The Affordable Health Care Act, Scotus, Romney, Obama - Oh My!

The Affordable Healthcare Act, Scotus, Romney, Obama - Oh My!

So, it's been a pretty big week for... CNN and FOX news.  Both of whom were so aggressive in getting the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act, or if you prefer, Obama Care out, that they spent 13 minutes and nearly 3 minutes respectively promoting the wrong decision.  To Fox's credit they made their adjustment much faster than CNN did. But, really, don't each of these networks have people watching other networks, Twitter or even the AP news app? Isn't the goal of News in general to get the story right? I got the headline from the AP news app (Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Healthcare Act), on my iPhone about 10:03 Thursday morning.  So, since I'm a teacher and you know teachers have their summers off for lollygagging, I was home, lollygagging.  I turned on the television and first went to FOX, expecting them to be downtrodden.  Huh? What? The decision gutted the Act? Then I went on to CNN, Huh? What? The decision gutted the Act? Was AP wrong? Then I hopped online to MPR.org, they had the same headline as AP.  Could FOX and CNN both be wrong?

Yes.

And therein proves the problem with News in general currently, but cable news in particular. The story itself has become secondary to the slant, to being first on the soapbox to yell and scream for more... Or is that ice cream?

In an age where technology allows us to be instantly updated with virtually any and every news story across the planet, are we also one of the least informed people in the last 100 years? If you watch one network news, cable or regular television, that tells people about you.  How'd that come to be? My brother keeps promoting this idea of "the evil of mainstream media..." But, he watches Fox pretty regularly, isn't Fox mainstream media? If your viewership is larger than the next 3 networks combined, you are also mainstream media, regardless of what you promote yourself to be.  My brother is a smart guy, a barrister for goodness sakes, and we came from the same parents (or so I'm told), but I do not know how or where he picked up his lens for the world.

After getting the straight poop, finally, on the fact that for the most part in a 5-4 ruling with President George W. Bush's Chief Justice appointee, John Roberts being the deciding factor, the Supreme Court upheld President Obama's Affordable Health Care Act. And although I've skimmed roughly half of the 190 page decision (actually, an interesting read, by the way), what it comes down to is that Chief Justice Robert's basically said that legally, as a tax, the Act is constitutional and in force. But really, what he did, they did, and should have by the way; was tell Congress that their not getting involved in what is a HUGE political football and that Congress and the President needs to figure it out for themselves.  I took the dogs, and decided to do some more lollygagging up on the North woods of Minnesota, because, you know, I have my summers off...

While on the way to the lollygagging, I listened to MPR on the radio and their coverage. Does being an MPR listener (and proud member, by the way) tell you something about me? Probably.

MPR had on people who thought the decision was great and people who thought the decision was not so much great. Each side kept selling their beliefs (without yelling -for the most part - by the way), and I do not know or care, what the MPR moderator thought of the decision - they never said nor were asked.  However, a caller from Cannon Falls called "just to say that the Supreme Court's decision is the END of the United States." and promptly hung up. Fox news viewer? Maybe.  I, myself, thought that with the end of the Mayan calendar coming this December, and the end of the world happening; the end of the US was not that big of a deal.

President Obama came on and was more subdued than I expected him to be, having just gotten a big WIN or maybe he also felt, like the caller from Cannon Falls, that the END of the US was neigh. Anyways, two comments from the President's statement stuck with me. 1)That he did this not because it was good politics... Ya think? 2)He was willing to continue to work on it.

Governor Mitt Romney, or as he's referred to now, Presumptive Nominee Mitt Romney made his statement as well. On a side note, I think I'd prefer Governor to Presumptive Nominee... So, Governor Romney comes to tell us that he thinks the Supreme Court made mistake and that if elected, the first thing he'll do is repeal the Affordable Health Care Act.  But that he wants to work with Congress to find a way to insure all, to get rid of people being denied for pre-existing conditions... Wait, isn't that what the Supreme Court just upheld? (scratching head).

I don't know much, just ask my students who are also lollygagging away their summers, but I believe that the US will continue; assuming the world survives the end of the Mayan calendar on December 22.  That throughout the history of the US and most countries for that matter, decisions are made, bills are made into law, things happen that appear to some people to be the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING. EVER. but somehow we just keep swimming. Shout out there to "Finding Nemo". In the last 150 years the US has survived a civil war over slavery, whether or not to get involved in two world wars, a Great Depression (The 1930's, not now), Civil Rights, Medicare, Social Security - both it's birth and apparent soon ending- and many other things that were "going to tear the country a part" or be, to quote the caller from Cannon Falls, "...the end of the United States." And yet, here we are, plugging along.

I recently read General Colin Powell's 13 rules for leadership and the first one is That Things Are Never As Bad As They Seem. The unspoken or unwritten counter to that is that Things Are Never As Good As They Seem. And at the end of the day, that's what we need to keep in mind. Regardless of where you come from politically, we, the United States of America will continue and decisions will be made and laws passed that you agree with or don't agree with, and that's okay. Our diversity is what makes us great, what makes us strong. Chief Justice John Roberts made a decision that he knew would bring him a great deal of flack from his perceived "side", but he did what he thought was right regardless. While I wish we had more men and women who were able to do that, as long as we have a few, I feel confident we'll be all right.

I'll leave you with my favorite Margaret Mead quote:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has"