Healthcare reform: the most pressing issue in Washington today. There is no doubt about that. So, one would logically think that facts were important in this radical debate, right?
Right??
Well, apparently they're not. Reform in the healthcare system, according to the late Ted Kennedy, is the great unfinished business of our society. It is truly a matter that should transcend partisan lines and should be a moral responsibility in an attempt to supply the American people with the best possible healthcare coverage. Sadly, the debate has turned into a survival game for the fledgling legislation. Many in Washington, including Republicans and Democrats, are set against reform, for they believe that the system is not broken. Yet despite engaging in true debate with their own arguments, they are using scare-tactics and lies to kill any chances the reform bill has of passing.
The many lies regarding healthcare reform all contain a similar trait: the idea that it will target a specific group of people and refuse them care, thus killing them. For example, reform has been labeled a secret plot to: kill old people (pull the plug on grandma), set up "death panels", target women with breast cancer, deny treatment to Republicans, and decrease care to children with disabilities. It is not difficult to realize how ridiculous these allegations truly are. These lies have been born and spread by those who are set against any type of reform.
Lies like these have two main effects: one, they halt any actual and productive debate, and two, they instill a sense of incredulity among Americans listening to this so-called debate. I would hope that, faced by these absurd accusations, the majority of U.S. citizens realize what is really going on behind the scenes regarding the movement against healthcare reform. Scare-tactics and lies cannot create a basis for argument, and I do believe that Americans are beginning to uncover the truth behind the heated debate.
Those against healthcare reform must realize that when they oppose the legislation, they are leaving nearly 50 million American citizens without health insurance to fend for themselves in a system dominated by private corporate healthcare. The system is broken; the evidence for this claim is overwhelming. The lies spread by those in opposition to the reform have created a system of scare-tactics and fear which has turned Washington into a stagnant cesspool brimming with deceit. I do believe it is time for the American people to engage in true debate and face the issue which so plagues those many citizens of our country. They depend on it.
~Charles Bronson
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