Talking pointless
We all know why talking points exist. It is a twofold, reason, really – one is that when someone hears a good argument, they like to use it themselves. I’ve been known to do that myself. For example, when I say that I don’t understand why America can’t provide health care to all the people of America when other countries can do it, that isn’t original to me. The other reason is because, well, sometimes, repetition makes things true, or at least, makes things seem true. If enough people say “Eggs are bad for you” then people are going to start thinking eggs are bad for you, whether or not eggs are good or bad. The real reason why talking points exist is because, well, they work.
Still, it seems to me you’d want to evaluate if your talking points really make any sense at all. I know “The Daily Show” did a routine on this last night, but I thought it deserved some further consideration. The talking points for the opposition on how the President wants to change health care seem to be “Do you really want health care to be as efficient as the DMV (or other government office)?” and “Why would you want to insert a bureaucrat between you and your doctor?”
That second one is nonsense. There’s already a bureaucrat between me and my doctor, and he works for an insurance company. Actually, my insurance is pretty good now, but back in the day, I had to fight for things like chiropractic visits. And if I wasn’t fighting, I was constantly getting re-evaluated to see if they were still needed. Because some guy who’s never met me or talked to my doctor has a computer formula that says I might be scamming the insurance company out of money with unnecessary visits… as if going to a doctor is a fun way to spend my time. I wasn’t going to an amusement park; I was going to an office, waiting for 15 minutes to half an hour, for a 5-10 minute appointment that helped me continue to be able to use my arm. So you know what? I’ll gladly take the government bureaucrat instead, and I’ll tell you why. Because that government worker at least in theory works for the people while the insurance company one works only for stockholders who have the sole interest in saving money, not my health.
As to that first one, we all have our stories of government waste. We know they exist. But on the whole, how bad a job do they do? The two common examples are the DMV and the Post Office. I know the story goes the DMV is inefficient, but for the most part, my experiences there have been quick and painless. One license renewal was a pain, because they had had a number of people quit recently so there were long lines. But that can happen anywhere. And I barely go to the DMV any more, I can do all of that online. Further, there’s millions of cars on the road in America, and most of them are registered, inspected, and insured (at least in those states where its required). Heck, you want an example of government efficiency; the DMV knew the very moment I lost my auto insurance at one point due to a late payment, back when I was having money trouble, and they were on my backside instantly.
The post office gets a bad rap because they raise rates frequently, and every now and again someone snaps, and there are lines around the holidays. But seriously. Every day but Sunday, they come to your house and drop off your mail. They pick up mail from your house at the same time. They move things across the nation in 1 to 5-6 days, depending on how much you pay, or maybe a few weeks if it’s a larger package and you pay the lowest rate. There are private corporations that do this, but the service is about the same (except they don’t always pick up) and the price is about the same – for packages. Or letters can be sent via the internet, which is all on computers. For moving physical stuff around, it is actually hard to really beat the post office. Obviously, there are some things that Fedex and UPS do better, and some they do worse, but overall, the vaunted “private sector” doesn’t kick the government’s ass.
Social Security has never had a failure to process their payroll (individuals have no doubt fallen through the cracks- I’m merely saying as a whole, they’ve never messed up on a massive scale). The military defends this nation and does their level best even when a President sends them in with no clear mission and lacking sufficient equipment – and trust me, I’d much rather have the military doing it than the private sector equivalents, who do nothing but scare the pants off me. The fire department saves homes and the police save people. Our national parks are generally awesome.
Do some departments cost a lot? Sure. Defense costs a lot, but having a weapon that works the first time, every time, and won’t hurt you if it fails costs a lot. Heck, even normal objects cost a lot if they have to be safe for battle zones – go and watch the episode of West Wing episode “Process Stories” if you want to see why. NASA costs a lot too, but since no one but governments and *billionaire* Richard Branson is sending people in to space – and he isn’t doing it regularly yet – I guess it’s just an inherently expensive proposition. Could costs go down? Sure. And we should be looking to do so. But some things just cost money. Even health care costs money. A medication may be 5 cents a pill today, but it probably costs millions or billions to create and test it. Making it Governmental won’t change that aspect of health care, but it may make things more available to the people.
Oh, and yes, your taxes may go up. Which always sucks. Unless, of course, its offset by your insurance or other health care costs going down. Which would only make sense.
If done right, which is admittedly a tricky proposition, there is no reason government run healthcare is inherently going to be poorly run. To say that it is does a disservice to all our government offices that, frankly, we take for granted. Unless government health care is run as efficiently and effectively as the United State Congress (under either party). Then we’ll all be dead in a week.
