Anyone who has read my Blog will be aware of the fact that one of my primary areas of interest is the relationship between belief in God and the presence of evil and suffering in the world. For anyone who shares this interest I would like to recommend a book by Bart Ehrman which I have just finished reading entitled: God’s Problem. In this book, Ehrman, who is a professor at the University of North Carolina, discusses the question of whether it is possible to believe in God and still be aware of the massive amount of suffering that goes on in the world.
Professor Ehrman considers all of the explanations for suffering given by apologists, philosophers, and by prophets in the Judeo/Christian Bible, and one-by-one he dismisses each of them. He shows that the explanation of suffering based on free will simply does not give any reason to believe in God. He demonstrates that the idea that suffering is redemptive cannot be reconciled with a loving God. He rejects the idea that suffering is a test of faith or the idea that suffering is caused by forces of the devil. He does not accept the idea that suffering is caused by God, but that its reason is a mystery that will be revealed and explained after we die. This is the conclusion reached by the biblical author of the Book of Job.
The most powerful section of the book is near the end where Ehrman discusses the part of the book called “The Rebellion” in "The Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoevsky. There, the brother Ivan, who still believes in God, says that even if, after we die, there is a full explanation of the reason why God allowed or perpetrated the suffering in the world, he, Ivan, will never accept the explanation. Ivan points to the acts by Turkish soldiers, tossing babies up in the air before their mothers and impaling the babies on their bayonets. He also tells the true story of parents who punished their little daughter for wetting the bed by smearing her face with excrement and locking her outside in the freezing-cold outhouse overnight. Of course the child died.
I found myself totally in agreement with the ideas of Professor Ehrman. Even if I could believe in God, which I cannot, I could never accept any explanation he might give for the horrors of the world. Even if the explanation was free will, I could never accept any excuse for the suffering of children. What does free will have to do with the suffering caused by tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, diseases, birth defects, and hundreds of other causes? If God is perfectly loving and omnipotent, how could he allow things like the holocaust, other genocides, plagues, war, mass murder, and suicides? The only explanation is that there is no such thing as God.
But Ehrman gave me something to latch onto besides the sad absence of God. He somehow finds a redemptive resolution of suffering in, of all places, the Bible. He says: “I have to admit that at the end of the day, I do have a biblical view of suffering. As it turns out, it is the view put forth in the book of Ecclesiastes. There is a lot that we can’t know about this world. A lot of this world doesn’t make sense. Sometimes there is no justice. Things don’t go as planned or as they should. A lot of bad things happen. But life also brings good things. The solution to life is to enjoy it while we can, because it is fleeting. This world, and everything in it, is temporary, transient, and soon to be over. We won’t live forever—in fact we won’t live long. And so we should enjoy life to the fullest, as much as we can, as long as we can. That’s what the author of Ecclesiastes thinks, and I agree.”
Ehrman says that enjoying life means not just relaxing, going to the theater and the symphony, eating great food, drinking the best wine, dancing all night, (although we should do all of those things), but it also means working to alleviate the suffering and bringing hope to a world devoid of hope. We can enjoy life and still try to live upright, decent, helpful lives in which we refuse to accept the explanation that life is hopeless and miserable. We can be good, kind, generous, and loving. We may not cure the horrors or ills of life, we may not be able to save mankind, but we can be kind to those around us and show love for our fellow man. In the end, that is the real message of Jesus.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Should the Tax Cuts Be Allowed to Expire
At the start of his presidency, President George W. Bush believed that it was necessary to cut taxes in order to spur the economy. During his first term (2001–2004), he obtained Congressional approval for the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002, and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. These acts decreased all tax rates, reduced the capital gains tax, increased the child tax credit, and eliminated the so-called "marriage penalty.” The tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2010. The question is whether the cuts should be extended or allowed to expire.
So far, these tax cuts have cost the government $2.48 trillion. This includes the revenue loss of $2.11 trillion that resulted directly from the Bush tax cuts as well as the $379 billion in additional interest payments on the national debt that we must make since the tax cuts were deficit-financed.
When Bush took office in 2001, there was no deficit. He inherited a $236 billion budget surplus, with a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion. As a result of the tax cuts and Bush’s continued spending, including two wars and expansion of the Medicare drug benefit, the deficit at the end of Bush’s term for fiscal year 2009 was in excess of $1.2 trillion. Thus, President Obama inherited most of the deficit for which he is now being criticized.
The dispute between conservatives and liberals in Congress over whether to allow the tax cuts to expire or to extend them, and even make them permanent, reflects deep philosophical differences between the parties. Republicans hate budget deficits and loudly call for reduction of spending, but despite the fact that the tax cuts caused huge deficits, they are united in their demand that the tax cuts be extended. Democrats are willing to extend the tax cuts for the middle class, but wish to allow the tax cuts for people making over $200,000 per year to expire. Republicans claim that this would be disastrous at a time of economic difficulty, but leading economists say that expiration of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans would have no adverse effect on the economy. Remember, these taxpayers are wealthy people! They have an upscale standard of living. Repeal of the tax cuts will not make them poor. It would not cut down on their purchases, because they do not use all of their income to purchase things. It is well known that the very rich use only a small portion of their income to make purchases. They put the rest of their income in savings. Allowing the tax cuts to expire would result in only a small decrease in their savings.
Economists have pointed-out that the “Program for America” pushed by Republican leaders would be impossible to implement. Nobel Prize laureate Paul Krugman explains that if we were to follow the Republicans program, keep the tax cuts, keep funding the wars, keep Social Security and Medicare, but cut enough spending to balance the budget, the remainder of federal government would disappear. There would be no federal departments, no federal agencies, no federal programs of any kind—nothing. The Republican program would be impossible to implement.
When the Obama Administration was faced with the recession it was necessary, in order to avoid a horrendous depression, to intervene and spend government money to stimulate the economy. All of the leading economists supported the stimulus, and all of them now know that it worked. Robert J. Samuelson reported in Newsweek that when Obama took office in early 2009, the economy and financial markets were in virtual free-fall. By summer they were steady. Alan Blinder of Princeton and Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics estimate that without the government’s aggressive response, gross domestic product would have dropped 12 percent instead of 4 percent, and 16.6 percent of jobs would have been lost instead of 8.4 percent.
Republicans cannot have their cake and eat it too. They cannot eliminate deficits and still maintain gigantic tax cuts for the wealthy. They cannot have a stimulated economy and still avoid government stimulus. The truth is that the Republicans are not worried about the economy. They are worried about their wealthy contributors. The tax cuts for the middle class should be extended, but the tax cuts for those fat cats should be allowed to expire.
So far, these tax cuts have cost the government $2.48 trillion. This includes the revenue loss of $2.11 trillion that resulted directly from the Bush tax cuts as well as the $379 billion in additional interest payments on the national debt that we must make since the tax cuts were deficit-financed.
When Bush took office in 2001, there was no deficit. He inherited a $236 billion budget surplus, with a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion. As a result of the tax cuts and Bush’s continued spending, including two wars and expansion of the Medicare drug benefit, the deficit at the end of Bush’s term for fiscal year 2009 was in excess of $1.2 trillion. Thus, President Obama inherited most of the deficit for which he is now being criticized.
The dispute between conservatives and liberals in Congress over whether to allow the tax cuts to expire or to extend them, and even make them permanent, reflects deep philosophical differences between the parties. Republicans hate budget deficits and loudly call for reduction of spending, but despite the fact that the tax cuts caused huge deficits, they are united in their demand that the tax cuts be extended. Democrats are willing to extend the tax cuts for the middle class, but wish to allow the tax cuts for people making over $200,000 per year to expire. Republicans claim that this would be disastrous at a time of economic difficulty, but leading economists say that expiration of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans would have no adverse effect on the economy. Remember, these taxpayers are wealthy people! They have an upscale standard of living. Repeal of the tax cuts will not make them poor. It would not cut down on their purchases, because they do not use all of their income to purchase things. It is well known that the very rich use only a small portion of their income to make purchases. They put the rest of their income in savings. Allowing the tax cuts to expire would result in only a small decrease in their savings.
Economists have pointed-out that the “Program for America” pushed by Republican leaders would be impossible to implement. Nobel Prize laureate Paul Krugman explains that if we were to follow the Republicans program, keep the tax cuts, keep funding the wars, keep Social Security and Medicare, but cut enough spending to balance the budget, the remainder of federal government would disappear. There would be no federal departments, no federal agencies, no federal programs of any kind—nothing. The Republican program would be impossible to implement.
When the Obama Administration was faced with the recession it was necessary, in order to avoid a horrendous depression, to intervene and spend government money to stimulate the economy. All of the leading economists supported the stimulus, and all of them now know that it worked. Robert J. Samuelson reported in Newsweek that when Obama took office in early 2009, the economy and financial markets were in virtual free-fall. By summer they were steady. Alan Blinder of Princeton and Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics estimate that without the government’s aggressive response, gross domestic product would have dropped 12 percent instead of 4 percent, and 16.6 percent of jobs would have been lost instead of 8.4 percent.
Republicans cannot have their cake and eat it too. They cannot eliminate deficits and still maintain gigantic tax cuts for the wealthy. They cannot have a stimulated economy and still avoid government stimulus. The truth is that the Republicans are not worried about the economy. They are worried about their wealthy contributors. The tax cuts for the middle class should be extended, but the tax cuts for those fat cats should be allowed to expire.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Why Do People Believe In God
Why do people believe in God despite the overwhelming lack of evidence for his existence? Why do people go on praying to God despite the fact that there is no evidence that prayers are answered? How can people continue to believe in the various religious denominations, sects, and cults when science has so thoroughly destroyed many of their central beliefs? People continue to flock to churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques despite the many fakes, scams, frauds, absurdities, and even crimes of their denominations’ and leaders.
Perhaps the answer is our fear of death. Religion may not have arisen solely because of the fear of death, but if you ask people today, they will tell you that there has to be some continuing life after death. Religion provides assurance that there is such life.
Death is part of nature. Every living thing dies. All humans die. No matter how long science is able to extend the length of a human life, we will all die. It is inherent in all living things. Why do we fear death? Why is death the most terrible part of life? Why have we surrounded death with such enormous horror and grief? You would think that such a natural, universal event would be stoically accepted by us as inevitable. But it isn’t.
We fear death because fear is part of our survival as a species. Any species that does not develop some type of fear of death is likely to become extinct. Our young species has managed to survive for hundreds of thousands of years in part because of our fear of death. Like other genetically successful species, we have developed evolutionary methods of avoiding death, at least until we have reproduced and spread our genes. Whether we will be as successful a species as the long-lived turtles, sharks, and alligators, remains to be seen.
I believe that one of the many strategies the human race uses to deal with its fear of death is the creation of imaginary beings called “gods.” By creating gods, humans seek to avoid the despair that might accompany a full understanding of their fate. The invention of gods is a tranquilizer that helps man deal with the fact that when we die, we die to eternal oblivion.
Most people realize that the human body does not survive death. What they hope for is the survival of human consciousness and memory. The idea is that our spirit or “soul” survives in an afterlife. It would make little difference if the spirit or soul survived but did not remember living on earth. Most people wish for the survival of our memory. In heaven we would know who we are and remember our lives and family on earth. For most people this includes seeing and getting back together with our loved ones (although Jesus said that in the resurrection there was no marriage, Matt. 22:23-30). For most, the afterlife is an idealized version of life on earth. There is no pain, no misery, no stress, no sin, no evil, only unlimited joy. For Catholics it is the “beatific vision.” For Moslems it is “Paradise,” an eternal feast in a green garden with beautiful virgins serving the faithful. For most people, people in heaven are aware of what is happening on earth, and many believe that the dead can intervene in earthly events.
There is something contradictory about the idea that our consciousness survives our deaths. Death is, ipso facto, the death of consciousness. Consciousness is a function of the brain, and if the brain is dead it does not function. We want to believe that somehow through the hand of God, our consciousness, our brain, goes on working after death even though for earthly purposes it is finished. We want to believe that the mind is not really part of the body, but rather, a spiritual function. Science knows that the mind is the brain and the nervous system, a purely physical phenomenon, and like the rest of the body, it dies.
Another reason people today seem to want to believe in religion is that religion gives an answer to the question of evil. Religion tells people that certain actions are right and certain actions are wrong. People fear that without religion, there is no reason for morality, no punishment for evil, no reward for good. People say that without God there is no meaning and purpose in life.
We live in a violent world, full of tragedy and sorrow. Our invention of a God helps us to deal with life. Without God, we find no transcendental reason to be good rather than evil. Without God, life seems meaningless. We see evildoers prospering, while good people suffer. We want an explanation. We desperately need to believe that there is a supreme being who hands down moral laws, rewards goodness, and punishes evil.
When believers argue that without God there is no meaning and no purpose in life they are making a meaningless argument. Meaning and purpose are not things that exist as separate transcendental entities in the universe. They are concepts invented by human beings to explain certain things. Meaning and purpose exist only in the human mind. If a thing has meaning, it has meaning only to the mind of a person. It is the sense, significance, import, intent, or end of something as construed by the mind. The purpose of something is the goal or object for which something exists or is done by a human being. The existence or nonexistence of God has nothing to do with meaning or purpose. Even if God existed, the concepts of meaning and purpose would still be functions of the human mind and not something created by God.
There is something magnetic about great art. People are powerfully attracted to and inspired by it. When we view a great painting or sculpture, we are able to lose ourselves in it. We forget it is a piece of canvass or a chunk of rock, and see it instead as a representation of something. It is capable of moving us deeply. The same is true of great music. While we listen to it, we do not think of it as a series of sound waves varying in length. We are transported, lifted out of the moment, moved to wonderful feelings and emotions. When we read a novel, we forget that it is just a story, and get caught-up in its plot.
In the theater and motion pictures we are captivated by the story. We forget that the characters are only actors mouthing the lines written for them. We suspend our disbelief. We let our thoughts and emotions go with the story as if it were really happening. Our art, as a reflection of ourselves, is something we not only create, but something which--if it is even halfway good--can move us to suspend our knowledge of reality. It captures and enthralls us.
This can all be explained by the working of the brain. I believe that each person in his or her innermost mind recognizes that there is no God. We must deal with the absence of God and the powerful desire that he be present. To deal with this we have created God--the pictures, stories, music, theology, ritual, liturgy, mystery--everything. It was necessary to do this to explain what we did not know, to help us deal with death, and to explain our awe, fascination, and need for meaning. We objectified our feeling of the numinous. Once we created God, as with all of our artistic creations, we were captured by him. God became not just a creation, a story, a picture, but a reality--a creator, a God who is wholly other.
But somewhere deep in the mind of every halfway intelligent person is the realization that there is no such thing as God. He does not exist. He is a figment of the human imagination. That is a melancholy thought. But it is the truth.
Perhaps the answer is our fear of death. Religion may not have arisen solely because of the fear of death, but if you ask people today, they will tell you that there has to be some continuing life after death. Religion provides assurance that there is such life.
Death is part of nature. Every living thing dies. All humans die. No matter how long science is able to extend the length of a human life, we will all die. It is inherent in all living things. Why do we fear death? Why is death the most terrible part of life? Why have we surrounded death with such enormous horror and grief? You would think that such a natural, universal event would be stoically accepted by us as inevitable. But it isn’t.
We fear death because fear is part of our survival as a species. Any species that does not develop some type of fear of death is likely to become extinct. Our young species has managed to survive for hundreds of thousands of years in part because of our fear of death. Like other genetically successful species, we have developed evolutionary methods of avoiding death, at least until we have reproduced and spread our genes. Whether we will be as successful a species as the long-lived turtles, sharks, and alligators, remains to be seen.
I believe that one of the many strategies the human race uses to deal with its fear of death is the creation of imaginary beings called “gods.” By creating gods, humans seek to avoid the despair that might accompany a full understanding of their fate. The invention of gods is a tranquilizer that helps man deal with the fact that when we die, we die to eternal oblivion.
Most people realize that the human body does not survive death. What they hope for is the survival of human consciousness and memory. The idea is that our spirit or “soul” survives in an afterlife. It would make little difference if the spirit or soul survived but did not remember living on earth. Most people wish for the survival of our memory. In heaven we would know who we are and remember our lives and family on earth. For most people this includes seeing and getting back together with our loved ones (although Jesus said that in the resurrection there was no marriage, Matt. 22:23-30). For most, the afterlife is an idealized version of life on earth. There is no pain, no misery, no stress, no sin, no evil, only unlimited joy. For Catholics it is the “beatific vision.” For Moslems it is “Paradise,” an eternal feast in a green garden with beautiful virgins serving the faithful. For most people, people in heaven are aware of what is happening on earth, and many believe that the dead can intervene in earthly events.
There is something contradictory about the idea that our consciousness survives our deaths. Death is, ipso facto, the death of consciousness. Consciousness is a function of the brain, and if the brain is dead it does not function. We want to believe that somehow through the hand of God, our consciousness, our brain, goes on working after death even though for earthly purposes it is finished. We want to believe that the mind is not really part of the body, but rather, a spiritual function. Science knows that the mind is the brain and the nervous system, a purely physical phenomenon, and like the rest of the body, it dies.
Another reason people today seem to want to believe in religion is that religion gives an answer to the question of evil. Religion tells people that certain actions are right and certain actions are wrong. People fear that without religion, there is no reason for morality, no punishment for evil, no reward for good. People say that without God there is no meaning and purpose in life.
We live in a violent world, full of tragedy and sorrow. Our invention of a God helps us to deal with life. Without God, we find no transcendental reason to be good rather than evil. Without God, life seems meaningless. We see evildoers prospering, while good people suffer. We want an explanation. We desperately need to believe that there is a supreme being who hands down moral laws, rewards goodness, and punishes evil.
When believers argue that without God there is no meaning and no purpose in life they are making a meaningless argument. Meaning and purpose are not things that exist as separate transcendental entities in the universe. They are concepts invented by human beings to explain certain things. Meaning and purpose exist only in the human mind. If a thing has meaning, it has meaning only to the mind of a person. It is the sense, significance, import, intent, or end of something as construed by the mind. The purpose of something is the goal or object for which something exists or is done by a human being. The existence or nonexistence of God has nothing to do with meaning or purpose. Even if God existed, the concepts of meaning and purpose would still be functions of the human mind and not something created by God.
There is something magnetic about great art. People are powerfully attracted to and inspired by it. When we view a great painting or sculpture, we are able to lose ourselves in it. We forget it is a piece of canvass or a chunk of rock, and see it instead as a representation of something. It is capable of moving us deeply. The same is true of great music. While we listen to it, we do not think of it as a series of sound waves varying in length. We are transported, lifted out of the moment, moved to wonderful feelings and emotions. When we read a novel, we forget that it is just a story, and get caught-up in its plot.
In the theater and motion pictures we are captivated by the story. We forget that the characters are only actors mouthing the lines written for them. We suspend our disbelief. We let our thoughts and emotions go with the story as if it were really happening. Our art, as a reflection of ourselves, is something we not only create, but something which--if it is even halfway good--can move us to suspend our knowledge of reality. It captures and enthralls us.
This can all be explained by the working of the brain. I believe that each person in his or her innermost mind recognizes that there is no God. We must deal with the absence of God and the powerful desire that he be present. To deal with this we have created God--the pictures, stories, music, theology, ritual, liturgy, mystery--everything. It was necessary to do this to explain what we did not know, to help us deal with death, and to explain our awe, fascination, and need for meaning. We objectified our feeling of the numinous. Once we created God, as with all of our artistic creations, we were captured by him. God became not just a creation, a story, a picture, but a reality--a creator, a God who is wholly other.
But somewhere deep in the mind of every halfway intelligent person is the realization that there is no such thing as God. He does not exist. He is a figment of the human imagination. That is a melancholy thought. But it is the truth.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Is Life Really Beautiful?
The primary reason for the existence of religion is to relieve people of fear. Marx called religion the “Opiate of the Masses.” This was a perfect explanation of the religious impulse. We live in a world filled with pain, sorrow, depression, and horror, but the religions tell us that there is a God out there who loves us and loves the world. This God will take care of us and, after death, will provide us with a paradise of joy and happiness.
I was speaking to someone and I proposed that if there really was a God, we should not worship or love or adore him, but rather, we should hate him. The person responded that we should worship him because “life is beautiful.” I replied that although life has moments of beauty and happiness, there is far too much sorrow and unhappiness to say that life is beautiful.
Consider the following: The great majority of people in the world live in abject poverty. Most of those people suffer from hunger, disease, famine, tsunamis, cyclones, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, plagues, infestations, and war. When one looks at the continents of Africa, Asia, and South America, one wonders how there could be a loving God looking over those people. Hundreds of millions of the people on those continents are subjected to widespread diseases such as cholera, malaria, sleeping sickness, AIDS, Dengue Fever, and Yellow Fever. They have insufficient clothing, shelter ,and medical care. They are ruled-over by tyrants and dictators. Hundreds of millions of women throughout the world are treated as chattels without civil rights. They are beaten, raped, stoned, and subject to genital castration designed to eradicate their sexual pleasure. It is hard to imagine that such people are happy.
What about the lucky people in America and the more affluent countries of Europe? One would think that they have many reasons to thank God. But we need to ask, are the lives of Americans so blessed and happy? Let’s start with health. Practically everybody in America has somebody in their family suffering from some serious illness. Millions of Americans have children with serious congenital diseases and infirmities such as autism, blindness, deafness, physical deformity, Down Syndrome, mental retardation, mental illnesses, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, epilepsy, cystic fibrosis, heart disease, cancer, and hundreds of other less common syndromes and disorders. The parents of such children often live lives of great sorrow.
Millions of adult Americans also suffer from terrible diseases. Heart disease, cancer, kidney disease, liver disease, Emphysema, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), AIDS, Crohn’s Disease, chronic pain, and hundreds of other conditions beset the happiness of their lives. Millions of Americans suffer from mental problems, depression, anxiety, fatigue, lonliness, phobias, panic attacks, disabling shyness, and stress throughout their lives. Millions of Americans suffer from the effects of terrible automobile accidents and other injuries. They go through life as cripples with disabled or missing limbs, internal organs, and other essential parts of their bodies, or suffering from terrible pain.
As people get older, they greet a host of problems afflicting older Americans such as strokes, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, hearing and seeing defects, prostate problems, osteoporosis, erectile dysfunction, sleep disorders, Alzheimer’s and memory loss, and hundreds of other medical and psychological problems that impair their happiness. As people age their bodies breaks-down, their skin wrinkles, their hair disappears or turns white, their energy fails, and they lose their sexual ability and attraction.
Millions of Americans are addicted to alcohol, pain medication, and illegal drugs. Almost all of them are living in terrible misery, unable to shake the imprisonment of their addictions. There are millions of homeless people living on the streets, in tents, under bridges, and in shelters. Millions of other Americans are addicted to behavior patterns such as gambling addiction, fetishism, sexual addiction, frigidity, obsessive-compulsive behavior, dependency, and other forms of addiction. There are millions of people with sexual deviations including the need to molest children or rape women. Millions of people engage in abusive behavior, physically beating or verbally berating their spouses, companions, and children. Millions of spouses, companions, and children are victims of such abuse. Such people cannot possibly be happy.
Millions of Americans live in poverty surrounded by a land of plenty. They eke-out a living in slums, tenements, housing projects, trailer parks, and rural shacks. They often go hungry in this land of plenty. Many go without decent clothing, shelter, ordinary medical care, and live in places without heat, cooling, electricity, telephone service, computers, sanitation, or even running water.
Millions of Americans are the victims of discrimination. People of all minorities suffer from bigotry. Millions of homosexuals, transvestites, transsexuals, and other trans-gender people are the objects of prejudice and condemnation by millions of other people.
Every day one reads in the paper about people who commit crimes. There are thousands of kinds of crimes committed every day by millions of people. It is difficult to guess what percent of the populace is dishonest, violent, dangerous, fraudulent, and deceitful, but judging from the constant news of crimes, schemes, scams, and corruptions, the number must run well into the tens of millions. There are millions of people engaged in serious and not-so-serious crime, including robbery, larceny, drug offenses, burglary, mugging, assault and battery, murder, and thousands of other kinds of crime. Millions of Americans are incarcerated in prisons and jails. There are millions of wives, children, parents, and other close relatives of prison inmates. These people must suffer having their loved ones in jail. There are millions of victims of crimes whose lives have been ruined by the crimes of others.
Millions of Americans are in unhappy marriages or relationships. Millions of Americans are suffering from the breakdown of their marriages or the breakup of relationships in which they were very much in love. Half of all marriages end in divorce. A majority of those who do not get divorced go on living in unhappy marriages. Millions of people are engaged in illicit sexual entanglements that cause them emotional pain and guilt. Millions of people are almost suicidal because of the infidelity of a spouse or loved one. Millions of people suffer from feelings of inferiority or lack of self-worth. Millions of people suffer from the feeling that they are too fat, too thin, or unattractive.
Millions of Americans hate their jobs or suffer under cruel, tyrannical, or sadistic bosses. There are millions of people with sour, nasty, cruel, vicious, malicious, and evil personalities who make it their business in life to damage, spoil, and injure the lives of other people. Millions of people live lives consumed with envy, jealousy, and hatred of others whom they perceive to be more fortunate than they.
Millions of families have children with serious behavior problems. Many of these children may grow up in middle class homes with respectable parents, yet the children are constantly in trouble with school, neighbors, the police, and others. Thousands of such children run away every year only to wind-up on the streets caught-up in drug addiction, prostitution, and crime.
For every Bernard Madoff carrying-out a giant stock swindle, there are thousands of businessmen, brokers, hedge fund managers, and others engaged in insider trading and other blatant violations of the rules of business law and ethics. Millions of Americans cheat others in smaller ways for smaller amounts of money. If one were able to calculate the amount of money embezzled from businesses, organizations, and charities each year it would probably be up in the billions if not trillions. I have known several embezzlers in my lifetime. I’m sure everybody has.
Although one would expect great probity from the wealthiest and most successful people, it is simply not there. Doctors routinely over-bill for services. Andy Rooney told a story about a doctor who came into his room while he was in the hospital for treatment. The doctor said hello and mentioned that he liked Rooney’s work. He then departed without examining or treating Rooney, and later billed Medicare for $240. I have heard many such stories. I have had personal experience with dishonest doctors. One doctor who came in and handed my wife a card while our son was being treated for a broken bone at the hospital, later billed for services even though he did not examine or treat my son at all. Doctors frequently bill for services never rendered. Medicare and Medicaid pay tens of billions for fraudulent claims by physicians who are wealthy by any standard.
Eventually, we die. Death is not a simple leaf dropping off a tree. Death is usually painful. Often, it is horrible. It is usually accompanied by the grief of loved ones.
Yes, life does have its moments of happiness and beauty. There are some wonderful things in life, and some people do live very happy, prosperous, safe, healthy lives. Those people can be thankful for all they have, but they probably represent a small fraction of the people on earth. If you stop and consider all of the unhappiness, pain, disease, grief, and guilt suffered by the vast majority of people in the world, it can hardly be said that life is beautiful.
While many people suffering from the terrible things listed here may not think life is bad, that is because of the human ability to cope with the things that make us unhappy. It is a wonderful thing that people going through the most extreme torments will often try to look on the bright side of life. But if we stop and look at all of the problems faced by humans and listed here, we can hardly say that life is beautiful. We can hardly find reason to thank that mythical being called God.
Surely, if there was a God, and he was a good and loving God, life would not be filled with such misery. There would not be millions of starving, diseased, oppressed people in Africa and other parts of the world. There would not be so much tragedy, horror, injury, illness, poverty, hunger, anger, war, and death. We would not have to wait for some mythical afterlife to experience a better life. Life on earth would really be beautiful for everyone.
I was speaking to someone and I proposed that if there really was a God, we should not worship or love or adore him, but rather, we should hate him. The person responded that we should worship him because “life is beautiful.” I replied that although life has moments of beauty and happiness, there is far too much sorrow and unhappiness to say that life is beautiful.
Consider the following: The great majority of people in the world live in abject poverty. Most of those people suffer from hunger, disease, famine, tsunamis, cyclones, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, plagues, infestations, and war. When one looks at the continents of Africa, Asia, and South America, one wonders how there could be a loving God looking over those people. Hundreds of millions of the people on those continents are subjected to widespread diseases such as cholera, malaria, sleeping sickness, AIDS, Dengue Fever, and Yellow Fever. They have insufficient clothing, shelter ,and medical care. They are ruled-over by tyrants and dictators. Hundreds of millions of women throughout the world are treated as chattels without civil rights. They are beaten, raped, stoned, and subject to genital castration designed to eradicate their sexual pleasure. It is hard to imagine that such people are happy.
What about the lucky people in America and the more affluent countries of Europe? One would think that they have many reasons to thank God. But we need to ask, are the lives of Americans so blessed and happy? Let’s start with health. Practically everybody in America has somebody in their family suffering from some serious illness. Millions of Americans have children with serious congenital diseases and infirmities such as autism, blindness, deafness, physical deformity, Down Syndrome, mental retardation, mental illnesses, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, epilepsy, cystic fibrosis, heart disease, cancer, and hundreds of other less common syndromes and disorders. The parents of such children often live lives of great sorrow.
Millions of adult Americans also suffer from terrible diseases. Heart disease, cancer, kidney disease, liver disease, Emphysema, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), AIDS, Crohn’s Disease, chronic pain, and hundreds of other conditions beset the happiness of their lives. Millions of Americans suffer from mental problems, depression, anxiety, fatigue, lonliness, phobias, panic attacks, disabling shyness, and stress throughout their lives. Millions of Americans suffer from the effects of terrible automobile accidents and other injuries. They go through life as cripples with disabled or missing limbs, internal organs, and other essential parts of their bodies, or suffering from terrible pain.
As people get older, they greet a host of problems afflicting older Americans such as strokes, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, hearing and seeing defects, prostate problems, osteoporosis, erectile dysfunction, sleep disorders, Alzheimer’s and memory loss, and hundreds of other medical and psychological problems that impair their happiness. As people age their bodies breaks-down, their skin wrinkles, their hair disappears or turns white, their energy fails, and they lose their sexual ability and attraction.
Millions of Americans are addicted to alcohol, pain medication, and illegal drugs. Almost all of them are living in terrible misery, unable to shake the imprisonment of their addictions. There are millions of homeless people living on the streets, in tents, under bridges, and in shelters. Millions of other Americans are addicted to behavior patterns such as gambling addiction, fetishism, sexual addiction, frigidity, obsessive-compulsive behavior, dependency, and other forms of addiction. There are millions of people with sexual deviations including the need to molest children or rape women. Millions of people engage in abusive behavior, physically beating or verbally berating their spouses, companions, and children. Millions of spouses, companions, and children are victims of such abuse. Such people cannot possibly be happy.
Millions of Americans live in poverty surrounded by a land of plenty. They eke-out a living in slums, tenements, housing projects, trailer parks, and rural shacks. They often go hungry in this land of plenty. Many go without decent clothing, shelter, ordinary medical care, and live in places without heat, cooling, electricity, telephone service, computers, sanitation, or even running water.
Millions of Americans are the victims of discrimination. People of all minorities suffer from bigotry. Millions of homosexuals, transvestites, transsexuals, and other trans-gender people are the objects of prejudice and condemnation by millions of other people.
Every day one reads in the paper about people who commit crimes. There are thousands of kinds of crimes committed every day by millions of people. It is difficult to guess what percent of the populace is dishonest, violent, dangerous, fraudulent, and deceitful, but judging from the constant news of crimes, schemes, scams, and corruptions, the number must run well into the tens of millions. There are millions of people engaged in serious and not-so-serious crime, including robbery, larceny, drug offenses, burglary, mugging, assault and battery, murder, and thousands of other kinds of crime. Millions of Americans are incarcerated in prisons and jails. There are millions of wives, children, parents, and other close relatives of prison inmates. These people must suffer having their loved ones in jail. There are millions of victims of crimes whose lives have been ruined by the crimes of others.
Millions of Americans are in unhappy marriages or relationships. Millions of Americans are suffering from the breakdown of their marriages or the breakup of relationships in which they were very much in love. Half of all marriages end in divorce. A majority of those who do not get divorced go on living in unhappy marriages. Millions of people are engaged in illicit sexual entanglements that cause them emotional pain and guilt. Millions of people are almost suicidal because of the infidelity of a spouse or loved one. Millions of people suffer from feelings of inferiority or lack of self-worth. Millions of people suffer from the feeling that they are too fat, too thin, or unattractive.
Millions of Americans hate their jobs or suffer under cruel, tyrannical, or sadistic bosses. There are millions of people with sour, nasty, cruel, vicious, malicious, and evil personalities who make it their business in life to damage, spoil, and injure the lives of other people. Millions of people live lives consumed with envy, jealousy, and hatred of others whom they perceive to be more fortunate than they.
Millions of families have children with serious behavior problems. Many of these children may grow up in middle class homes with respectable parents, yet the children are constantly in trouble with school, neighbors, the police, and others. Thousands of such children run away every year only to wind-up on the streets caught-up in drug addiction, prostitution, and crime.
For every Bernard Madoff carrying-out a giant stock swindle, there are thousands of businessmen, brokers, hedge fund managers, and others engaged in insider trading and other blatant violations of the rules of business law and ethics. Millions of Americans cheat others in smaller ways for smaller amounts of money. If one were able to calculate the amount of money embezzled from businesses, organizations, and charities each year it would probably be up in the billions if not trillions. I have known several embezzlers in my lifetime. I’m sure everybody has.
Although one would expect great probity from the wealthiest and most successful people, it is simply not there. Doctors routinely over-bill for services. Andy Rooney told a story about a doctor who came into his room while he was in the hospital for treatment. The doctor said hello and mentioned that he liked Rooney’s work. He then departed without examining or treating Rooney, and later billed Medicare for $240. I have heard many such stories. I have had personal experience with dishonest doctors. One doctor who came in and handed my wife a card while our son was being treated for a broken bone at the hospital, later billed for services even though he did not examine or treat my son at all. Doctors frequently bill for services never rendered. Medicare and Medicaid pay tens of billions for fraudulent claims by physicians who are wealthy by any standard.
Eventually, we die. Death is not a simple leaf dropping off a tree. Death is usually painful. Often, it is horrible. It is usually accompanied by the grief of loved ones.
Yes, life does have its moments of happiness and beauty. There are some wonderful things in life, and some people do live very happy, prosperous, safe, healthy lives. Those people can be thankful for all they have, but they probably represent a small fraction of the people on earth. If you stop and consider all of the unhappiness, pain, disease, grief, and guilt suffered by the vast majority of people in the world, it can hardly be said that life is beautiful.
While many people suffering from the terrible things listed here may not think life is bad, that is because of the human ability to cope with the things that make us unhappy. It is a wonderful thing that people going through the most extreme torments will often try to look on the bright side of life. But if we stop and look at all of the problems faced by humans and listed here, we can hardly say that life is beautiful. We can hardly find reason to thank that mythical being called God.
Surely, if there was a God, and he was a good and loving God, life would not be filled with such misery. There would not be millions of starving, diseased, oppressed people in Africa and other parts of the world. There would not be so much tragedy, horror, injury, illness, poverty, hunger, anger, war, and death. We would not have to wait for some mythical afterlife to experience a better life. Life on earth would really be beautiful for everyone.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Media's Cringing Failure to Confront the Absence of God
Today’s media are bursting with the latest developments in politics, economics, culture, technology, and science, but in one area they remain stagnated in the Middle Ages. No matter how hard you look, you will rarely find a word in any newspaper, magazine, television, or internet source contesting the widely prevailing and erroneous belief that somehow, out there, there exists an invisible, all-powerful being called “God.” Nobody, from the President on down, dares challenge the taboo against seriously discussing this widespread myth. Even the most sophisticated media outlets dare not expose the fact that the emperor, called “religion,” is unclothed.
I am a retired attorney who practiced in New York and Connecticut for 37 years. My entire life was devoted to the consideration of rational evidence. Every court in America adheres to the proposition that the assertion of any claim requires evidence. There is no place in the legal world where you can claim that someone exists who is invisible. You cannot go before any jury and claim that it ought to accept your argument on faith. You have to come up with the cold, hard, empirical facts or you and your client will be tossed out of court on your collective duffs.
For some reason, when it comes to discussing God, this is not the case in the media and popular culture. It is not only de rigueur today to fully accept the claim that there is an omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good and loving being who tools around in the sky and controls our lives, but it is a violent sin against political correctness and good manners to suggest that this absurd belief is without any merit.
Every city, town, and village in this land is peppered with churches. A thousand meetings a day are commenced with invocation of a remote deity. Every funeral serves up the comforting pabulum that the deceased is not really dead but has gone to a “better place” (Paris?). We are incessantly assured that despite the conflicting raw evidence of the Holocaust, earthquakes in Haiti, tsunamis in Asia, deadly diseases, the slaughter of 9/11, and the terrible suffering of children everywhere, “God loves us.” We are perpetually advised to pray to this aloof and detached spirit despite the fact that in thousands of years there has never been a scintilla of solid evidence that the divinity has ever answered a single prayer.
Much of organized religion today surrounds itself with medieval rites and trappings calculated to inspire awe and mystery. Many less ostentatious groups, such as Protestants, practice ancient rites of healing, speaking in tongues, and the singing of sacred hymns. Connected to all of this there is a considerable amount of baloney and angling for money. The faithful seem numb to the fraud and deceit inherent in these activities.
Why are the media unable to confront this subject with rational discourse? Why do they shun it like the Swine Flu? Is it because they are afraid of losing customers and advertisers? Is it because they are afraid of offending the hierarchy of the various organized sects and denominations? Do they fear retaliation from conservative politicians? Are they afraid of the millions of ordinary citizens who have invested so much emotional capital in these fairy tales?
Perhaps it would not be a good thing to open up these sources of comfort and consolation to critical examination. Perhaps people should be left alone with their delusions about God, saints, angels, devils, and a moral law based on the word of the Almighty. But I ask, is it moral and proper to go on promulgating a false myth just because it is widely accepted?
The mathematician, William K. Clifford, put it well when he said: “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” To Clifford, the life of the man who suppresses doubts and avoids inquiry about questions which might disturb belief is “one long sin against mankind.”
I am a retired attorney who practiced in New York and Connecticut for 37 years. My entire life was devoted to the consideration of rational evidence. Every court in America adheres to the proposition that the assertion of any claim requires evidence. There is no place in the legal world where you can claim that someone exists who is invisible. You cannot go before any jury and claim that it ought to accept your argument on faith. You have to come up with the cold, hard, empirical facts or you and your client will be tossed out of court on your collective duffs.
For some reason, when it comes to discussing God, this is not the case in the media and popular culture. It is not only de rigueur today to fully accept the claim that there is an omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good and loving being who tools around in the sky and controls our lives, but it is a violent sin against political correctness and good manners to suggest that this absurd belief is without any merit.
Every city, town, and village in this land is peppered with churches. A thousand meetings a day are commenced with invocation of a remote deity. Every funeral serves up the comforting pabulum that the deceased is not really dead but has gone to a “better place” (Paris?). We are incessantly assured that despite the conflicting raw evidence of the Holocaust, earthquakes in Haiti, tsunamis in Asia, deadly diseases, the slaughter of 9/11, and the terrible suffering of children everywhere, “God loves us.” We are perpetually advised to pray to this aloof and detached spirit despite the fact that in thousands of years there has never been a scintilla of solid evidence that the divinity has ever answered a single prayer.
Much of organized religion today surrounds itself with medieval rites and trappings calculated to inspire awe and mystery. Many less ostentatious groups, such as Protestants, practice ancient rites of healing, speaking in tongues, and the singing of sacred hymns. Connected to all of this there is a considerable amount of baloney and angling for money. The faithful seem numb to the fraud and deceit inherent in these activities.
Why are the media unable to confront this subject with rational discourse? Why do they shun it like the Swine Flu? Is it because they are afraid of losing customers and advertisers? Is it because they are afraid of offending the hierarchy of the various organized sects and denominations? Do they fear retaliation from conservative politicians? Are they afraid of the millions of ordinary citizens who have invested so much emotional capital in these fairy tales?
Perhaps it would not be a good thing to open up these sources of comfort and consolation to critical examination. Perhaps people should be left alone with their delusions about God, saints, angels, devils, and a moral law based on the word of the Almighty. But I ask, is it moral and proper to go on promulgating a false myth just because it is widely accepted?
The mathematician, William K. Clifford, put it well when he said: “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” To Clifford, the life of the man who suppresses doubts and avoids inquiry about questions which might disturb belief is “one long sin against mankind.”
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Republicans Pour Trouble on Oiled Waters
The Republicans, who made it a campaign issue during the 2008 elections to call for more drilling of offshore oil, are now sitting-back and enjoying the agonizing difficulty President Obama is having with the catastrophic Gulf oil spill. Despite the fact that the President is in no way responsible for this disaster, and has gone to extraordinary lengths to resolve the problem, Republicans have made it a political issue. If there is any political blame to be handed out for the oil spill, it must go to the Republicans.
As reported on the MSNBC Rachel Maddow show on June 14, 2010, there was an earlier oil explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that poured millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf. On June 3, 1979, Ixtoc, an exploratory oil well being drilled in the Gulf of Mexico by the Mexican Government, suffered a blowout resulting in the third largest oil spill in history. The well was not capped for over 10 months, by which time over 140 million gallons of oil had had been spilled and had impacted over 162 miles of U.S. beaches. As a result, the U.S. Congress enacted a moratorium on offshore drilling.
Another ban on offshore oil drilling was issued by President George H.W. Bush following the Exxon/Valdes disaster in March, 1989. Because of the opposition of congressional Democrats to offshore drilling, that ban stayed in place until July 14, 2008, when, under pressure from the oil industry and congressional Republicans, President George W. Bush, whose background was that of an oil man, lifted his father’s ban. In his public announcement removing the ban, President Bush criticized the Democrats for their opposition to offshore drilling: Bush said: “For years, my administration has been calling on Congress to expand domestic oil production. Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal.” Bush called-on Congress to remove the ban issued by it following the Ixtoc disaster. He assured the American people that “Advances in technology have made it possible to conduct oil exploration in the OCS (Outer Continental Shelf) that is out of sight, protects coral reefs and habitats, and protects against oil spills.”
In September 2009, following President Bush’s lifting of the ban on offshore drilling, at the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, BP drilled the deepest offshore oil well in history at a vertical depth of 35,050 feet. This was over a mile below the surface, and at so remote a spot that unless there was a sound plan for dealing with any spill, an explosion of the rig would be catastrophic. But why worry? After all, President Bush, the Republicans in Congress, and the oil companies had assured us that deepwater drilling for oil was now safe thanks to “new technologies.” The problem was, there were no such technologies.
As we all now know, the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers, injuring 17 others, and setting off the worst oil spill in history. Documents obtained from BP reveal that the explosion could have been foreseen and prevented. Before the explosion, engineers of the company described the rig as a “nightmare” well with multiple problems. Higher-ups cut many corners in order to avoid spending the necessary funds to make the well safe.
As shown by the fumbling efforts of BP in the past few months, there was no plan on what to do in the event of an explosion. In their zeal to open-up further offshore drilling, and their greed for more oil profits, the oil companies, supported by their Republican allies in Congress, charged ahead with dangerous offshore drilling that has now fouled the Gulf Coast environment, destroyed the economy of Gulf Coast cities, ruined the lives of thousands of Gulf Coast residents, and damaged our nation’s economy.
Instead of being dismayed by these developments, the Republicans are jubilant. They see this harm to our nation and its citizens as an opportunity to gain a political advantage. And they criticize the President for showing a calm demeanor during the crisis instead of collapsing into open emotional turmoil.
This crisis is not the fault of President Obama or of the Democrats. It is the fault of the oil companies and of the Republicans in Congress who set-aside the welfare of our nation and encouraged the drilling for offshore oil without a solid plan for handling deepwater oil spills.
As reported on the MSNBC Rachel Maddow show on June 14, 2010, there was an earlier oil explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that poured millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf. On June 3, 1979, Ixtoc, an exploratory oil well being drilled in the Gulf of Mexico by the Mexican Government, suffered a blowout resulting in the third largest oil spill in history. The well was not capped for over 10 months, by which time over 140 million gallons of oil had had been spilled and had impacted over 162 miles of U.S. beaches. As a result, the U.S. Congress enacted a moratorium on offshore drilling.
Another ban on offshore oil drilling was issued by President George H.W. Bush following the Exxon/Valdes disaster in March, 1989. Because of the opposition of congressional Democrats to offshore drilling, that ban stayed in place until July 14, 2008, when, under pressure from the oil industry and congressional Republicans, President George W. Bush, whose background was that of an oil man, lifted his father’s ban. In his public announcement removing the ban, President Bush criticized the Democrats for their opposition to offshore drilling: Bush said: “For years, my administration has been calling on Congress to expand domestic oil production. Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal.” Bush called-on Congress to remove the ban issued by it following the Ixtoc disaster. He assured the American people that “Advances in technology have made it possible to conduct oil exploration in the OCS (Outer Continental Shelf) that is out of sight, protects coral reefs and habitats, and protects against oil spills.”
In September 2009, following President Bush’s lifting of the ban on offshore drilling, at the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, BP drilled the deepest offshore oil well in history at a vertical depth of 35,050 feet. This was over a mile below the surface, and at so remote a spot that unless there was a sound plan for dealing with any spill, an explosion of the rig would be catastrophic. But why worry? After all, President Bush, the Republicans in Congress, and the oil companies had assured us that deepwater drilling for oil was now safe thanks to “new technologies.” The problem was, there were no such technologies.
As we all now know, the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers, injuring 17 others, and setting off the worst oil spill in history. Documents obtained from BP reveal that the explosion could have been foreseen and prevented. Before the explosion, engineers of the company described the rig as a “nightmare” well with multiple problems. Higher-ups cut many corners in order to avoid spending the necessary funds to make the well safe.
As shown by the fumbling efforts of BP in the past few months, there was no plan on what to do in the event of an explosion. In their zeal to open-up further offshore drilling, and their greed for more oil profits, the oil companies, supported by their Republican allies in Congress, charged ahead with dangerous offshore drilling that has now fouled the Gulf Coast environment, destroyed the economy of Gulf Coast cities, ruined the lives of thousands of Gulf Coast residents, and damaged our nation’s economy.
Instead of being dismayed by these developments, the Republicans are jubilant. They see this harm to our nation and its citizens as an opportunity to gain a political advantage. And they criticize the President for showing a calm demeanor during the crisis instead of collapsing into open emotional turmoil.
This crisis is not the fault of President Obama or of the Democrats. It is the fault of the oil companies and of the Republicans in Congress who set-aside the welfare of our nation and encouraged the drilling for offshore oil without a solid plan for handling deepwater oil spills.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Health Care Reform and Repeal
One frequently hears these days about how “angry” people are because of the passage of the health care reform bill. In reports I have recently heard, it has become clear to me that most of the people complaining about health care reform actually know nothing about it. Thus, they have been influenced by the dire predictions of health insurance companies, Republicans in Congress, and Tea Party activists. These complainers have not read the bill or any summary of the bill, or any newspaper, magazine, online news source, or other material about the bill. There is a great deal of material out there for people to read and become educated about health care. But most of the people who are complaining are not the kind of people who bother to become well informed about any subject before voicing their opinions.
These people believe that health care reform will bring about huge deficits and bankrupt the country. They are also convinced that because of its large cost the bill will require huge increases in taxes on the middle class. They are totally unaware of the fact that the law will actually lower deficits by $138 billion over the next decade, and by one trillion over the following decade. This has been certified by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
People objecting to the new law do not realize that there are no new taxes on the middle class, but that there are tax increases on people earning over $350,000. Moreover, the increased taxes on high earners are not so bad that they will do harm to the earners or the economy.
One complaint I have heard is that the law will bring-in millions of new patients and make it hard for ordinary people to get an appointment with the doctor. This is apparently what happened in Massachusetts when that state, under Mitch Romney, enacted its health care reform bill. While this may be a temporary problem, the complainers do not realize that the law also provides immediate new massive investment in training programs to increase the number of primary care doctors, nurses, and public health professionals.
The complainers fail to recognize that the big increase in people going to the doctor is a good thing, not a bad thing. It means that millions of people who couldn’t get insurance or couldn’t afford it will now be able to see a doctor. The 45,000 people who die each year because of lack of health insurance will now be able to be treated. Organizations like RAM, which go around the country treating people for free, will be able to return to their original mission of treating people in other countries.
The new rallying cry for Republicans is “Repeal!” They claim that they intend to repeal the health care reform law as soon as they get control of Congress. One wonders whether this slogan will appeal so strongly to voters in November after they have had a chance to understand some of the benefits that will accrue to them as a result of the legislation. It may be that the angry shouts of “repeal” will sound like an effort to take-away benefits that voters have come to like, just as some Republicans wanted to take-away Medicare and Social Security.
Would seniors, even strongly conservative seniors, really want to repeal the part of the bill that provides for gradual elimination of the coverage gap or “Doughnut Hole” in Medicare Part D coverage over the next ten years? The reduction of the Doughnut Hole will begin immediately.
Would people, even devout Republicans, who have been turned-down for health insurance because of preexisting conditions, really want repeal of the provision that forbids insurance companies from denying health insurance because of prior conditions? That is another provision that takes effect immediately.
Will anybody want to repeal the provisions of the new law that forbid insurance companies from canceling peoples’ insurance after they become sick, or after reaching an annual or lifetime cap?
Would parents, even right-wingers, who have children over 18, really want repeal of the provision of the law that requires insurance companies to continue carrying children on their parents’ health insurance, if the parents want to keep them on, until the children are 26? This is another provision that will begin right now.
Do business people want to repeal the provisions of the bill that offer tax credits to about 4 million small-business men and women to help them cover the cost of insurance for their employees?
Will people want the Republicans to repeal the provisions of the bill that require all new insurance plans to offer free preventive care, such as pap smears, colonoscopies, breast X-Rays, prostate exams, blood tests and many others?
Will people want to repeal the provisions of the bill that will immediately allow displaced workers to keep their COBRA coverage until the Exchange is in place and they can access affordable coverage.
It is probable that the great mass of people who have voiced opposition to this bill are doing so for reasons other than health care or under a set of mistaken assumptions. Such people may oppose the President Obama and the Democrats in Congress on political grounds. They may be motivated by things like abortion, same-sex marriage, guns, and immigration. They may actually have no direct opposition to health care reform itself.
People opposing health care reform are willing dupes when it comes to the myths being spread by the insurance companies, Republican leaders, and Tea Party zealots. A little bit of study would dispel such myths. Among the silliest myths are the following.
Death Panels
Sarah Palin, who ran for Vice President of the United States without having even the minimum amount of education or intelligence that one would expect in a Vice President, spread the falsehood that the new law would create “Death Panels” that would decide whether old and disabled people should live or die. There was no such provision or anything like it. The only thing the bill provided for was the right of a person in a terminal condition to get a free consultation with somebody who could advise them about end-of-life questions such as living wills etc.
Government Takeover
There will be no government take-over of health care. We will still have private health insurance, doctors, hospitals, and clinics. There will simply be a law in place that lowers the cost of health care and guarantees it to most Americans. As Paul Krugman pointed out: “If having the government regulate and subsidize health insurance is a ‘takeover,’ that takeover happened long ago. Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs already pay for almost half of American health care, while private insurance pays for barely more than a third (the rest is mostly out-of-pocket expenses). And the great bulk of that private insurance is provided via employee plans, which are both subsidized with tax exemptions and tightly regulated.”
Long Waits
One of the widely spread myths is that health care reform will lead to long waits for treatment in America just as there are long waits in Europe. In fact, the health care reform law will not lead to the kinds of problems they claim for countries with single-payer systems--longer waits for necessary procedures, rationing of health care, and bureaucratic meddling in health care decisions. Just as none of this has been true under Medicare, it will not be true under a health care reform. People who have put-off necessary medical treatment will now be able to go in before it is too late. It was never true that Canada and Europe had far longer waits than the United States. The only waits in those places were for elective surgeries. In Canada and Europe the wait for emergency surgeries is the same as if not better than the United States. The new health care reform law is not a single-payer system or even a public option. It is far different from the laws in Canada and Europe. Nevertheless, people in Canada and Europe love their single-payer health care systems, and we should adopt the single-payer model as soon as possible.
Rationing
Under the new health care law there will be no government-imposed rationing. The fact is that we now have rationing by private insurance companies. As Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent explained: "[P]eople always say, 'Is there going to be rationed care?' And I can tell you, as a practicing physician, as someone who deals with this on a daily basis, rationing does occur all the time.” Insurance companies ration care by rescinding coverage on the grounds that people had preexisting conditions. There will not be any rationing under the new law.
Illegal Immigrants
Another claim by anti-health care reform people is that it will cover undocumented aliens; not true! The law specifically states that those “not lawfully present” in the U.S, may note receive subsidies to purchase insurance.
Tax on Small Businesses
There is a claim that the law will cause staggering taxes on small businesses; not true. Only 4.1 percent of all small businesses will have tax increases. The legislation would establish a 1 percent tax on joint income exceeding $350,000 but not greater than $500,000 per year; a 1.5 percent tax on joint income exceeding $500,000 but not greater than $1 million per year; and a 5.4 percent tax on joint income exceeding $1 million per year. That would exclude 95.9 percent of all small businesses from the tax.
There is a solution to people’s problems with health care reform. It is called education. Knowing what you are talking about is a great advantage. If people studied the law and paid attention to all of the information available in papers, magazines, and the internet, they would not be “angry” about the law. They would pleased with it and hungry for more.
These people believe that health care reform will bring about huge deficits and bankrupt the country. They are also convinced that because of its large cost the bill will require huge increases in taxes on the middle class. They are totally unaware of the fact that the law will actually lower deficits by $138 billion over the next decade, and by one trillion over the following decade. This has been certified by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
People objecting to the new law do not realize that there are no new taxes on the middle class, but that there are tax increases on people earning over $350,000. Moreover, the increased taxes on high earners are not so bad that they will do harm to the earners or the economy.
One complaint I have heard is that the law will bring-in millions of new patients and make it hard for ordinary people to get an appointment with the doctor. This is apparently what happened in Massachusetts when that state, under Mitch Romney, enacted its health care reform bill. While this may be a temporary problem, the complainers do not realize that the law also provides immediate new massive investment in training programs to increase the number of primary care doctors, nurses, and public health professionals.
The complainers fail to recognize that the big increase in people going to the doctor is a good thing, not a bad thing. It means that millions of people who couldn’t get insurance or couldn’t afford it will now be able to see a doctor. The 45,000 people who die each year because of lack of health insurance will now be able to be treated. Organizations like RAM, which go around the country treating people for free, will be able to return to their original mission of treating people in other countries.
The new rallying cry for Republicans is “Repeal!” They claim that they intend to repeal the health care reform law as soon as they get control of Congress. One wonders whether this slogan will appeal so strongly to voters in November after they have had a chance to understand some of the benefits that will accrue to them as a result of the legislation. It may be that the angry shouts of “repeal” will sound like an effort to take-away benefits that voters have come to like, just as some Republicans wanted to take-away Medicare and Social Security.
Would seniors, even strongly conservative seniors, really want to repeal the part of the bill that provides for gradual elimination of the coverage gap or “Doughnut Hole” in Medicare Part D coverage over the next ten years? The reduction of the Doughnut Hole will begin immediately.
Would people, even devout Republicans, who have been turned-down for health insurance because of preexisting conditions, really want repeal of the provision that forbids insurance companies from denying health insurance because of prior conditions? That is another provision that takes effect immediately.
Will anybody want to repeal the provisions of the new law that forbid insurance companies from canceling peoples’ insurance after they become sick, or after reaching an annual or lifetime cap?
Would parents, even right-wingers, who have children over 18, really want repeal of the provision of the law that requires insurance companies to continue carrying children on their parents’ health insurance, if the parents want to keep them on, until the children are 26? This is another provision that will begin right now.
Do business people want to repeal the provisions of the bill that offer tax credits to about 4 million small-business men and women to help them cover the cost of insurance for their employees?
Will people want the Republicans to repeal the provisions of the bill that require all new insurance plans to offer free preventive care, such as pap smears, colonoscopies, breast X-Rays, prostate exams, blood tests and many others?
Will people want to repeal the provisions of the bill that will immediately allow displaced workers to keep their COBRA coverage until the Exchange is in place and they can access affordable coverage.
It is probable that the great mass of people who have voiced opposition to this bill are doing so for reasons other than health care or under a set of mistaken assumptions. Such people may oppose the President Obama and the Democrats in Congress on political grounds. They may be motivated by things like abortion, same-sex marriage, guns, and immigration. They may actually have no direct opposition to health care reform itself.
People opposing health care reform are willing dupes when it comes to the myths being spread by the insurance companies, Republican leaders, and Tea Party zealots. A little bit of study would dispel such myths. Among the silliest myths are the following.
Death Panels
Sarah Palin, who ran for Vice President of the United States without having even the minimum amount of education or intelligence that one would expect in a Vice President, spread the falsehood that the new law would create “Death Panels” that would decide whether old and disabled people should live or die. There was no such provision or anything like it. The only thing the bill provided for was the right of a person in a terminal condition to get a free consultation with somebody who could advise them about end-of-life questions such as living wills etc.
Government Takeover
There will be no government take-over of health care. We will still have private health insurance, doctors, hospitals, and clinics. There will simply be a law in place that lowers the cost of health care and guarantees it to most Americans. As Paul Krugman pointed out: “If having the government regulate and subsidize health insurance is a ‘takeover,’ that takeover happened long ago. Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs already pay for almost half of American health care, while private insurance pays for barely more than a third (the rest is mostly out-of-pocket expenses). And the great bulk of that private insurance is provided via employee plans, which are both subsidized with tax exemptions and tightly regulated.”
Long Waits
One of the widely spread myths is that health care reform will lead to long waits for treatment in America just as there are long waits in Europe. In fact, the health care reform law will not lead to the kinds of problems they claim for countries with single-payer systems--longer waits for necessary procedures, rationing of health care, and bureaucratic meddling in health care decisions. Just as none of this has been true under Medicare, it will not be true under a health care reform. People who have put-off necessary medical treatment will now be able to go in before it is too late. It was never true that Canada and Europe had far longer waits than the United States. The only waits in those places were for elective surgeries. In Canada and Europe the wait for emergency surgeries is the same as if not better than the United States. The new health care reform law is not a single-payer system or even a public option. It is far different from the laws in Canada and Europe. Nevertheless, people in Canada and Europe love their single-payer health care systems, and we should adopt the single-payer model as soon as possible.
Rationing
Under the new health care law there will be no government-imposed rationing. The fact is that we now have rationing by private insurance companies. As Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent explained: "[P]eople always say, 'Is there going to be rationed care?' And I can tell you, as a practicing physician, as someone who deals with this on a daily basis, rationing does occur all the time.” Insurance companies ration care by rescinding coverage on the grounds that people had preexisting conditions. There will not be any rationing under the new law.
Illegal Immigrants
Another claim by anti-health care reform people is that it will cover undocumented aliens; not true! The law specifically states that those “not lawfully present” in the U.S, may note receive subsidies to purchase insurance.
Tax on Small Businesses
There is a claim that the law will cause staggering taxes on small businesses; not true. Only 4.1 percent of all small businesses will have tax increases. The legislation would establish a 1 percent tax on joint income exceeding $350,000 but not greater than $500,000 per year; a 1.5 percent tax on joint income exceeding $500,000 but not greater than $1 million per year; and a 5.4 percent tax on joint income exceeding $1 million per year. That would exclude 95.9 percent of all small businesses from the tax.
There is a solution to people’s problems with health care reform. It is called education. Knowing what you are talking about is a great advantage. If people studied the law and paid attention to all of the information available in papers, magazines, and the internet, they would not be “angry” about the law. They would pleased with it and hungry for more.
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