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Anyone can say virtually anything these days and have it believed. Just get something started, like "death panels", inject it into the "debate", have it picked up by right wing talk radio (is there any other kind?), spread it around by having Fox News slip it into stories "People around the country are saying they are concerned that "death panels" might be one result of changes in health care..." and, presto, you've got a believable and almost irrefutable cascade of argument and belief. These things get confirmed just by circulating enough times through the blood stream, as if a lie told a thousand times has more meaning than one told once.
The sad part is that adherents of both political parties are now dressing themselves for battle as blithering partisans. The rise of talk radio, the sputtering "entertainment and enlightenment" (his description of himself) of Beck, are transforming everyman into sword carriers of ignorance. The primary escalation of attack language, however, has spewed forth from the right, who no longer feel any shame, and in fact take pride, in questioning the patriotism and religious beliefs of anyone who disagrees with them. What was once cloaked in the sly half truths of Joe McCarthy is now shouted from the rooftops, and cable outlets, in bald, unvarnished fashion by big mouths and pip squeaks alike. Our democracy is wilting before our eyes. In the face of such apparent shamelessness, a careful response becomes itself worthless.
Republicans have set themselves about attacking or ending any program or set of programs that might benefit anyone of lower economic circumstance. It is not the least bit surprising to me that "slash and burn" winds up hitting someone in dire need of an organ transplant. Behind the facade of small government righteousness, large crimes can be hidden.
The Republicans have said for many years that their goals is to "starve the beast" of the federal government of revenues needed to continue or expand its programs. Tom Delay openly proclaimed that his goal was to allow no legislation to pass that would give the Democrats something on which they could campaign. Now, we have Mitch McConnell saying the main goal of the coming Congress to to make certain Obama is a one term president. Is this leadership with a noble purpose?
We have gone so far off the rails that it is difficult to imagine how we might get back on. The idea of compromise and cooperation for the common good is being turned into a sick joke, one that the president, unfortunately, has not yet caught onto in his public statements.
We need to consider new things and new solutions. Perhaps a series of serious citizen panels should be considered to, individually one by one, address major problems. If this were considered, they should be true citizen panels with few, if any, ex-politicians, former members of the Senate, etc. In the current climate, the Congress is not merely useless, it is intentionally useless while the right contemplates the best formula for re-taking the White House. The Democrats, of course, proved themselves to be not much more useful during the last four years in which they controlled one house and the last two with the Senate. They are clearly befuddled by the harsh partisanship of their opponents and, in a certain degree, deserved to lose seats this year.
There must be clear goals. No American should suffer and die because medical care is too expensive. The goal must come first, the means is secondary. Income inequality, the source of some of the problems with medical costs, must be addressed, too. While having one percent of the population rolling in money might seem an ideal world to the Republicans, our nation cannot long survive the strains so imposed. Our democracy is wounded and probably dying before our eyes. Nothing about it is working as it should, save the seesaw changes in power we have seen over the last decade. It is time for citizens, not political hacks, money grubbers and campaign consultants, to figure out what we can do to save it.
Doug Terry 12/4/10
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