Intermezzo

WARNING! Today's post is a bit longer than normal.


Good day, family and friends!

Since my last post on the 13th, I've been doing some serious soul searching. I have to admit to being more than a little surprised and shocked by the response I received from the definitions I provided, not only from my friends and family, but from others outside my Facebook 'Friends' list who read my blog. While the responses from my 'Friends' list were considered, reasonable, and in the spirit of open debate and discussion, the others were considerably more vitriolic. These less than intelligent individuals also chose to expose their true cowardly nature by sending their comments to me via e-mail rather than posting them in either of the open forums available. Both sets of comments, however, did serve to underscore the most fundamental problem with most political debates these days, and in particular the Healthcare debate: how can we have a rational, reasoned, intelligent debate about anything when we can't even agree on the most basic parameters of the debate?

I could become redundant right now and once again go into excruciating detail of how I went out of my way to make certain I did not get the definitions I used from any source that was even remotely "Conservative" on the political pendulum, but I won't. What has happened, though, is that I now understand what the main protagonist in two novels I recently read was put through as I am experiencing now it myself.

In Terry Goodkind's novels, Soul of the Fire and Faith of the Fallen, Richard Rahl believes that he can convince the citizens of a small country to join his empire by simply sharing the truth with them. The truth is that Richard's empire is dedicated to justice, to protecting individual rights, to ending corruption and cronyism, and to allowing everyone the freedom to strive to be their best free from the fear that it will arbitrarily be taken away from them. The Order (Richard's opposition), on the other hand, believes that Man is a base creature whose only purpose in life is to help others with no thought for himself. The Order preaches social justice and entitlement, mandates charity, condemns personal excellence, and justifies murder, rape, and pillage as tools necessary to bringing 'true equality' to the masses. Unlike Richard, though, The Order doesn't bother with the truth. They instead use propaganda, misinformation, and outright lies to manipulate the masses. They demonize business owners as wealthy elitists who just want to side with Richard so they can continue to keep all the money earned for them by the common workers. They promise a new era of prosperity for the common man while punishing the 'greedy.' They use whisper campaigns to blame Richard's faction for everything that goes wrong...even natural disasters. They spread rumors that Richard doesn't care about the unemployed and would rather see impoverished children die. In short, they stoke the fire of fear in the common people.

In the end, 70% of the people vote to side with The Order. Richard withdraws his entourage and leaves the people to their fate. The Order moves in and the people discover the truth...that they have voluntarily enslaved themselves to a culture of death. From this, Richard finally realizes that truth does not automatically win every time and you can't force people to be free. He learned that no amount of logical, reasoned, factual discourse will ever change an opinion based on feelings. In fact, more often than not, the attempt to change such an opinion will lead only to animosity, derision, and outright hostility. This is where the response to my blog has left me.

As I read comments that called me things like "hatemonger", "racist", "Republican stooge", and "ignorant inbred hick", I decided I was done. Why should I even bother if just the definitions I provided were eliciting this sort of response from the effete thugs who are only interested in promoting their own agenda? It became very clear that no amount of rational, logical analysis and discussion would dent the shell of partisan intolerance in which these 'enlightened' individuals had wrapped themselves. I was done trying to be a rallying point for the vision of personal freedom and personal responsibility laid out by our forefathers. I would no longer bear that standard as long as I was viewed as nothing but a 'hick in a flyover state' by the snobs living in the elitist bastions of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Central Austin, and the East Coast. I had decided to drop my analysis on Healthcare in America.

This is where my brilliant youngest daughter comes in. I was discussing with her the frustration (and to an extent, depression) I was experiencing as I tried to have an intelligent discussion when she cut to the chase and asked me a single question: "Why did you start your blog in the first place?" That one question was like a lightning bolt. She made me realize that I had wandered far off track. As stated in my very first post, I started blogging "as a way to work out my thoughts on everything that is happening to our Nation and around the world." I didn't start this blog to educate or enlighten anyone else. If that happened along the way, it was gravy. But the meat of my blog is my own thoughts.

Therefore, thanks to my daughter, I have decided to continue my analysis of the Healthcare issue. I will continue to write about the facts, experiences, and opinions I deem relevant. I will continue to document my sources for my own use. I invite you to continue reading and to comment on what I post. I will probably answer questions, respond to requests for clarification, and thank you for your comments. I will not, however, debate anything in the 'comments' section of either my blog or my Facebook account until I have completed the entire series on Healthcare. Then, if you want to debate, I will do so only if you come ready with facts from verifiable sources. If you choose to try to debate anything in this series with 'feelings', I will at best ignore you, and at worst verbally shred you.

Next time, I will finally continue the series on Healthcare in America. Really! Until then...

Best regards...



© James P. Rice 2009