If you’ve been following my column all quarter, then I’d like to take a moment to sincerely thank you for your support. Without readers, we writers would have nothing to write for. If you listened to everything I had to say, then awesome. You have my gratitude.
If you accepted everything I had to say, however, we might have a problem. Here’s the thing: I write an opinion column. Everything herein, while based in fact, really just stems from my interpretation of history and current events. That means you’re not supposed to agree with all of it.
Do I want people to agree with me? Of course. I wouldn’t publish my thoughts if I didn’t think they were right. But if everyone agreed with me, my opinion wouldn’t be worth much, would it?
I’m just a punk freshman opinion columnist at a college newspaper. I’m not claiming to be the Messiah. Aside from pure facts, I don’t even know if I’m right half the time. As well-informed as I’d like to consider myself, I’d probably be laughed out of the room if I sat down with an economics professor for half an hour (your move, economics professor).
To be honest, I write this column in part because I hope that someone will one day render me completely and utterly speechless. I would consider this column a resounding success if someone destroyed my ivory tower, if someone wrote to me saying, “Hey, you’re absolutely wrong, and here’s the evidence to prove it.” After all, we’ll never have conviction in our beliefs if no one challenges them.
Being informed citizens means admitting we’re wrong sometimes. Look at Obamacare. We Democrats have been pretty high on that ever since Obama first hinted at it in the 2008 primaries. When it passed? We jumped for joy. When the Supreme Court upheld it? We pissed ourselves in excitement.
Yet, when it failed, so many of us tried to delude ourselves. “It will work in the long run,” we continue to say. We might be right; it might be salvageable. Right now, though, we all have to look in the mirror, swallow our pride, and admit the cold, hard, truth: that Obamacare has failed thus far.
Left-wing news sources admit it. Even Congressional Democrats are starting to defect in order to look for alternatives. Healthcare.gov is in utter disarray, and help doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon. What once looked like the new precedent for the American healthcare system now appears to be a catastrophe.
If anyone believes that Obamacare has been even remotely successful, ask them why a mere 106,000 people (well short of the 800,000 minimum projected through the first month) have successfully signed up for it.
In 2009, Obama promised all Americans that they could keep their current plan if they wanted. As it turned out, this was not the case; many Americans were forced to switch coverage because of the new law. Many liberals quickly jumped to Obama’s defense, giving him a free pass just by virtue of being a Democrat. In doing so, they created a double standard. If we’re going to call out Republicans for lying, not doing the same for our own party is downright hypocritical.
No matter how much we fawn over our idols, we can never fully trust them. Have I ever contemplated the idea of being a woman just so I could get with Rachel Maddow? You bet. Is Rachel Maddow a completely objective, unbiased news source? Probably not. Of course, the same goes for any news anchor. Listening to news media is almost as bad as listening to politicians themselves.
By admitting our mistakes, we are owning up to the simple fact that we are human. This realization itself is not too hard to come by. What many people forget is that, like us, the people we elect into office are human as well. Obama puts on his pants one leg at a time just like you and I do. He showers, shaves and eats breakfast like you and I do.
As we saw with the “keep your insurance” promise, Obama also lies like you and I do. That said, I would vote for him again in a heartbeat, if for no other reason than because no viable alternatives exist.
If you disagree, which you’re totally allowed to, it doesn’t change your value as a human being and it doesn’t reflect on your moral or intellectual worth. I’ve met incredibly smart and incredibly dumb people on both sides of the spectrum. If there’s one thing I want you to get out of this column, it’s that I would much rather you be an informed Republican than a stupid Democrat.
If you think ZACH MOORE was ever completely, hopelessly wrong in any of his columns, speak now or forever hold your peace by emailing him at zcmoore@ucdavis.edu. To read more of his political rants you can add him on Facebook until he creates a blog.
