Maybe You Can Have Your Cake and Eat it Too

I have to wonder why all of those people who say that they are against the healthcare bill sound so strange when asked to verbalize their opposition. They say things that only someone who has not researched their points would say regarding what is in the bill. They repeat what they heard instead of checking to see if it is true first. It's like having a bunch of people following a line in a chorus instead of them expressing their own individual thoughts.

Another possibility is that because some laws actually do help the public for which it was instituted, it is quite easy for a politician or anyone else to act convincingly that they are against something when they know that it will pass and even though they stood against it, they too would benefit. Quite similar to those who railed against the stimulus package saying that it did not create one job while presenting themselves as the facilitator of job creation back at home. So I guess, in that context, you may be able to have your cake and eat it too.

The same applies to the healthcare debate. Claim that you were never given a chance to help craft this legislation when at the very beginning you got together with all of your party buddies and decided not to support this president long before you even heard what he had to say. Claim that the bill is full of death panels or funds abortion, even though you know if those who listen to you were to ever read the bill they would find out that you lied. Of course those who follow you have yet to exercise a little bit of fact-checking so I guess, in that context, you may be able to have your cake and eat it too.

Last but not least, let us not forget about those heavenly poll numbers that so many of our distinguish gentlemen, gentlewomen and journalist depend on so much. Each party has their own pollsters and therefore can frame the questions which best suit the results that they wish to proclaim. I personally would like to see a completely independent polling agency similar to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which can be used as a better barometer of the wishes of the public. If you can appear to ask non-leading questions and guarantee yourself the kind of answers that will benefit your aim then you can appear to be following the will of the majority and fighting for the people. So I guess, in that context, you may be able to have your cake and eat it too.