Opinions Are Not Facts

Part One

“Opinions are not facts” is part of my personal creed. I met someone the other day who reminded me why that is.

We shared a breakfast table, and when he learned what I do in my work he started grousing about “Obamacare”—

It’s going to be a disaster. The feds have no business taking over healthcare. It’s unconstitutional. Healthcare is not interstate commerce. It should be left to the states. The Tenth Amendment says so.

Have you read the law?

No.

Well I have. I have a copy of it on my desk. I’ve studied it, written about it. Did you know that 39 pages of it are devoted to state flexibility in creating new programs for the uninsured?

No, but …

Did you know that there are more than 25 sections, scores of pages, devoted to state-based demonstration programs?

No.

What about state-based pilot projects? Assistance to states for medical student loans? Funding to expand state centers for the aging? Grants to states to improve the health care workforce? Or state alternatives to malpractice lawsuits?

No, but the Federal Government [he pronounced it such that I could practically hear those capital letters] has no business running healthcare.

Oh? When you were in the Navy in WWII you were part of the military medical system, which is “single payer” and run by the government. In other words, it is socialized medicine. You didn’t mind that did you?

No, but I…

And what about Medicare? You’re a Medicare beneficiary, aren’t you?

Yes, but …

And you still get to choose your doctor, even though Medicare pays the bill, right?

Right, but [raising his voice] what Obama is doing is a liberal power grab!

At this point I expected him to start yelling: “Give me my country back!” So, in the face of intractable ignorance, and certain that facts had no place in this gentleman’s thought process, I excused myself. I wanted to say that we could continue this discussion when he was better informed, but I didn’t. The fact is he will never be better informed. He will just remain an angry old Tea Partier, hiding behind his comfortable delusions, uninterested in objective information, blissfully unaware that opinions are not facts.

I went away wondering: Why does anger trump logic? What ever happened to critical thinking skills?