Can we handle the truth on health care?
One of cinemas' classic lines is Jack Nicholsons angry retort "you want the truth? You can't handle the truth." The truth. In a courtroom the truth is decided by evidence weighed by a panel of twelve whose composition and wranglings are supposed to proximate a "reasonable person." Yet even this cherished institution has fallen prey to cynical manipulations in an "end justifies the means" society.
Therein lies the rub. If the end justifies the means then there is no objective truth. A "grassroots revolt" when you agree cannot be "astroturf" when you do not. We cannot hold to universal rights and deprive societies most vulnerable by calling them a "choice". We cannot ignore the lessons of history which prove the first condition necessary for the abuse of power is the consolidation of power.
John Adams once said "Facts are stubborn things." This great founder defended the British soldiers charged with the Boston Massacre. Certainly not where his sympathies laid, but he understood and served a greater truth. Can we?
Steve Quick
Arlington Heights