Under the Microscope: ObamaCare

Do you agree or disagree with the Supreme Court's decision?

This question–asked multiple times by multiple media outlets in the last few days–is totally absurd. In truth, there are only a miniscule number of respondents who are qualified to assess whether the United States Supreme Court correctly applied the federal constitution to the Affordable Care Act. Consequently the results of this poll are totally worthless.

The real question to ask the public should be: Do you agree or disagree with ObamaCare?

At least with this question everyone is qualified to give an answer because the question asks for nothing but a personal opinion. Unfortunately the results of this poll are likewise entirely unreliable. The problem is that the respective proponents and opponents of ObamaCare have generated so much disinformation that the public really has no reliable information upon which to base any opinion. The Republicans and the Democrats alike publish enormous inaccuracies about this law for the sole purpose of influencing public opinion in the upcoming presidential election. So the public is grossly misinformed as to the benefits the law provides, the cost of implementation of the law or the gravity of the regulations the law imposes. Who could possibly cast an intelligent vote under these circumstances?

I am normally a strong proponent of the press in this column, but on this issue, it is apparent that the press has dropped the ball. Rather than serve its constitutional mission in providing a check on the abuse of power and insuring the dissemination of accurate information, the press here is doing nothing more than publishing stories that merely regurgitate the partisan positions each side is advocating. Why has the media not held each side accountable to tell the truth? Why hasn’t the media taken the promises made by Democrats and the threats made by Republicans and compared them to the actual words of the law? In the last 5 days since the decision was announced, I have seen, listened to and watched countless stories that broadcast the utterly false propositions generated by both parties. I have only seen one 2-minute commentary (by WCCO Television News in Minneapolis) which broadcast a comparison of the more outlandish statements made by the national propaganda machines with the actual provisions in the law itself. Shame on the politicians and Super PACs for spreading such misinformation, but more shame yet to the American news media, which ought to know better and has a clear constitutional duty to insure that accurate information is disseminated to the American public.

I’d be interested in seeing the results of a survey immediately following an hour-long expose of the falsehoods we are hearing from both sides of the issue, but it is sheer folly for the media to ask the American public to vote after five days of intense bombardment of outright lies and half truths about ObamaCare.

It’s time to hold politicians accountable to tell the truth, the whole truth, and it is up to the news media to make this happen.