Okay, so I consider myself a Christian. Not that big of a deal. As the folks at Street Prophets know, it's okay to have faith and be liberal. Occasionally the wife leaves the car tuned to KLTY, the self-proclaimed biggest Christian station in the U.S. After turning it on for one minute and hearing a commercial about health care, I was sad that I was going to have to make a choice.
The choice was, listen to a radio station that runs advertisements that ask people to go sign a petition to "keep the government out of health care", or follow my conscience about where matters of state and matters of faith lie. I'm choosing the latter.
Frank Reed, the affable host of the Family Friendly Morning Show, is the main speaker in the advertisement. The petition at this place pretty much speaks for itself, but there were some snippets from the radio advertisement that just drove. me. crazy.
First off, the comparison of government-run health care to the Postal Service. I don't know about you, but spending less than 50 cents to get a letter across the country is a pretty good deal. The Postal Service is NOT a government entity. It was created by the government, but it stands separate from the government in terms of funding. (If I have my facts wrong, feel free to point it out in the comments and I'll adjust.)
Secondly, the radio spot makes the claim that "some government employee will be making decisions about your health care". Now, pardon me if I'm naive, but even now with my insurance, there's some employee of an insurance company who's making decisions about my health care. They determine whether that CT scan my wife should have is "necessary". Tell me, how is this ANY DIFFERENT than a government employee? The only difference is in who winds up paying, and we all know the driving forces behind the petition.
Thirdly, why try to involve religion, even as facade-ridden as a religious radio station, into politics at all? It just pushes you closer to the edge of extremism, and I don't want that for me or my family.
So thanks for your pleasant Sunday morning worship music, KLTY. I'll miss it.