As I rolled down the highway I tripped over the words "grass roots" in my head and something popped in there that was oh so appropriate: Harass Roots.
Harass Roots: a collective term for the Birthers, Deathers, Teabaggers, and AstroTurf town hall shouters.
They have nothing substantial to add to the debate, only what was termed years ago by open source advocates as FUD: fear, uncertainty, and doubt. It's what Microsoft would use to dissuade people from using the new, scary, open source, and free, as in beer, operating system known as Linux. They would say it's untested, it's not ready for prime-time, it's prone to viruses because everyone has access to the code. All of this was absolute, 100% provable nonsense, but it didn't stop Microsoft, and thousands of true believers, from repeating it.
And just as Microsoft used FUD, so are the insurance companies spouting false and, at best, specious claims in order to stymie real competition from the one entity that can truly offer it: the government, the ultimate collective bargainer.
These harass roots true believers, instead of typing away on their keyboards on Slashdot, are showing up at town halls across America to hinder debate, to hinder those that have something to add, to shut down the process, to repeat the FUD.
And just as the coders of the world ignored FUD and contributed to an operating system that would force Microsoft to make a better product, so must we consign these harass roots FUD-mongers to the rubbish bins of history and move forward with the work we know we have to get accomplished.
Insurance companies don't exist to pay out claims. They exist to take as much of your money as possible and not give it back. That's not insurance, that's a casino. Don't believe me? Compare the actuarial tables for yourself and see. Both industries are playing the odds, and working to put those odds in their own favor.
I don't appreciate the harass roots FUD-mongers trying to consign me to the equivalent of pulling the handle on a slot machine to see if the reels go round and pay off when I'm trying to get an appointment to finally have my sphelkis of the ganechtagazoink dealt with once and for all.