The Banality of Falsehood

The banality of falsehood.

I recently was on a conservative talk radio station that purports to be "community based". Of course, I was considered a real oddity, because I am a progressive Democrat, and was representing the Democratic Central Committee in the a conservatibve county.

At one point, off mike, during a discussion with the host (who was very friendly and cordial; I was invited back), I quoted a World Health Organization study, that found the American health care system the most expensive in the world, but ranks in the mid-twenties among all nations for quality of care applied to all citizens.

I got this reply, "Well, what is the background and veracity of the study you use. How do know the figures are correct". This exact same retort has been used by my conservative friends on issues from global warming to illegal immigration.

In short, if a progressive uses a study, any study, the conservative response is to belittle it, discredit it, and counter with anectodal "facts"; like at one point, my host mentioned that there was one school administrator for every teacher in California. I must admit my jaw dropped at that one.

Within seconds of the recent Affordable Care Act Supreme Court decision, conservatives started a campaign that "Obamacare" (as they love to call it), was the "biggest tax on the middle class in history". Next came, "small businesses will all stop insuring their employees". And, "the Act will bankrupt states".

None of these accusations are backed up with any empirical evidence at all. And the biggest reason I can state that unequivocably, is the Act is not even implimented yet.

In Massachusetts, that implemented virtually the same law under the leadership of the Republican candidate for President, none of these draconian things have come to pass. None of them!

So, we have an empirical "demonstration site" if you will, that can predict how the Affordable Care Act will work, and conservatives never mention it, in fact the guy who passed it, Mitt Romney, says he will repeal and replace "Obamacare" with....guess what, the same thing he got passed in Massachusetts, which is the same thing we have now. Sound confused....I sure am!

He slipped last week and started to list the main ingredients of the Massachusetts law and the Affordable Care Act as part of his "replace" plan. Of course, most conservatives, like the Senator from Wisconsin, are screaming that repealing the act is necessary "because liberty has the benefit of denying insurance to cancer victims."

What? So liberty means you are free to die, of a usual painful disease, because in American you are free to not have health insurance or health care. What is the matter with these people?

The point is we have in America now a "sound bite" political party, that has deterorated into an artificial reality, denounces any empirical, scientific reality, and reacts with anger and vengence (for lack of a better word), to almost everything.

The phone video of the conservative congresswoman, reacting to the mistaken report that the Affordable Care Act had been overturned, shows vivid video evidence of what can only be called rabid reactionary fanaticism.

Conservatives are all in to destroy President Obama and anything he promotes.

The racism of this just oozes all over the political landscape.

Finally, the Supreme Court should never even heard the case. The Injunction Law (not aptly named) does not allow Supreme Court challenges in cases of alleged unconstitutional issues, until the harm has occurred. In short, a person has to have a wrongful tax applied and them sue.

So where was the harm? There was none. The fact is conservatives conspired to get the Affordable Care Act to the Supreme Court, before the 2012 election. They figured a 5-4 majority to overturn the Act was a given. Then gambled that Roberts and at least four other conservatives would vote to overturn. They screwed up!

Chief Justice Roberts, I think knew that the "fix was on" and realized the credibilty of the Supreme Court was directly on the line. So, he took the taxation power of Congress as justification for what in essence is a penalty that a few have to pay, if they refuse to purchase health insurance, which will be much cheaper than the choices that have stopped them before.

The insurance area that is most effected by the Affordable Care Act is not group insurance, or Medicare, but individual polilcies that have traditionally been nearly impossible to purchase by the sick or the injured. Moreover, exchanges will make individual insurance, non-employeer provided, affordable. If you can already can afford it, you either purchase it, or get a penalty, actually a charge, and the insurance is purchased. And that is a tax? And, if Massachusetts is a guide, about 2% eventually are so "taxed"...that is a far cry from the "most massive tax on the middle class ever".

Republicans are now screaming that this is a tax, when it is the legal reasoning Justice Roberts used to allow the bill to pass constitutional muster. But, the "tax", as they are now ranting, buys you health insurance! And, it is way cheaper and better than what you could not afford before. And, if Massachusetts is any guide, very few people are ever forced into paying it, because almost everyone buys health insurance before a penaly is enforced. Some tax, huh?

But you cannot find that logic anywhere on the right. They are screaming that this is the greatest blow to liberty ever. That seniors are in danger. That millions will in fact lose their insurance. That the world will sure end. Fear, fear, fear, is pushed, along with huge lies about the Affordable Care Act as par of their rabid reaction to the Act being declared Constitutional.

Go to Massachusetts, look at how that law has worked out. See how the Act that Governor Romeny brokered, and signed, and supported, and you can see how the Affordable Care Act will play out. None, I mean none, of the horrible outcomes Republicans are predicted, have occurred.

Finally, you cannot appeal to reason with these folks. I recently wrote on a conservative friend's wall, in reation to a serious of mis-representations about the Affordable Care Act. Her hysterical reaction tells it all, she would not debate the issues, she invited me off her wall.

You see, they cannot take the truth, because the only thing backing up their arguments is mis-representation, lies, and falsehoods.