Gypsies, tramps, and thieves--and health care reform

I had a long discussion with a "liberal" friend, today, who cannot get past his visceral anger at so-called welfare chiselers and leeches, people he fears might get something for nothing, if Congress passes health care reform legislation that includes a public option. I tried to explain to him that we're already paying for the medical care of those who have no coverage and that problems in welfare constitute an entirely different issue—one that health care reform is neither intended to, nor should it, address.

I also disencumbered him of the notion that illegal immigrants would be guaranteed health care under the proposals currently under consideration—a right wing lie that he had willingly swallowed because it fed his resentment. And I asked him if he were prepared to sacrifice the good on the altar of the perfect, even if he believed that health care reform legislation SHOULD address welfare fraud.

More important though, I asked him to walk a mile in the shoes of every person who's fallen on hard times and needs public support before he jumps to the conclusion that these people are possessed of despicable deficits of character, rendering them unworthy of human compassion. I pointed out to him that such an "us versus them" mentality places him on the same low moral plane as the health insurance profiteers who he agrees are gouging all of us.

But he continued to whine about how it's just not fair that there are people who get everything for free, while he pays for their support through his taxes. Yet, he went on, if something were to happen to him, he'd never qualify for that kind of assistance. I pointed out that the public option is designed PRECISELY to address this disparity. It is legislation that finally takes into account how Middle Class, hard-working, tax-paying stiffs just like him, are being squeezed into bankruptcy and financial ruin by the for-profit health insurance industry. I told him that, for once, this one is for US.

I told him that his all-consuming animosity was stopping him from advocating for reform that’s in his own best interest. I said that the right wingers he listens to on the radio understand, all too well, what motivates him, and are actively, gleefully, exploiting his fear. I asked him to consider why they might be against health care reform. What is their interest in seeing the public option go down in flames?

I reminded him of what Deep Throat told Woodward and Bernstein: "Follow the money." I said that the ideological commitment of right wing radio pundits was a mile wide and an inch deep. At the very least, their arguments exist only to support their brand: conflict and discord. It's how they make a living. And, worse yet, some of them are actually underwritten by the very corporations whose interests they espouse. I said, “If you scratch the surface of any of these naysayers, you'll find out that nothing but fool's gold lies beneath and, if you believe them, guess what? YOU'RE the fool who helps them earn their gold.”

Did I make a difference with one person, today? I don’t know. He did finally admit that his awareness of the issue is very limited and that, between us, I have a much better grasp of the situation. And I got him to agree that, every time he hears a new point made against the public option, he will call, text, or email me.

In turn, I promised that, good, bad, or indifferent, I will get him the facts.