Nelly, REO Speedwagon, and Healthcare

I remember 9/11.  I remember the Oklahoma City bombing.  I remember the Gulf War.  I remember the bombing of the USS Cole.  I remember American’s coming together.  I remember people talking about how tragedies have the ability to bring people together, to unite the average Americans who stand in line with each other at Starbucks, to give us a sense of common purpose.  I even heard many lament the dissipation of this unity.  Talk about being in it together.  Talk about being there for each other.  Talk about the crossing of racial, ethnic, social, cultural, and economic boundaries.  Bound together by a common cause.

Those days are gone.  Long gone.

Healthcare is the topic.  And it’s a hot one.  If Nelly had anything to say about it, we’d all be debating and yelling in our underwear.  This fully clothed “debate” (I use this term loosely since the technical term suggests organization of thought, point-counterpoint presentation, and some semblence of sanity) rages on.  But I’m not sure what the debate is actually about anymore.

It’s not actually about healthcare.  Not any more.

Now it is just about angry people yelling.  Loudly.  Without listening.  Without wanting to listen.  Without attempting to get facts or contribute to the solution.  Just yelling.  Accusing.  Blaming.  Unwillingness to acknowledge past mistakes for the sake of ideology and being correct.

It kind of reminds me of an argument I had with my mom once.  I was 15 or 16.  Young.  Immature.  About 45 minutes into the screaming match, we had moved well past the original point of contention.  I don’t think either of us cared so much about the content of the argument as accusations flew and facts were ignored.  We were both just looking for a word or phrase spoken by the other person so we could pounce on it, point out the other person’s mistake or erronous thinking.  Yelling for the sake of yelling.  Looking for a chance to be right.  In the words of REO Speedwagon, we’d forgotten what we started fighting for.

In this healthcare debate, I fear that we’ve forgotten what we started fighting for.

I’m not naive enough to think that two sides can’t and won’t disagree.  We need disagreement.  But we also need a little less crazy and a little more effort.  We need a little more effort to discuss facts.  We need a little more effort to promote civil discourse.  Heck, I’ll even take slightly more effort.

What troubles me most, I think, is the way that much of the yelling is not about helping those who don’t have healthcare.  That’s what this debate should be about.  Unfortunately those people have been lost in the shuffle.  We don’t hear their stories on the news coverage.  (Interestingly, nearly everyone I have seen in the coverage and the town hall meetings are white.  Where are the voices of our black, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and Asian sisters and brothers?)

After 9/11, there was much talk about Americans participating in the common good, about Americans chipping in to help each other.  As I said, those days are gone.  We’re scared because the economy is terrible, unemployment is up, businesses are struggling, and families are hurting.  Fear has in insulating effect.  We try to protect what we have.  It’s an honest and natural response.  I get it.

But it doesn’t help us to figure out a solution.  Yelling louder to make your point doesn’t mean you’re participating in dialogue.  I just means you’re being louder.  I’m talking about those on the right and the left.

And to those who profess to be Christian’s out there…for the love of God, let’s act like Christians.  It’s the least we can do.

So let’s all keep our clothes on, put on some REO Speedwagon, and take a deep breath.

Now, let’s talk about this healthcare thing…