Twelve hours of thinking & studying+politics (health care)=a 2200-word post/dissertation

The sun is starting to come up and I am finally finishing. People, this is a long one. I've warned followers in the past that despite the fact that I may go weeks without posting, when the urge to express myself comes upon me, there may be no limits to how long I may ramble on. I love having readers, but sometimes, too, I just write for myself. That's the advantage for me of having a blog over Facebook or MySpace and that other junk. Sometimes I just need to write and get thoughts out of my head. Have fun with this one, readers. May my words prompt you to think about these issues as well....

**********

What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect, delicate balance between freedom "to" and freedom "from."
~Marilyn vos Savant, in Parade

God Bless America for freedom of speech and the right to express our opinions like I'm about to do here, without the fear of physical harm. I can't even imagine what it would be like to have been in Iran last week, what with the government disabling the country's internet, living in fear of violent mobs armed with axes, facing a bogus election completely certified 100% accurate by a corrupt group of overlords who call themselves a legitimate "governing" body.

So I've been online for the past eight or so hours studying up on the red-hot topic of heath care reform and Pres. Obama's proposed 2010 plan. It was basically a "crash course" on what is/may be to come.

I know little more than I did to start with this time yesterday.

Please don't think for even a second that I don't care about the repercussions that could come from this plan. First and foremost: it's expensive; I realize that now more than ever. However, unfortunately, like everything in the media, it's hard to get a totally unbiased opinion about what this plan is all about; every side seems to have their own "spin" on the whole issue. One of the many advantages of having a free press. (Although I wouldn't have it any other way). No big surprise there. So I've been everywhere, every perspective, sideways, diagonal, medical, private insurance-related, Canadian, British, media, right-wing think-tank, left-wing lobbyist, the so-called "neutral" info sites, question/answer blogs, etc; foxnews.com, cnn.com, whitehouse.gov, Family Research Council, AMA, JAMA, pnhp.org. There's a lot out there on the good 'ole internet. And, I have talked personally to several people who work in county hospitals/doctor's offices (radiology, nursing, family practice) in Florida and North Carolina.

Basically, I like to do my own homework and then oftentimes--especially when it comes to these kinds of "politicized” issues--I still can't get a clear picture of what I believe to be true. The older I get, sadly, the more aware I become that national decisions like this one are always being made for economic reasons, not for ethical, moral reasons. (To back up my point--and this is just one perspective, mind you; I'm not saying this is the whole TRUTH--read Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Yes, it'll make you say "huh?" at some parts, but it really does ask the right questions and at least offer an answer instead of the old political trick we see all the time where the politician completely avoids the question and instead offers something like, "Well Matt, that's an important question, but the real issue is ___(you fill in the blank)____, so let's talk about that first...." WELL. Great job there, Mr. Elected Official who's supposed to be looking out for my interests there on Capitol Hill. You just committed a HUGE rhetorical fallacy: it's called a "red herring," and any 17 year-old in my AP Language class can spot that railroad tactic from a mile away. Stop patronizing us, grow a pair, and ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION instead of avoiding it altogether.) But I digress....

I shudder that I ever say this out loud, but unfortunately it's the truth: you just can't legislate morality. It's especially disheartening if you're a Christian, but it's true. And even sadder is the fact that as a Christian I am chastised often because I will stand outside the boundaries of organized doctrine and say this. I take a figurative beating at times, so I mostly keep my mouth shut when it comes to hardline conservative topics. And, then sometimes I wonder if I'd even want to legislate the way people think/act. Isn't that communism/socialism in its purest and simplest form? I think of North Korea (who, by the way, call themselves People's Democratic Republic of North Korea) and the influence that dictatorial government has over its people. It's intellectual slavery, and it's wrong. As a public school teacher, I am always frustrated when I get those SPAM/forwards crying for signatures to petition prayer back into public school. They always make it sound like we're all a bunch of hate-spewing, bloody liberal-thinking educators brainwashing the youth of America into rejecting God and embracing "open-minded" free-thinking, anti-religious lifestyles. Hooray for 21st century Post-Modernism! No thanks, we're all out of room here, because I see this mentality on a daily basis and I don't need any more thrown at me. News flash, folks: the kids can pray any time they want to, any where. I just can't lead them. And why should I, as it seems all the time they are the ones showing up the adults when it comes to being examples. They lift my spirits more than I can express, and we oftentimes don't give them proper credit for their efforts. But, I can, however, answer any question they ask me first. And I do talk about God (yeah, he shows up in literature a lot, people :]) all the time in my classroom.

My point is this: would a Christian parent want their child taught Bible history in high school by a hard-line Muslim? Or, how about a sanctioned time for prayer to several gods because a small Hindu/Ba'hai minority population in your child's middle school felt they were being discriminated against? All of a sudden separation of church and state makes a vast amount of sense to the general public when it's put into a perspective that affects their own, especially their children. This is what we open ourselves up to if we actually sanction prayer as a part of the public school day. This nation was founded partly on a group of disenfranchised people's wish to have the freedom to worship God how they saw fit. While I will defend to the death my right as a Christian to worship God, I always keep this in mind: the way our Constitution is written, there are others out there who are guaranteed the same right by our Constitution to defend to the death their own right to worship how they see fit. With great power comes even greater responsibility. This statement is nowhere more true than it is right here in our own country.

Basically, I'm just thinking out loud here. This is how I learn. This type of deductive reasoning helps me wrap my mind around what I really believe about these issues.

I'm not a liberal, a bleeding-heart left winger, or whatever they're called, but I'm definitely not a hard-nosed conservative either. I believe in the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, I support our troops no matter where they are, I say the pledge and I mean it. But I also believe in the fallibility of America, the United States. We are a strong country, we are a superpower, but tell me why we, the strongest country in the free world, seem to always try to do the right thing after we've tried everything else? The belief in second chances seems to be one of our greatest strengths, but by that same token, one of our greatest weaknesses. I think Churchill actually pointed that out once, so props to him for that tidbit of wisdom. The old adage "my country, right or wrong" does not sit will with me, folks. My wonderful country, full of contradictions and rationalizations, puzzles and frustrates the hell outta me at times, so I often take the easy way out and opt not to think about these issues, not watch the news, not open emails about support, voting, legislation, etc. It's a cop-out, I know, but sometimes it's more than I can care to think about when life's practical "in the moment" issues seem more plausible (such as the grocery list, lesson plans, the next car payment, or spending time with those I love).

Speaking of practicality, one of the best pieces of advice I was ever given about my civic responsibility to my students came about two years ago from one of my former political science professors at Young Harris College. I sat in on a six-week terrorism round-table/seminar he held for our faculty. He told the group that as an educator, he is very careful about not touting his political views in front of his students, even college-age. He made the point that students are very impressionable, and quick to pick up the beliefs of others, especially political convictions, as students are typically idealistic, and look for fresh, new ideas at that age to wear on their sleeve. He said he never gives away his own political sway in his class lectures and students often leave his class after a semester with no more insight into his political views than they had on the first day. I'm sure it frustrates them, trying to pin down his views, but this tactic makes so much sense to me. I never want to be accused of indoctrinating anyone into my views, especially when that young person may have no better reason to believe what I say than just because I say it. It's scary how kids today, even in my own classroom, often want me to "tell them" what to think, even about literature. Few have their own opinions about important issues. Granted, I know they have so many distractions today, but I still encourage them to question respectfully and responsibly, explore, tactfully agree to disagree, find evidence, accept no one person's opinion/dogma as 'gospel,' be savvy and decisive when giving an answer, avoid being xenophobic with their patriotism, expect change and criticism, practice discretionary thinking, and, of course, write about it all in the end. :)

I'll start wrapping this up, since it's 5:30 a.m. and I have errands to run in town today: in short, I know my generation sucks. We pale in comparison to our predecessors. "Gen X," the product of late-born Baby Boomers, those of us who were the toddlers while the 80s "Age of Excess" and Reaganomics reigned supreme--and big-hair bands were livin’ it up. Call us what you will; I know we suck. We're spoiled, we don't know what it's like to 'want' for anything, we have no idea what a draft or living on war rations feels like. We feel the effects of this deficit we're living in, but have we felt the devastation of a full-blown depression, stood in line for bread? No, we have not. Thank God, we haven't? (Notice the punctuation there.) Just think about it. I know times are tough for many, many people, and I've felt it lately, too. But I thank God every day that my husband and I have jobs, a home (don't forget the debt that comes with it--minus the all-too-typical foreclosure that seems to loom behind the mortgage these days :]), a beautiful community with a sweet mountain view to boot, good friends far and wide, a handful of graduates that we consider our adopted family, a supportive immediate family, and three too-cute kitty cats that do just fine as a replacement for the standard two or three kids we are "supposed" to have at our age. Go ahead: you try being thirty-something without children in a small traditional Southern Bible-belt community and see how many times you get the third-degree about not having offspring yet. Ha. Any more I just laugh it off. No trophy kids here, thank you. (And that is NOT meant as an insult to those of you out there with children. Good for you and your choice! It's just not for us right now.)

So the ‘American Dream’ is at work here in the Krieger household. Is it an illusion/a big idealistic slight of hand? Perhaps. It may not be the traditional husband, wife, 2.5 kids, and a white picket fence any more, but I believe I have been blessed with something that I have the responsibility to nurture, to take care of. I am one person in a great big nation, and I by no means have all the answers, but I do try to wade my way through the nay-sayers and the optimists and find my happy medium. It's hard at times though, as we all know.

And now, in the spirit of our great nation and freedom of speech at its purest, I’ll end with a piece of wisdom by one of our most-loved American authors/thinkers, whose acid-tongue spoke more truth than many of us ever have the courage to admit. He’s kinda like that wise old grandfather some of us had the privilege to know, whose experience, practicality, and especially quick-wit far outweighed the pretentious, meaningless words of those who thought they knew what they were talking about.... ;)

"It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them." -Mark Twain, "Following the Equator" (1897)

*************

**Interesting website related to health care reform: pnhp.org (Physicians for a National Health Program). The article “10 Myths About Canadian Health Care, Busted” I found especially informative.
Link:
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/february/10_myths_about_canad.php