Friday, August 7, 2009

Calling all Congress: "Fuck Common Sense"


I called my congressman today to tell him that I wanted healthcare reform. I told him that I was a small business owner who supported Obama's plan to reform national healthcare.

A few weeks ago, I called the Virginian senators to tell them the same thing.

I hope they listen.

The truth is, I don't think that Bob Goodlatte, my congressman, cares about human beings very much. I don't think that he'll listen to me or anyone else. He wrote a short article about what he calls "common sense healthcare reform" that acknowledges the broken state of the national healthcare system and basically sets a stage where my mom wouldn't be able to get mammograms in the near future.

The problem with "common sense" is that no one can really agree on what it means. "Common sense," after all, dictates that the world is flat. It also says that capital punishment deters crime. "Common sense" is almost always wrong when it comes to big things. Healthcare is definitely a big thing.

Republican and Libertarian arguments often rest very heavily on "common sense," but "Main Street logic on Wall Street" is bull shit, unfortunately. There are unforeseeable factors at play that "common sense" simply cannot account for. That's why people go to school for a long time to figure out how satellites orbit our planet without bumping into one another or how banks can make a ton of money short-term and destroy the national economy long-term.

"Common sense" makes Einstein's theory of relativity look unfathomable, and yet it works. It works because scientists have a method involving endless calculations and experiments that proves whether it will. Of course, you could buy a scientist to say whatever you want, but in the end, a scientist is a much better person to place your bets on than "common sense." That's why people ask expert witnesses so many questions in court: they know more than "common sense" folks.

Experts, real experts, say that national healthcare reform is good for small businesses and everyone else.

2 comments:

tuzakey said...

I went to call my congressperson today to be reminded that I don't have one, she ran off to be in Obama's cabinet while we have this health care bill falling the wrong way. I guess I'll have to ring up my senator instead.

Sky Jack Morgan said...

I called all of them. I got a two page letter from Good-late that described why I am sooooo wrong. There was no substance to his argument unfortunately.