Don't Let Politicians Divide Us Into Opposing Teams

Why do we insist on choosing up sides in order to decide what we believe? During the last Presidential campaign somebody sent me a You Tube link that showed several Obama supporters interviewed on the street, being asked questions like, "What do you like most about Obama, the fact that he is pro-life or that he selected Sarah Palin for his running mate?". I'm sure there were plenty of people who caught on & were therefore edited out of the video, but there were certainly enough who supported both of his supposed positions to make an entertaining several minutes. These people didn't support Barak Obama because of his positions on the issues. They supported him because he was a Democrat, or because he was a liberal, or because he was black, or because he was articulate, or because their friends supported him. These people went along & allowed other people tell them what to believe about Obama and, presumably what to believe about McCain.

The most recent example is the healthcare debate. People are lining up on this, and stridently defending positions outlined by what appears to be their party of choice. A few days ago several people on Facebook had posted, ""No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. We are only as strong as the weakest among us." If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day." This is a sentiment most if not all of us can agree with. But this quote seemed to be being used, by and large, to promote a particular version of healthcare & to imply that those that don't support provisions in the bills now before congress are opposed to healthcare. But pay attention. Republicans have advanced several proposals to make healthcare both affordable and available to all Americans.

We can agree on many things that political teams in Washington DC want us to believe we cannot agree upon. If we refuse to let them set the agenda for us, we will be able to come up with something reasonable and bi-partisan.