To follow the health care debate up to now is to have heard that the public option is dead, it is alive and well, they’ve got the votes, they ain’t got the votes, no bill can pass with it, no bill can pass without it, the issue is behind a purge within the GOP, the issue is behind a purge within the Dems, they’re coming for Grandma, they aren’t coming for Grandma, and so on and so on and so on.

The Obamas last Thanksgiving.

If there has been one wonk or wag who’s had the story right from the beginning, they likely were drowned out or buried by the nearly infinite amount of speculation-heavy and (ultimately) fact-free coverage blaring out of whatever your news venue of choice is.

This period of national giving of thanks, in which our better impulses call us to be introspective and to meditate on just how grateful we should be for the bounty we enjoy (even now), we instead will have more lack of variation on the old themes as hashed and re-hashed by the usual suspects. It goes without saying that a reasoned, honest discussion of the merits of the many, and varied, ideas on reforming the delivery of health care to our population will be absent from the headlines. Fear not, for during this time of national rest, there is all but zero chance that any high-profile media outlet will disturb your state of mind this holiday weekend by making your thin about the nuances of the discussion. You will get to hear about the death panels, the salaries of every HMO executive on the continent, Gulag Proctologists, and potential candidates for Senator Snowe’s upcoming primary-that-may-happen-or-may not. You are sure to hear much of a majority who expects a minority to pass on using the only formal input they have on the process, a minority who believes that anything their base dislikes necessitates a super-majority to pass, and just how lucrative the pork is for those who know how to play them off of each other.

Of course, if you have a bad case of the flu or an ear infection, you might not hear much of anything with all that gunk in your head. For you, take the stuff that helps you sleep and for your sake, I hope you sleep a good long time and wake up feeling great after all of this is over.

For the rest of us  who would love to see real discussion, real debate, and a real effort on our behalf by those who are supposed to represent us, it will be tempting to hide from any possible contact with any news from the nation’s capitol. I can understand you imposing a news blackout in your homes so that you can enjoy the holiday; and I don’t blame you if you stretch that blackout long beyond Turkey Day, Black Friday, and the days beyond.

Grim as the national politics have become, they only get worse if we allow our cynicism to get the best of us and cause us to disengage from the process and from each other. Some day we are going to have to table the particulars long enough to deal with the over-arching dysfunction that keeps sending us back to this maddening place.

At some point, we need to decide on just how sacred some of our sacred cows really are. The Way We’ve Always Done It eventually needs to have more to recommend itself as The Way It Should Be Done than mere inertia. The hard miles we are putting on the society aren’t taking us anywhere, and this well-worn path we find ourselves on again is anything but the scenic route.

Might there be better checks-and-balances available to us than procedural obstructions and nuclear options? Is everything a winner-take-all event every single time? Is every point which lacks consensus proof of evil on the part of the others with whom we may not agree? Is it only in dealing with each other that we must always play for keeps?

Don’t worry about answering any such questions; after all, as far as I can tell, I know of no one else who really seems all that interested in asking them or having them answered. As far as that goes, it may just be that I am missing the bigger picture. If that is the case, I am thankful I can’t see that bigger picture; I have a feeling it is very very frightening.

Related posts:

1. Some Thoughts on Obama’s Reelection
2. A Military Thanksgiving Remembered
3. ROMANO: Holder Will Resign by Thanksgiving
4. Happy Thanksgiving everyone

Rudy Grahn Jr. is a former talk show host turned writer turned analyst who currently writes primarily on the personal on his weblog Rudayday.com. Rudy is also a digital photographer whose work has been featured on PBS, NBC, and web outlets like BoingBoing.com and The Morning News. His nickname “Rudayday” was conferred upon him by John Romano in the 20th Century.  

Rudy Grahn article archive.