SiCKO, that's a wrap

I wonder, in the history of the internet has anybody ever gone in to a political debate with an open mind? Has anyone ever actually listened to opposing sentiments and been enlightened? "You know, that's a great point you have, you've caused me to reconsider my views" is a phrase that has probably never been typed in an internet forum or chat room. I'm probably as guilty of it as the next guy.

Which brings me back to the original reason of my initial post, SiCKO. Truth is, I wasn't sold on socialized health care before seeing it. When I was touring with Buble I got to know a bunch of Canadians who were on the crew. One of them had had a bad experienced with the Canadian health care system and his ill mother. I, like we are want to do, took this one testimonial and applied it to the entire country. But after seeing the stories in SiCKO I changed my thinking about the situation and after a little research my opinion was reformed.

I'm aware of Michael Moore's antics. In my opinion he often hurts his arguments by the stunts he pulls in his films; confronting Dick Clark in Bowling for Columbine seemed like a non sequiter, confronting congressmen in Fahrenheit 911 didn't do much to drive the point home. But SiCKO is different, much less editorializing by Moore and much more personal horror stories of the U.S.'s health care system from both victims of it and those who enforced the insurance companies horrid policies. So please don't judge the movie if you haven't seen it.

Once again, my blog so I get the final word. Its in two parts. First, sorry if anyone got offended throughout the debate. I'm sure nobody was out to hurt anyone else. This is a very personal issue as it affects everybody. On a personal level I was genuinely interested in suggestions about my wife and I's insurance situation since it seems to be quite different from everyone else's. The closest I got to a direction response was that I should get another job and shouldn't expect good benefits from being a musician. This is not the country I want to live in, where good health means working a job I hate and spending more time away from my son and where a school teacher doesn't have benefits most here would deem acceptable. We've both worked very hard both in school and in our careers. The system being bad is no fault of ours, it needs to be changed.

Second, ditch-diggers, dishwashers, janitors, landscapers, lawn-mowers, waiters, stock boys, drive-through cashiers, and cheap labor of all varieties are necessary to our communities. You might think they are too lazy or stupid but the fact is that everyone who makes better money and gets better benefits than them owe the lower class a debt of gratitude. The owner of Home Depot wouldn't be where he is without the labor working his stores day in and day out. Labor is the basis of our economy. They are not being taken care of in our current health care situation and solution is not to blame them and ask them to work more, it needs to be changed.

Thanks for everyone's comments, it was a stimulating debate. In particular thanks to those who posted but never really got any feedback, you all had good things to say and I agreed with most of it.