I sincerely do want you to listen to the audio here. It's all Ronald Reagan. And he couldn't be more spot on if he were speaking today.
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2 comments:
I disagree. I think Reagan is very far off-base, and I am not saying that just because I am for universal health care. He appeals to emotion, not to logic, to win the hearts of people to the extent that they will never be inclined to make the effort to educate themselves (reading proposals and bills, paying attention to debates, etc) in order to make an informed decision that they can get behind--either pro or con. Also, the environment that Reagan is speaking in no longer exists: both communism (USSR/Cold War version) and unregulated capitalism (US mortgage and bank failures in the past 1.5 years) have failed, and miserably at that. Reagan also continually cites--and indeed builds his entire argument on--American Exceptionalism, which I think was one of the biggest philosophical fallacies of the 20th Century, just as Manifest Destiny was of the 19th. While the events of 9/11 did much to shatter that paradigm, remnants of it still exist, especially among the ranks of the Republican Party. Whether it is a sincere belief or being used as an excuse, I can't say, but the sheer fact of its existence holds the progress of this nation back. That is not to say that conservativism is wholly bankrupt; in fact, many conservative ideals are good practices, but it is in no way (in my mind at least), the end-all-be-all political ideology. Do I want America to be great? Sure! Do I think it's great right now? We've got a lot of things going for us, but a whole lot of things holding us back. But, I do think that the way for a nation to become great is to forge ahead, and not to stymie progress with unchecked corporate (and personal) greed. When a nation puts its People first, and not just some people, then it becomes great.
As sincerely as you wanted me (and other readers) to listen to that sound clip (and what the hell was with that music?), I want you to read this article, which is not so much about universal health care as it is the current state of conservatism and the Republican party, by Garrison Keillor: http://www.salon.com/opinion/keillor/2009/10/14/nobel_peace_prize/index.html
Remember when I was going to draft a thoughtful response to this comment and then never did?
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