How did I get here?.... my god, what have I done?

What is it about Mondays that channels the Talking Heads? Something.... it's gotta be.

I definitely asked myself that question today when I discovered something quite disturbing. I no longer hate Michael Moore. I still think, more often than not, that he's a ridiculous blowhard trying to carve out a Hollywood name and image for himself by mocking the time honored tradition of the documentary. He might make what must be termed documentary, but his soul is all Hollywood. Here's the problem -- assholes aren't necessarily wrong.

I actually teach Michael Moore every semester. His movies are one of those glorious devices where teachers actually teach two lessons in one. Prior to this semester, I had a wonderful unit at Northeastern on Americans' conceptions of themselves versus their reality with a focus on our culture of fear (short version: you play like you are afraid, but you know no real fear.... you think you are scared because the media tells you you should be frightened, but you aren't truly scared for your safety. If you were, you would modify your behavior.) In this unit, I showed "Bowling for Columbine." Since a lot of people share my (prior) opinion of Moore, it made for an interesting discussion not only about the content but also about the presentation as in knowing your audience and monitoring your tone in writing. Good stuff.

Then, my publisher went and made a new addition to the text that excluded EVERYTHING I taught and added new stuff. So we shifted and read an entry on the Ethics of Individuality -- the question now is what do you owe to yourself versus what do you owe to humanity? I posed the question to my students, "Are you under any obligation to make the world a better place?"

And they highjacked class. Totally took it over and threw all my class discussion plans out the window. They are consumed by the presidential election and the question of healthcare in this country. I love it when this happens. The better the teacher in college, the less she actually does. When you do your job right, they, literally, do all the work. I'm so proud I could cry.

To further my contention that I am a participant and not a judge, I went out and bought the only recent documentary I knew about health care in America -- Michael Moore's Sicko. I delivered it to class still in shrink wrap. I welcomed them to the dilemma of teaching -- thinking something will work doesn't mean it will. I submitted that we watch the movie for the first time together and hope for the best. They jumped at the chance.

And Michael Moore changed my opinions and the opinions of many of my die hard Republican students. We had a moment in class where we admitted being converted by someone not many of us even liked. It's that powerful. My brother in law is a doctor, and I do respect his knowledge and abilities. We don't see eye to eye on much politically, but I have never questioned his commitment and smarts. I do now. Simply put, he's wrong.

Unlike many Americans who seem to feel strongly that our current system is the best (whatever that system is), I have lived under socialized (or national, to be more correct) health care, and it is better than what we have. Sure, the French pay 50% of their money in taxes. That sounds like an astronomical percentage, but I pay 40% of my wages to the government and another full 10% of my pre-tax wages to Harvard Pilgrim, and I don't get 24 hour guaranteed free house calls. I don't get prescriptions for less that $5 a pop. And, if I ever have a child, I don't foresee George Bush offering to send me a helper for two hours two times a week to make sure I'm OK until my baby is a year old. The French get all that. Last time I did the math, 40% of my wages plus 10% of my pre-tax earnings is exactly 50% of my wages (not to mention what I still have to give to my doctors and the pharmacy), and I get shit. And so do you.

They also live longer than we do, and they have a significantly lower infant mortality rate than we do. We don't like to admit it, but the World Health Organization -- a group the US belongs to -- rated France #1 in health care. We were 37. The greatest nation on Earth (I do believe that) and we can't get into the top ten in the industry most crucial to our lives -- the one that determines the length and quality of our lives?

Still, this isn't what really makes me mad. A colleague in another department (someone I don't know personally, mind you) today saw what I was showing and heard what we were talking about. He told me that I was a communist, and that I should be fired for being unpatriotic. I asked him to tell me what I had done that was unpatriotic, and he told me that I had no right to question the government (despite the fact that I was more questioning the motives of Kaiser Permanente and all the rest instead of, in fact, the government, but what's a few major details when someone has already made up their mind, right?).

This pisses me off not because I don't like to be questioned. I thrive on having my motives and beliefs challenged. I did choose to spend my life around late stage adolescents. I'd kind of be a fool if stuff like that got to me. Instead, I'm mad because he's wrong, and he'll never admit it because closed minded assholes like him never do, even when faced with overwhelming evidence. He's the one who isn't being a patriot. I'm only doing the duty laid out to me by our forefathers. Let me prove it to you:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

Translation: If you want to break up with your government, or any government, don't be a weenie and do it by sitting there saying, "I think you know why." Instead, know why you are dissolving your union and speak your truth (as my new age students tell me).

But wait -- there's more:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --"

Translation: Government doesn't give us power. WE give IT power, and it is only in charge by our continued consent. Furthermore, we should NEVER fear it, and it should ALWAYS fear us. It does owe us -- it owes us life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and it has to work it's very hardest to give us that to the BEST of its ability. No other goal is more important.

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--"

Translation of the highlights: When a government forgets its fundamental role of promoting LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by its constituents, I not only have the RIGHT to question George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the rest of those I see caring more about themselves than anyone else; instead I have the DUTY to do so. If I don't speak my mind and allow others to do the same, I'm being unpatriotic and unamerican. In this land, it is wrong to let shit just happen to you.

Translation of the other stuff: The founding fathers insist that people won't do this lightly because people are lazy and will put up with all kinds of stuff in lieu of getting involved. So much for us thinking that everyone in 1776 was better than everyone now..... most of them were lazy about their country then as well, and the FF had the foresight and intelligence to see this.

In short: Mr. Colleague and everyone who agrees with him -- BITE ME.

And for those who don't know the quotes, they are from a little (according to my colleague communist) document called the Declaration of Independence.

For those who would say that I'll wind up having to give up some of what I've worked for to people who don't work as hard as me, you may be right. My response is "OK." So I have to take a summer vacation every other year and take a Staycation at home every other year. This means you get the cancer treatment you need without having to sell your house? Sign me up. I have to spend a few more years saving before I can move to a bigger home, but I can rest assured that when the guy down the street gets his arm ripped off in an industrial accident, he gets it sewn back on and can return to his job and his life whole? Fine. I'm willing to give a little more and have a little less for the peace of mind of knowing my fellow man is protected. It's not completely altruistic, though. I also get to go to sleep and night with the peace of knowing that if any of these things happen to me, I'm not going to have to become a burden on my loved ones because I'm going to get fixed up.

My life is better when my fellow man's is better. The good parts of my life, the truly good stuff, isn't what I can buy but what I can do -- I can live, I can live free, and I can pursue Happiness. Or at least I could eight years ago. I got that from the Declaration of Independence as well. It's a nice, tidy read, and far better than most of what I've come across. It's clear, it's concise, and it's right.

What kills me is the number of people I know who profess to be Christians and go to church far more regularly than I do who don't agree with me. I don't doubt whether they go every Sunday, but I do wonder if they listen and comprehend. I do believe God helps those who help themselves, but I also think sometimes he does this by putting you or me in their path.

If someone can explain to me how this isn't complete hypocrisy and a bastardization of Christian principles in the worst way, I'm open to hearing it. Be warned that people from every major religion (many with divinity degrees) have tried and I've pulled more over the fence than have ever nudged me. Stuff like this is why I left the church in the first place. It wasn't the theology; it was the people who used it like a cudgel over other people's heads and practiced nothing they expected from others. Not much has changed, so my Sunday mornings are still open.

We got rid of one King George because he neglected his mission. Thank goodness the system is about to kick out the new one. Let's hope whoever takes his place isn't a carbon copy. If he is, let's go back and read about our duties to this land again.

And in case I didn't make myself clear to my colleague: Bite me again.