So, there I was, on a Saturday night, posting comments about an on-line news article on health care reform. Yes, my life is that exciting. A discussion between me and a few other posters ensued. Although this included some of the usual mudslinging, I was eventually able to gleam some information that might help explain a little of where the 'liar' and 'read the bill' outrage is really coming from. More below the fold...
Let me preface my points by stating clearly that I am not agreeing with anything that was explained to me. I am not trying to present their side of the story to persuade. I am just trying to shed a little light on the reasoning (however uninformed or distorted) that has lead some to screaming craziness at town hall meetings.
First up, euthanasia. The Government is going to decide who is worth treating and who should be left to die. Where is this coming from? Here's what I was told by one poster -- Obama's proposal to create an Independent Medical Advisory Board is 'political cover' for the President and the Congress to make massive cuts to Medicare in order to fund the rest of the health care initiatives. How does this lead to euthanasia? Apparently the argument is that once Medicare is cut to the bone this board will then have to decide who to treat with limited Medicare resources. That is the 'reasoning' as explained to me.
So it appears some of these people are really protesting the fact that their Medicare coverage might be cut. Obviously the message would be somewhat muddled if you were told to protest Medicare cuts while also protesting Government involvement in health care, so I think the message has been spun towards Government euthanasia to get around that little rough spot. On the off chance that you can get into a reasoned discussion (or make an uninterrupted statement) about this point to someone at a town hall, you might point out that what they really seem to be upset about here is a potential cut to Government run Medicare, and that talking about euthanasia is confusing people who don't share their sources of information, and might just sound a bit crazy to them.
My second discovery was regarding the cries of "read the bill!" This one seems to have plenty of explanations, from simple confusion and / or ignorance to conspiracy theories. People have confused President Obama's proposals with the various bills being worked on by Congress, and it would appear that often, if people are even aware that there really isn't 'a bill' to read, they're mixing up things from several different proposals. From this it would appear that the message they are getting is that when the President says 'Public Option' he means universal coverage (Conyers HR 676 was pointed out to me as 'the bill' by one person).
And on the conspiratorial note, one poster in our discussion told me that cries to 'read the bill' arise from "... Obama’s first major effort, the stimulus package. You will remember it had to be voted on, all 1,100 pages, before any of the democrat lemmings had a chance to read it." Actually, I don't remember that, for some reason, but that's beside the point. It appears there are those who believe our Congress is getting legislation straight from the President, and that they will somehow be forced to vote on it without even getting to read it. They're not accusing their Congressperson of being too stupid or lazy to read the bill, they are actually begging them to 'read the bill, please!' before they sign away the country to President Obama. I am not sure how you can make a meaningful response to this.
So my two 'take away' points for the evening were:
- They're turning the 'don't you touch my Medicare' crowd right back on health care reform itself. We need a simple, positive, and effective counter-message for this.
- There is a great deal of confusion and misinformation about the President's guidelines for health care reform and the various bills being worked on in Congress. I can't really see a shouter listening patiently while you explain all the details, but I think the main point to make here is that there are several 'bills' being worked on by Congress. 'The bill' does not exist yet. And 'the bill' will be whatever comes out of Congress, not some dictate from the White House.
Sadly, it does seem that much of this eventually leads back to a 'distrust' of the President. Some people are willing to believe the most insane things about President Obama. The President's advisory board is going to euthanize us. The President is ruling the Congress by dictate. Why would anyone believe these things? Is racism the ultimate cause? I think it has got to be one huge contributing factor. Ultimately I have no real idea how you 'unscare' those who are threatened by a non-white President. Obviously that's a much bigger problem than just getting health care reform done.