what all the voters want, all the time, is for the government to bail them out of whatever problem they find themselves in, even if they are complicit in creating the problem in the first place, to wit: “It’s the bank’s fault they convinced me to take on a mortgage I coudn’t afford.”

Ok, there’s more than enough blame to go around for our current economic and housing problems; and that’s the point. Not so long ago, government used to be about solving problems, not about creating outrageous claims that fit into 30 second sound bites. Differing points of view were debated with at least a modicum of respect for the intellect of the other side. Today, we can’t even get most candidates to talk about what they actually plan to do, despite the best efforts of legitimate journalists like John Stewart and… uh … John Stewart to try and elicit an answer to that simple question. We used to be better; we really did.

So what does all of this have to do with health care? The terrible truth is we don’t know. With the new “ins” threatening to repeal it, investigate it, not fund it and a whole list of other strategems designed to impede the reform bill passed just 8 months ago and only now coming into effect; with a politically polarized Congress and, probably, a veto-proof President, the opportunity for mischief for the sake of mischief is real. And while Congress plays by its rules, the voters will continue to be unwittingly hoist on their own petards. Of course, they’ll get a chance to express their displeasure again in just 23 months. Just remember, all you voters, when the politicians are telling you that you don’t want health care reform, they’re ignoring the fact that 74% of you actually like the individual provisions of the reform bill.

While there is some lack of clarity about who first said it, there is no questions that, “In a democracy, people get the government they deserve.” Or as Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and it is us.” So let’s stop letting OUR elected officials get away with telling us what we believe when they don’t have it right; lets remind them that, generally speaking, the Internet is not a credible source for anything and that spreading an Internet post at light speed through the friendly infotainment outlets does nothing to add to its credibility. Let’s remind those same infotainment outlets, perhaps by turning them off, that we are not so mindless that we have willingly given up our ability to think and that we are not so prejudiced that we will allow political intolerance to flourish as the 21st century’s replacement for the despised and displaced religious and racial intolerances of the 20th.

Maybe, just maybe, when the electorate gets tired of being ingeniously manipulated, maybe then the electorate will demand debates based on fact and platform, not rumor, innuendo and outright falsehood. Maybe then the electorate will demand that candidates for public office actually have agendas they are for, not just causes they are against. Maybe then the electorate will demonstrate that it is no longer 12, but has reached the age where it is both capable and willing to think before pulling the lever to enable another group of candidates to misrepresent us.