Call me a dinosaur. You would be right.
Most of my core beliefs seemed to belong to a long-lost age.
I strongly believe that the ends never justify the means.
Getting health care reform passed does not excuse the backroom deals that President Obama made with for-profit hospitals (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-mogulescu/ny-times-reporter-confirm_b_500999.html).
I strongly believe that public officias have a sacred duty to keep their promises; or, if that is not possible then level with the public. The Obama administration has committed itself to governmental transparency. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment/) Candidate Obama (by December 2007) had endorsed a government-run option.
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/22/did-obama-campaign-on-the_n_401204.html)
Based upon the article cited above, President Obama never meant to keep either of those promises.
I strongly believe that questioning our public officials is a sacred privilege of all Americans.
President Obama and his followers on the health care legislation claim to be on the right side of history. As the President said upon passage of this bill: “I want to thank every member of Congress who stood up tonight with courage and conviction to make health care reform a reality. And I know this wasn’t an easy vote for a lot of people. But it was the right vote.” (http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/03/22/what-change-looks)
How does he know what is the right or wrong vote? Is he a prophet, a high priest, or a psychic? Who is he to infer that dissenters lack (moral) courage?
I strongly contend that dissenting tends to be a highly moral act. History has indicated that those Democrats who protested against the Vietnam War were morally courageous and right.
I’m not trying to single out Democrats and health-care reform advocates. (I have long been a believer in health-care reform and voted for Mr. Obama in 2008.)
Republicans have also tried to stifle dissent; believed that the ends justify the means; have broken promises to their constituents, and acted as if only they have the correct moral values.
Such actions and beliefs are seemingly (as they say) the political zeitgeist. Evidently, that’s what the American people desire.