If any issue is important as the United States struggles with its health care nightmare- it's affordability. Lack of affordability sits at the root of the problems with every single health reform proposal that we have seen to date from both the Democratic and Republican parties, and affordability is the basis for the many criticisms that have been rising as the status quo attempts what ammounts to a coercive lock in its version of "incremental reform" for as long as possible.
So, if there is any one subject that is the basis for legitimate debate, affordability is it. Why, then, are so many of the supporters of Barack Obama attempting to block discussion of its lack in the proposed health care legislation?
Obviously, the United States, being the nation in the world with the least affordable healthcare system, its citizens paying the most, for the least value, has a lot of room for improvement!
Why does discussion of that threaten them? Nobody knows. But we can certainly guess, based on the world's past experiences that what we are seeing is nothing less than a "cult of personality" in its early stage of development. This is a very dangerous development and one which all Democrats should resist strongly, because cults of personality lobotomize populations and inevitably, lead to huge political missteps, on a global level.
What exactly is a "Cult of Personality"?
Wikipedia defines the term as follows:
"A cult of personality arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise.[1] Cults of personality are often found in dictatorships and Stalinist governments."
"A cult of personality is similar to general hero worship, except that it is created specifically for political leaders. However, the term may be applied by analogy to refer to adulation of religious or non-political leaders."
Basically, a cult of personality results when people start idolizing somebody, forgetting that they are very real people, often with human failings. Personality cults often result in political movements that prove to be ttremendously destructive to countries, resulting in indescribably terrible disasters as people strive to do everything that leader wants, often misinterpreting their words as somehow, God-like.
For example, a chance comment by Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution in China that "95% of all Chinese are basically good" was passed from person to person and rapidly was soon misinterpreted as meaning that the other 5% were evil, and needed to be attacked, in sort of a twisted quota system - This lead to the deaths of thousands of people!
This seems in a way almost funny now, but its the way political orthodoxy and mob psychology works.
That is why I think its always important to avoid personal attacks, on anybody and instead take each thing they say or do, and keep a rational ability to judge it on its own merits.
Its a legitimate question to ask if the health insurance scheme being cooked up inside the Beltway will be affordable for millions of Americans, when we have seen that other health insurance programs with similar cost structures, like unsubsidized COBRA, clearly, were not.
Bringing this up is not an act of treason, its patriotism to care about the entire nation, and not just one's own political patrons.
Therefore, I beg those attacking the people who want to continue the debate to stop.
There is no reason to cut off debate now, as many important affordability and quality issues have clearly not even been discussed yet.
By the way, now even "centrist" Senators have gotten into the act of trying to block further discussion of the health care bill. Read this story.