Election Reflections

Well, tomorrow we vote.  At some point, perhaps in the early morning hours of Wednesday, perhaps not for several days, we will find out who has been selected by our electoral college system to serve as President for the next four years.  I expect that the winner will not fulfill all the promises they have made.  Nor will their presidency be as apocalyptic as the prophets of doom have predicted.  Both of these candidates have virtues which are worthy of our admiration, and weaknesses which merit our concern.  Nonetheless, based on the deluge of FB posts by my friends, I expect that while somewhere around a third of you will be ecstatic over the result, another third will be bitterly disappointed.   

But this post isn’t really about who is President for the next four years.  We’ll all survive that.  This post is about my friends.  You all.  For no matter who wins this election, the last election, the next election – most of us will still be here.  There is an old saw that we get the government we deserve.  And frankly, based on the vitriol and animosity I have seen on my page, we don’t deserve much. 
I have heard friends accuse friends of being bigots and racists because of who they are voting for.  I have seen friends accuse friends of being “uninformed, misinformed, communists or opposed to this country’s values” if we vote for Obama.  I have seen friends accuse friends of being haters, homophobes, misogynists, etc., if they vote for Romney.  I have seen friends “unfriend” friends.  Frankly, I’ve been tempted myself, although I have resisted the urge.  I don’t know if we are reflecting the animosity of Washington, or if the Beltway reflects the hatred and spite of the citizenry. 

Here’s what I rarely, if ever, observed.  People truly listening.  People asking questions of people who view the world differently seeking to understand.  To paraphrase G. K. Chesterton, it’s not that we have tried to engage in gracious, thoughtful political dialogue and found it wanting – it’s that we have found it difficult and not tried.  We have told people what they think rather than asking them.  We have refused to believe their reasons, choosing to trust our own stereotypes.  We haven’t listened to their stories – we’ve made them shallow caricatures in a story of our own creation. 

I expect I have noticed this acutely this year because this is the first year that so many of us have been on FB in an election year.  But of course, politics, not to mention religion, has been a taboo topic of discussion for years, long before the internet.  It is tragic that those disciplines that capture the depths of human values and meaning - religion and politics - are considered off-limits for many of our conversations.  I expect much of this revolves around our need to be right, and our fear of people who see the world differently.

I’ve given this a lot of thought as a friend of mine has continually jabbed at supporters of the other candidate, goading them to respond to some of the more troublesome aspects of their candidate’s platform.  All asked in a shaming, blaming way.  Not surprisingly, no one took them up on the offer to explain. 

Let me make a few friendly suggestions of how we might do this better four years from now.

First off, ask questions.  And listen.  Really listen.  Don’t just wait for them to take a breath so you can shoot down their position.  Listen seeking to understand.  Assume that they are a person of good faith, rather than an evil, bigoted hater.  Don’t tell them why they’re wrong.  Try and understand why they view the world the way they do.  Affirm aspects of their values and perspectives that you can respect and admire, even if you might view things differently.  Make it safe for them to share their deepest hopes and fears with you.  You will find that when you have asked questions, listened actively seeking to understand, and affirmed common ground, that you will develop trust.  You will also have created a space where they may ask you questions.  They may give you the same respect that you have shown them.  They may be willing to express respect for some of your values and vision, even if yours differ from theirs.  Then, admit to them the concerns you have about your own candidate/party, acknowledging that candidates, like the rest of humanity, have their weaknesses as well as their strengths.  Then, and only then, might they feel safe enough to address the weaknesses in their candidate/party that trouble you.  Few of us embrace the entire platform of the candidate we vote for.  You may not change your friend's vote.  But you will have deepened a friendship.  And opened a mind.  You can’t wait for them to make the first step.  You have to do it.

And whoever wins this election, be open to the possibility that some of their policies, all of which have been informed by advisors and embraced by close to half the population, might actually succeed.  Hope and pray for the success of the candidate, even if you’re skeptical.  Be more concerned about the good of the country than the success or failure of political parties.  When we remain open to the virtues and vision of their leadership, they may be more willing to listen to our legitimate concerns about those who might get left behind by their policies.

And maybe, just maybe, this sort of political engagement will catch on.

Health Care - Mandatory Insurance and Patriotism

Guess how many states have laws that REQUIRE citizens TO BUY insurance?  FIFTY.  That’s right, folks.  Every single one of them.   Red states as well as Blue states.  Require.  Citizens.  To Buy.  Insurance.  To be more specific, every single state requires citizens who drive motor vehicles to buy liability insurance to cover any damage they might inflict.

Now of course this law doesn’t apply to everyone.  There are two primary classes of people who do not have to buy automobile liability insurance.  Those who don’t drive.  And those can prove financial responsiblity to cover any damage they might cause up to a certain limit.

The rationale behind these laws REQUIRING citizens TO BUY liability insurance is simple.  There is a significant risk that anyone who drives a motor vehicle may, over the course of their lifetime, cause an accident which causes damage to the property or bodies of others.  There is a strong societal interest in making sure that those so injured can be compensated for their losses. You cannot buy insurance to cover an injury after you cause it. You have to have the insurance ahead of time.  The insurance covers the damages caused by negligent drivers.  Of course, this cost is paid for by all of the non-negligent drivers who pay their premiums every month without causing any damage.  Hence, the requirement that ALL drivers, negligent as well as careful, carry liability insurance.

Those of us who live on planet earth are also at significant risk of needing medical treatment at some point in our lives.  We may contract, carry or transmit a disease, be injured as the result of an accident, or develop some other illness or chronic condition – sometimes the result of our own choices, sometimes not.  There is a strong societal interest in making sure that those who need medical treatment can afford treatment for those illnesses.  There is also a strong societal interest in making sure that those who provide medical treatment are compensated for having done so.

Health insurance, like any other form of insurance, only works if there is a shared assumption of the risk.  Insurance companies rely on actuarial tables to assess the risk and base their rates accordingly (after factoring in a healthy profit of course).  Healthy people have to pay into the program so that sick people are covered.  Previously, insurance companies could refuse coverage or charge significantly higher rates for people with pre-existing medical conditions.  The current legislation seeks to prevent that by spreading the risk around to all citizens.

Now some may argue that health insurance is different than auto insurance because only people who drive motor vehicles have to purchase insurance.  Granted that is true, mandatory health insurance should only be required of citizens who might be expected to contract, carry, pass on, or suffer from a medical condition, or sustain an injury requiring medical treatment.  Of course, since all of us are mere mortals, this applies to everyone.  Only corpses are not at risk of needing health care.

Another option would be an opt-out provision, with the understanding that those who opt out are not entitled to receive any medical care treatment whatsoever that they cannot pay for prior to the administration of the treatment.  Kind of like buying broccoli at the grocery store – you can’t take it home and eat it until you’ve paid for it.  If you opt out and don’t have the money you’ll get no EMT care, no ambulance ride, no appendectomy, no CPR, no emergency room care, no cancer treatment, no life-saving procedures.  Nada.  Zip.  Nothing.  If you think this is a cruel approach to health care – leaving people to suffer or die who can’t afford treatment - I agree with you.  But what justification for entitlement to treatment can people give who, given the chance to share the risk with the rest of us, REFUSE to do so?

Mandatory health insurance, or in the alternative, national health care, is PATRIOTIC.  It exemplifies the highest ideals of the American public – a willingness to stand up with our fellow citizens against threats against any of us.  That means patriotic citizens who are willing to fight and die in the military against threats to the rights and freedoms from our enemies.  And it means patriotic citizens being willing to pay for our fair share to spread the risk around, standing together against threats to our health.  We don’t want our fellow citizens to be denied health insurance by insurance companies because they have pre-existing medical conditions, or to be charged so much they can’t afford it.  We don’t want our fellow citizens losing their homes because of catastrophic illness.  We don’t want our fellow citizens buried in debt which they can never repay because of some medical misfortune.  We’ve got each other’s backs.  That’s how we roll.

May God bless America, and may every American citizen be willing to shoulder their fair share of the risk to provide medical care for all, even if it means the government requiring us to buy it.