Dad,

The problem is that you and I both think we’ve found truth, but we don’t seem to agree on it. So, ultimately, yes, our goal is to find truth. But in order to do that, we do first need to understand each other’s current view of truth. Without this understanding we just get stuck at the point of each of us thinking we’re right and the other is wrong.

You seem surprised that I “as much as declared that I can’t decide what is the best thing to do about health care…”, but this is what I’ve been saying all along. My original reason for starting this conversation was not to convince anyone that the liberal agenda was the right one, or that reform proposals by Obama or Congress would be the best thing. What I have wanted in this whole health care debate is good information to help me make my decisions, as opposed to the reactionary rhetoric that has come from many media sources and forwarded emails. I understand that conservatives are saying the government should stay out of it and let the market fix the problems. I’m willing to believe this, but I don’t understand how that will work. You said that doing nothing would be better than what is being proposed right now, although doing nothing is not what you would choose. Can you tell me what you would choose to do to address the problems in our health care system, besides simply telling the government to stay out of it? Earlier you mentioned that reform needs to allow competition between insurance companies. I’m pretty sure I agree with this. Could you help me understand this better?

You said you were trying to decipher what I believe. Regarding the health care issue, I feel I can now say that I oppose the current legislation coming through Congress. I have only come to that conclusion in the last week or so, and what led me to this point is what I learned from an NPR program that aired this month, a program that finally gave me some of the good information I’ve been looking for. October 11 and 18, NPR’s This American Life devoted two hours to explaining some of the problems with our health care system. They didn’t talk about the current bill, they didn’t propose any kind of solution. The purpose was not to support or oppose any political party or agenda. The purpose was simply to explain how complicated the system is.

I knew our system was broken, but I wanted to understand how and why it was broken so I could figure out whether or not the current legislation would address the real issues. I now have a better understanding of why health care costs are so high, why insurance premiums keep going up, why insurance companies sometimes drop customers leaving them without insurance, and I can say with more confidence that I don’t believe current proposed health care legislation will fix the real problems. I now understand what David Brooks was saying in this article that I linked to in an earlier post. I do think there may still be a need for some kind of government intervention, just not what is currently being proposed.

So, that’s where I am on that. I still have a lot more to say on a couple of broader topics, one being the role of the Church and the role of government in caring for the poor, the second being the way the public discussion about current political topics has gone and the way conservative Christians have contributed to that discussion. I have probably said enough for today, so I’m sure I will get the chance to address these other topics as we discuss the Grand Inquisitor, which I hope to write about soon.