Individual accountability

As time draws closer and closer to the supreme court hearing regarding the health care reform, or Obamacare if you want to call it that, more and more people are coming out of the woodwork to oppose it. After reading a nice editorial regarding the health care plan, I feel as though they side stepped around the true underlying issue. In the editorial, the issue is raised that a lot of people are misinformed about the policy, and that the Obama administration failed at conveying the correct information about the bill. It touches on how the reform was initially a Republican idea and that the administration embraced it hoping that it would be accepted by both parties alike; an assumption that turned out to be quite wrong. If you strip away most of the issues surrounding the bill and it's support or opposition though, you get to the real issue at hand: people are horribly misinformed. Not only are they misinformed, but they have built strong arguments and feelings around misinformation, and now are even less susceptible to changing their minds because now the actual facts go against everything they know to be true. How is it that in this day and age people can be so misinformed about an issue, one which is a piece of legislation that is publicly available for viewing in its raw form? Simply put, people are lazy and ignorant. I'll admit, the phrasing of any piece of legislation can be difficult to understand, redundant, and a boring read. However, like classical English literature, if you read it carefully enough, look up the words you do not understand, and ponder the issue, you'll be able to understand the general concepts, if not more. But how many people actually take the time to read the primary literature? Not very many, even though internet access to the bill is available, and most Americans have access to the internet in one form or another. Primary literature aside however, one can find a myriad of summaries of the bill that lack any sort of opinion or political slant. Yet most individuals do not seem to have read such simple summaries, and instead opt for the bias left-wing or right-wing opinion articles that not only skew the facts, but omit some completely. On top of this, the number of articles and summaries of the bill are at least equal to the number of videos or news clips that do an equally poor job of explaining the bill, simplifying the information even further and attempting to make it fit into a 30 -60 second video clip. Which do you think most individuals would pick to read or view? The article or the video? Most likely, and assuming people are as lazy as they seem nowadays, I think most individuals will watch the video clips from their news source of choice, with their bias of choice. Once they've digested the equivalent of a one paragraph tweet of information, they'll begin building their own views and opinions, sharing them with others, discussing them with like minded individuals, and solidifying their stance on the matter. But their stance is so fundamentally weak that it is laughable. It's not weak because of their own left or right leaning bias, it's weak because most opinions floating around out there or gaining substantial attention are based on only a few hand picked facts mixed with a lot more misinformation. When did people become so lazy and apathetic that they ceased to read most or all of the information on a subject before forming their own opinions? When did ignorance become something almost prized, preferring misinformation and editorials to actual facts as boring as they might be? Sadly, these same individuals comprise the voting majority, and as such, make decisions and place votes based on their bare minimum, partial understanding of subjects. When this country was founded, voting rights were limited to land owners, and voting rights were tarnished by sexist and racist limitations. Now, all races and genders can vote, and the voting age reflects the age that one is able to die for one's country. But why are voting rights extended to individuals that lack critical thinking skills? Why are voting rights extended to those that favor ignorance and the quick/easy route over the longer and more involved, but more factual route? No one should be prevented from voting because of their color, gender or sexual orientation. However, the village idiot's opinion should not be counted with the rest. If an individual would rather read a tweet than the actual text before making a decision; if an individual would rather not look up a word's definition to understand a text more fully; or if an individual would rather jump on a bandwagon than form their own opinions, then that individual should not have to right to vote. This country has thrived due to democracy, but what progress can be made with an uneducated lazy populace? Decision making should be done by rational, logical, critically thinking, educated adults; not by individuals who solely rely on 30 second news clips for all of their information. We need to educate our nation so that it can thrive; but until those individuals are capable of making unbiased logical decisions, they should not be allowed to shape their country's future.


UPDATE:

Here is a perfect example of the type of individual that should not be allowed to vote until they up the number of dendrites that are firing at any given time:
http://now.msn.com/entertainment/0319-funny-mph-video.aspx

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Federal funding and the average commenter

So I read an article today on NPR that discussed how birth control ultimately saves tax dollars. It puts forth very simple arguments that are based solely on cost analysis and how a given policy that costs XXX dollars ultimately saves taxpayers XXX dollar due to the reduction in unplanned pregnancies, and ultimately, babies that are born into households that are either ill-prepared to handle them, or are downright incapable of handling them. The article was quite well written, and provided a very unbiased analysis of this ongoing controversy regarding coverage of birth control and family planning services by employers and tax payers. It doesn't matter what side of the fence you lean on, or what color flag you fly when it comes to politics; numbers speak for themselves. Anyone who has ever read about, or performed any branch of the sciences know that ultimately, the data speaks for itself. True, accidents happen, miscalculations are made, and a thorough analysis is always needed. However, at the end of the day, if the data goes against (or with) your current hypothesis, you have to give it some credit. That being said however, one would be quite surprised to read the comments that begin to flow following the article. Thanks to the ability for anyone and everyone to comment, we now see a nice image of just how uneducated, ignorant, and oblivious some people can be. People begin raising all sorts of slippery slope fallacies about how if we pay for contraception and family planning that we're one step closer to imposing a 1-child policy like China. Or then there are the individuals who feel it is necessary to go on and on about Obamacare and the liberals forcing their ideals down their throats regarding birth control. The last time I checked, there are all sorts of subsidies and uses of federal funding that I don't necessarily agree with. However, it ultimately is for the good of the whole and so you take the good with the bad. You implement funding and policies that enable people to live their lives according to their own beliefs without forcing something upon them one way or another. Think of it like education. The federal government provides subsidies for colleges and higher learning institutions nationwide; because of this funding, college tuition are lower than they would be without them (expensive instead of ridiculously expensive). By doing this, more individuals are provided the opportunity to attend college, and pursue their own goals, without forcing everyone to go to college. Every citizen has a share of their tax dollars going to this federal subsidy, however as we all know, not everyone goes to college. Some individuals simply don't want to, and that's fine. That is their choice and they have made it. If we replace education with birth control and family planning, there is no difference. More individuals who wish to take advantage of birth control and family planning services are allowed to do so, while those who do not, don't. Everyone pays in, and those who want to utilize the services do so according to their own beliefs and needs. The same could be said for many other funding issues and law making controversies. Simply because something is legal or funded does not mean that you are FORCED to perform that legalized act or use the funded service. Farming is highly subsidized, however I have never been approached my a government agent instructing me to be a farmer "OR ELSE." Yet here we see countless Americans, many of whom are probably registered voters, clamoring on in a very tabloid like fashion about conspiracy this, liberal that, Obamacare this, etc. etc. The opposite side of this coin remains the same for left-leaning individuals who start freaking out about legislation and spending policies that go against their grass roots nature. Both sides need to realize that the world will never be completely conservative, or completely liberal. NEVER. As such, we have to have everything in balance, where government functions to maintain the safety of the state, while allowing each individual to live their lives as they choose. It's the reason we have religious freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom to bear arms. Unfortunately, it seems as though some people have stopped enjoying being an adult and would rather have a government entity make their lifestyle choices for them. If that's what they want, to be treated as a child, then fine. But children are not allowed to vote, and neither should they. Besides, would you rather pay a little for some federally funded condoms now, or pay a lot more when all of those ill-timed babies grow up to be the next generation of Walmart shoppers that sell their food stamps for liquor and suck up welfare money like a gap toothed sponge?

Here is the original article:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/03/06/148042609/how-birth-control-saves-taxpayers-money

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