For the next several weeks, the ether we all breathe in as Americans won't be full of issues related to the merits of one health care bill over another, nor will it be about his committee versus the other guy's. It will most definitely contain little in the way of nominally nonpartisan analysts' takes on the legislation. For true policy wonks, who never wager any serious bets on actual human behavior, this August must be like spending a month floating in a sensory deprivation chamber. For wonks with political proclivities it must be hell to wonder what's really going on out there.
I don't pretend to have a more global view than the next guy, but from where I sit, I do see one thing happening. Justified or not, the guys in charge are coming off as better than everyone else. Forget about sounding like Joe Everyman. Our leaders aren't feeling most people. Democrats haven't done that with great success since Roosevelt, who was not exactly a beer drinker himself.
Looking at the liberal blogosphere, there is no end to cogent, rational arguments on why reform is necessary, and in what ways. There are thousands of sensible voices calling for order and healthy dialectical progress. They busy themselves by calling people 'stupid thugs', all while correcting the spelling and grammar mistakes on the placards held by the people beating down the doors to their 'town meetings.' They try their damndest to live in a rational world, seeking the smartest, most efficient move for our country at any given moment.
Stupid thugs or not, Teabaggers and the rest of them understand one thing that liberals never seem to get. Most people don't think rational things are necessarily good things. Most people don't like to be told what's good by an egghead know-it-all who got beat down every recess as kids. People absolutely detest being talked down to, patronized, or told what to do here. Most people are more superstitious and fearful than you might think. Most people believe in angels and devils. Most people will act on emotion and instinct long before they do the rational thing.
I read many opinions griping about the demagoguery, paranoia and general nastiness emanating out of the Right Wing. The reason why they're spouting delusional interpretations of pretty mainstream proposals, or circulating outright lies (all while winning the news cycle) is that there really isn't anything rational to discuss right now. It is easier to destroy than it is to create, and destruction is an emotional thing. There is nothing pushing back at a Right Wing that trades in the currency of emotion-- the only game in town. Congress is closed. The president is at the beach.
If health reform fans are going to get anything positive out of this month, they need to send the wonks to an all-inclusive resort with CSPAN at the bar and give the English teachers who moonlight as bloggers some 7th grade level essays to correct.
Time for getting back to your roots, lefties. Leave the details for September. Why do you believe in health reform? What do you believe in? What happened to your friend, your sister, a coworker that makes it unacceptable to do nothing about our messed up system? What are you angry about? What are you hopeful for?
Never mind the crackpot stuff they believe in. What about you? Forget about money, public options, exchanges, or anything even remotely related to congress. Don't try to justify it. It's just plain wrong for people to go without health care when they don't have to. You have just as much a right to your emotions and beliefs as Glenn Beck. The Right's been peddling visions of apocalypse. The Left needs to come back with a Garden of Eden. Those are the wages of this battle.
It's time to feel this. The details will be worked out, and they'll be more to the liking of true reformists, if there is an emotional impetus behind them. To be certain, congressmen listen to the guys that pay for their campaigns, but they listen even harder to the people that vote them in.
Thank God, Thomas Jefferson, and the rest of 'em.
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