Stepping out of the religious wars for a second, I woke up yesterday dreaming of smiling faces, mad scientists, Slim Pickens, and doomsday devices. Was it something I ate? Maybe it was something I had trouble digesting from the night before.
On Wednesday July 22, 2009 I was scrolling through the channels on the old television set looking for something more enlightening than "Ghost Hunters." The pickings were slim, and I finally settled on President Obama's press conference. This press conference was supposed to address the "Health Care Crisis." What I saw was an ill prepared man who does not believe in free market capitalism, who believes in top down governmental solutions, and also a man who honestly believes this approach is the remedy to a host of other "crises" as well. This is probably what sent me reaching for the Pepto-Bismol. Why am I worried? Let me show you how my simple mind views the history and future course of the issue:
Step 1. Create a "crisis." The beginnings of the health care crisis began long ago in a government far away. I might be talking about the U.K., or I might be talking about the "Great Society." As I see it, government run health care as a "benefit" has been foisted on us for so long that it is now a given that everyone has "a right to health care." Is it no coincidence that the amazing innovations in tests and treatments for various illnesses that we have seen over the past 45 years occurred at the same time that untold amounts of money was being pumped into the system by the government's Medicare program? The monetary incentives to provide services to the elderly must have had an effect in the rise in the cost of care. At the same time, private insurance companies were treated with the golden opportunity to insure only the young, the more healthy, and employed. Was the federal government responsible in any way to creating the current crisis? I think so.
Step 2. Blame anyone but the problem solver. Since government proposes a solution, steer clear of any projections of the long term consequences, both expected and unexpected, of your scheme. Government cannot be seen as part of the problem, otherwise confidence (read votes) declines.
Step 3. Rush a "solution" through before the next crisis comes up.
Step 4. Create another crisis: This is always a great distraction. It helps everyone ignore for the moment the wonderful future crisis you just got finished creating.
How come I get the queasy feeling that instead of defusing a ticking time bomb, our elected officials are building a new one.
Following the Obama press conference, I turned to TCM and watched "The Bridge Over River Kwai." A movie that raises questions of loyalty, duty, honor, cruelty, and the ultimate destruction those physical things we fight for the most.
How have I learned to stop worrying and love the man? I love his transparency. I know what we have in our lawyer in chief. Worried? No, I don't fear for things this side of the shade. Shiva can put on as many arms as he wants, but I put my trust in God's promise of eternal life, realizing that He did not promise me a healthy earthly body, church, government, or world. I am already covered by the best health insurance policy possible, impossible as that may seem.
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Of course, we are told that our faith in God and His promises is merely an "opiate," to soothe us and allow us to forget/ignore the oppression of "The Man." Query, what is it when the soothing ointment which is the promises of "The Man," in whatever form he takes?
ReplyDeleteCheers.