Oct 11, 2007

How about if we stop putting a human face on every issue?

Then the nasty old Republicans couldn't go after the adorable-but-wise-beyond-his-years Democratic spokesman.

I know they all do it, but it's a cheap trick. A cheap trick beloved of journalistic hacks who love to find the downest on their luck people to "highlight" an issue. Remember, for example, homeless families? A visitor to our planet during the Reagan years would have concluded that every other American family was living in their car. When the reality was that intact families were a tiny fraction of the country's homeless.

Fine, I guess, if you're selling papers. Not so good if you're setting policy.
Healthcare poses the same problem. Who can argue with healing a sick child? But our elected officials are supposed to consider the issues soberly, not with a case of the vapors about The Children.

If I never see a sick child pleading for healthcare, or a poor-but-honest-and-hard-working immigrant pleading to stay here so he can continue supporting his family in Mexico and remain at home with his 12 children, I would be very happy.

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