From a Certain Point of View

Don't worry, I'm still working on my analysis for the government programs in high standing - something just came up that I want to talk about.  In a discussion I had recently, someone said to me that I was presenting information to favor my point of view.  Someone's point of view is derived from opinion.  Sure - I'll take that my conclusions are my points of view, but lets take for example my major complaint about the current health care reform bill going through the house: It is not constitutional for the congress to proceed with the creation of a health reform law unless it first passes an amendment to the constitution that specifically allows it.

Right now according to the US Constitution, the Bill or Rights, and the associated amendments; it is not legal for congress to pass a law forcing you to have health care.  That is a fact - not a point of view.  My main reason for creating this blog is for the clarification of facts to lead to a more intelligent decision regarding my voting decisions and to present them in a clear, well-formed argument so that others may base their decisions from facts rather than banter from talking heads on the idiot box.

I have tried to separate my feelings from these arguments because that is how the Constitution was written.  It was a document designed to guide the decision making of our leaders regardless of their personal opinions so that they could make the best decisions possible for the benefit of every American citizen.  Some people seem to believe that because I am advocating against the health care reform bill that I do not think everyone should have health care.  This couldn't be farther from the truth.  I think everyone should have health care, I think you should have the flexibility to choose your own plan, and I think that everyone that approaches an emergency room should receive service regardless of their citizenship or ability to pay.  While digging up facts for my posts, I have come across lots of information to support my opinion that government programs are not well run or efficient - especially as the length of the program increases.

Finally, I am not trying to prove someone right or wrong and I'm not having an argument to win.  Everywhere I look from comments under news articles online to interviewed people on TV to conversations I have with close friends leads be to believe that people don't know the whole truth behind their positions.  There are plenty of people that want to be included in intelligent-sounding discussions, so they'll repeat the talking head they listened to last night just because they don't know any better.  News now days has become more a delivery of opinion rather than facts.  The conservatives have their media outlets (Fox News jumps out in my mind immediately as I am typing this) and the liberals have their favorite (NPR, anyone?).  I'm trying to dig deeper behind these stories to find the unbiased truth - the raw data - so that I can make my own decisions and then share my findings with others.

I've checked emotion at the door.  I'm driving my arguments with supported information derived from raw data rather than stipulation.  If I have misinterpreted or missed something, that is what the comments section is for - tell me what you have found.  Challenge my point of views - this is how we learn and grow.  If you aren't even willing to think about other options, then do you even make up your own mind?  Is it simply that you follow the first idea that pops into your head like some sort of lemming?

It seems to me that the most frightening thing people experience in their life time is the realization that something they have been doing all of their life could possibly be wrong.  What does one do at this crucial point?  Has everything that occurred in the past invalidated?  Are you suddenly an evil person for doing the wrong thing all of this time?  Of course not.  No one is perfect.  Then why are new ideas treated with such hostility?