The Public Discussion on Healthcare

In the recent public discussion on healthcare the demagogues have taken over. Instead of rational discussion on cost, inclusion and effectiveness we are being detracted by manufactured issues. The two party system is supposed to counter the corruption that comes with the concentration of power. But with inflammatory rhetoric cynically manipulating public fears, it hardly seems to be working out. While the Republican Party hasn’t produced the only demagogic leaders in town it certainly looks that way now with Pallin, Gingrich and others knowingly twisting the provision on living will counseling into “death squads”. These people have certainly lost my trust. And why are the Democrats so bent on including them in bi-partisanship? Compromise is best used when there is an honest difference of opinion – not with people who seemingly are more interested in their own power than the public good.