I
have several thoughts that I look toward as worthy examples of
life, the universe and everything.
(Ok…
poor attempt at a Douglas Adams joke… maybe they aren’t examples
of everything. But they do serve as examples worthy of thought
and consideration. And it with one of those that we begin…)
There’s
a basic judgement about the common cold, which is that it will
last about four to seven days if you do nothing to treat it. Wake
up, get your day completed while suffering, go to bed, try to
sleep with the coughs and congestion, wake up, repeat. Roughly
a week will pass and you’ll be feeling better.
On
the flip side, you could drug yourself to the high heavens. Stuff
to help with the breathing and coughing and sleeping. And they
will help you survive the illness. The cold though? It will be
gone in roughly a week.
In
short, treat the cold or don’t treat the cold, your body will
still battle it for about the same length of time.
Now
this is a very small example, and it isn’t begging for a stronger
investigation or research. I’m not asking about not treating it
and moving along to pneumonia. I’m not talking about washing your
hands and avoiding the germs. I’m not suggesting sick people stay
away until they’ve improved so all of us don’t go down in a storm
of ever widening cold and flu symptoms.
Just
a simple… treat it… don’t treat it… same amount of time to recover.
Do something. Do nothing. Same results.
Why
should this matter?
Because
I often combine this example with another… the joke of even the
most incompetent of squirrels occasionally finding an acorn.
When
it comes to politics, it is very easy to take credit or assign
blame when things do (or do not) happen. It’s the other guy causing
the waves or creating problems. And yet, funny enough, here’s
the truth…
Many
of those things would happen whether or not anyone did anything.
In
fact, their claims of being wonderful or their accusations that
others are evil often are generally drawn from nothing more than
apples to oranges comparisons. Don’t believe me? Watch…
How
bad are the property taxes where you live?
Now
that seems like a basic question. It might take a bit of time
to learn the answer. But the idea of whether they are high or
low appears to be a basic question.
It’s
not.
My
parents have had residential trash service through city operations
for as long as they’ve owned their house. Against that, I have
always had to pay for access to the town dump or hire a waste
management company to pick up my trash.
You’d
need to include those figures in your comparison of property taxes
and home ownership costs. A house in one place cannot be compared
solely on a single number. There are times when things will be
hidden in other areas. Pay for this… don’t pay for that… and yet,
when you add it all up, the two houses are remarkably similar
even when the “property tax” line is off by thousands.
How
about health care when saying this country has universal coverage
and that one doesn’t. Does that sweeping statement include what
conditions and services are eligible for the universal coverage?
Does it look at how long it takes to see a specialist, or, even
allow you some flexibility in what specialist you can see?
All
of this generalized stuff to the side… what I’m trying to say
is simply this: I wish people took a bit of time before heading
into political debates. The immediate, never thought out, irrational
responses give me a headache. Saying a politician found an acorn
does not provide any evidence of intelligence or competency. Stereotypes
are usually wrong, and they lead to arguments where one person
is trying to scream louder instead of recognizing that both people
are not holding apples.
Take
some time to consider what it is you know… and the details involved
in what you think you know. You might be surprised to learn that
while you may not be completely wrong, you aren’t looking at the
entire picture.