Finding What You Want to Know

The other evening I was in a discussion with an acquaintance about the health care reform debate. He was clearly against whatever it is that President Obama is trying to do. He had all the standard complaints we have heard from the opponents, a number of which have been refuted a number of times. Surprisingly he claimed to not think much of the right-wing pundits- Beck, Limbaugh, and O'Really.

Which is why I was surprised when he voiced the claim that the health care reform legislation isn't public and that the Democrats/Obama are hiding it from people so they won't know what's in it. Surprised? I was flabbergasted. I looked at him and commented that I know that it was over 40 years ago that I was a government/poli sci major but I didn't think the Congress had changed that much.

But he wasn't kidding. He challenged me. You won't find it on the Internet, he claimed. It's secret. I again tried to explain that Congress doesn't vote on non-existent legislation. He didn't back down and challenged me. You wont' find it, he insisted.

Well, at home that evening, it took me an extremely long time, oh, about 45 seconds, to find it. Both versions. The one passed by the Health Committee and the one passed by the Finance Committee.

All you have to do is go to senate.gov and look at active legislation. Or to the committees link and either Finance or Health and Education (H.E.L.P.) It's right there. All 200+ pages in .pdf format.
Senate bill S. 1679 or House bill H.R. 3200 Note that's seven links in that one paragraph to something to supposedly is being kept secret. And there are probably more but I ran out of time after five minutes of searching and some reading.

Then this morning I noticed on Yahoo! News that they headlined that the health bill is now back "behind closed doors." NO! I wanted to shout. That does not mean what many will say. It does mean that they are back there doing political machinations to fool us all. Read the article and you know that it means that there are two bills reported out of the two committees and a conference committee is now hammering out the differences for one bill to come to the floor. No wonder we don't know what to think when the news media puts headlines that confuse more than clarify.

All this reminded me of the U.S. Civics quiz online that showed how little people know about how our government works.

Seventy-one percent of Americans fail the test, with an overall average score of 49%.

* Liberals score 49%; conservatives score 48%. Republicans score 52%; Democrats score 45%.
* Fewer than half of all Americans can name all three branches of government, a minimal requirement for understanding America’s constitutional system.
[Note that these scores are regardless of affiliation or ideology.]

It only continues to show me that the debates we are having about a number of issues, but at this moment, particularly the health care debate, is based as much on fear and misinformation than on the facts- death panels being the one obvious bit of incorrect information that even Senators who should know, aren't refuting for political gain.

I am saddened by the whole process that we are in. Somewhere in the past 20 years we have lost a sense of discussion and the ability to work with people we may disagree with to find solutions. "Just say 'No!' " is not a solution. On either side. Politics is about compromise. On both sides.

This health care debate and reform is important. Celebrate and strengthen what is working and working well. Reform what isn't and help more people be covered by insurance. In an industrialized, advanced civilized country it is unforgivable that people lose health insurance when they lose a job or die because they can't get insurance. There are basics of a caring compassionate civilization that are essential. In some way we have to see that this happens.

But we have to get the facts and not the hysteria.