"All politics is local"

[Are_grits_groceries]

I tried to explain what might happen and was accused of bashing the people in my own state and calling them stupid. To be sure there are some who don't understand that water is wet, but a great majority do try to sort out what is going on. One problem is that they only get the message from one general source. Take the "kill grandma" meme. That was a general idea with a germ of truth. The germ of truth was that there was end of life counseling in the bill.

That got blown out of proportion and turned around into the idea that everybody had to be counseled and the way they died would be chosen for them. Grandma was the most sympathetic figure that would hit home with people. That message came at people from all sides.

Now there are people who may discount the Becks and Limbaughs, but they expect somebody to give them a straight story. The Rethugs either said it was true or they said nothing. This began to solidify that idea to some as fact no matter how preposterous we think it is. You have to flip yourselves into people and places that you may not know anything about and try to see how they hear what is said.

They aren't stupid. These people are being asked by others that they don't trust to accept a huge governmental change, and those that they hear most are making it seem horrible. The Rethugs have put all their chips on the table. This issue is one they will fight to the bitter end by any means necessary.

People have become so polarized in some places that you are either considered to be on one end or the other. The sides no longer listen to or trust anything the other says. Nobody is considered an honest broker so that they might try to build a Golden Bridge.

The problem is exacerbated by the uncertain economy and the other changes. The world as people know it is moving faster than they ever counted on. If they had a job to hold on to that would help them feel less vulnerable. People are either out of work or the jobs they have seem shaky even if they aren't in reality. They are scared shitless.

Even if I try to catch them now before any horrible ideas about reform become solidified, what do I say?
What facts can I assure them of that will be set in stone that they can hold on to them? Everything is still so nebulous that even if they believed me, I wouldn't have much but generalities. Will people have to buy the insurance? How much will it cost and what will the deductible be? What will it cover? How will it help the price people pay for their drugs? (An amendment is already in some bills to extend the time before some drugs can be made into generics from 5 years to 12 years.) Even if they can get this coverage, what are the rules that will assure them that they still won't have to pay a lot out of pocket.

If a state opts out, will the program be so smooth that there aren't problems that can't be magnified by people who don't like it? People are loathe to change. The devil they do know is better than the one they don't. If the reform appears to be still expensive and unwieldy, why is that any better than before.

The bets will be on that a program can be put into place that people will like enough to accept against all the negative hoopla they will hear. the government bureaucracy works against this idea. Inertia will work against reform very forcefully at the beginning. Moving all of the levers to get a program smoothly rolling at a decent rate of speed is not the government's forte.

I have a friend who works very closely with the state legislature trying to pass issues. I asked her about the opt out provision. I wanted to know from someone who has had to deal with these people constantly if she thought it would be smooth sailing. Was I being too pessimistic? She laughed and said I wasn't being pessimistic enough.

Single-payer would be the best. It would be easily explained. The consumer doesn't get caught up in how much who pays what to who.

Google public option and try to come up with a simple definition that nails down the details. Yeesh!