Health Care--Debate or Shouting Match?

I'm sick of hearing about all these town hall meetings held to discuss health care. There's very little footage of intelligent questions being asked, but plenty of finger-pointing and chanting. Are there people out there worried that health care is going in the wrong direction? Sure. I generally support the President and his general idea of reforming the system, but even I have my questions and concerns. Why are conservatives dreaming up and handing out false information about "death panels" when they could do this country a great service by asking about things the proposed bill actually calls for?

It scares me that people out there can be so uninformed to deny that any of these protests are being led by lobbyists, special interests groups and other groups with their own agendas. What's even more alarming is the fact that these groups aren't trying to get answers, but intentionally trying to sabotage an actual discussion of the issue. The same tactics were used in Florida during the 2000 election and signaled a conservative-led abortion of democracy. They approach a situation thinking subconciously, "I don't care if I'm wrong, I'm going to raise my voice and say the same thing over and over again until my opponent agrees or stops talking."

The larger issue here: a conservative thought-process controls the media. If the mainstream media was doing it's job, it would take every opportunity to point out that similar town hall meetings held under the Bush administration were screened to intentionally keep out members of the public who would challenge conservative speakers. The Obama adminstration deserves credit for opening up the floor to both sides. If the media was doing it's job, it would jump on critics like Rush Limbaugh for his comparisons between Democrats and Nazis, pointing out how conservatives don't understand the political spectrum. They accuse the left of embracing an ideology, while failing to acknowledge how their own points of view are embraced by white supremacists and other extreme groups.

The media doesn't do it's job. It allows ultra-conservative critics to deride anyone who would dare accuse them of anything and refuses to speak out and call right-wingers on their bullshit. Liberals are constantly labeled as un-American while conservatives refuse to offer real solutions to any of the country's problems. Then outspoken members of the right call people on the left socialists. Are they seriously trying to scare people in to believing Democrats are further to the left than they are to the right? Sounds like McCarthy-era tactics to me. Thank God some journalists back in the 50s were paying attention and actually fought such idiotic attacks. I'm particularly concerned about people today, because so many people seem to fall for anything that comes out of any political officials' mouth-- on both sides of the aisle.

I still maintain that a level-headed approach to government and media coverage will be based in a centrist approach. You can't adopt a true watchdog role and maintain a government system of checks and balances unless you truly distance yourself from the rhetoric of both parties. Most think to be centrist is to soften arguments between right and left and try to be the peacemaker. Good centrist approaches show both sides of the story and actively hold those sides responsible for their actions. In covering these town hall meetings, good centrists will not only keep both sides on the record, but will ask why intelligent discussion is not taking place. The media must fulfill its role as facilitator in the marketplace of ideas. It should encourage the healthy dialogue on all issues, not the shouting matches and competitions to drown out sensible speech. Will someone please go to their local meeting and ask a good question?