Trig Palin Is Safe, Thanks

Sarah Palin's screeching insistence that the life of her son is at risk under President Obama's healthcare plan guarantees headlines from responsible media outlets and endless regurgitation from the far more common irresponsible ones.

It IS news when a former vice presidential candidate and presumed 2012 presidential candidate claims that the policies a sitting president wants to enact are a direct threat to her one-year-old son, Trig, who has Down Syndrome. On the one hand, it's such a breathtakingly bizarre statement that it serves as yet another tally in the "Just How Bad Is She?" column. On the other, it energizes those on the religious right who, having cast the president as some sinister, shadowy "other," find it easy to believe that he's out to get disabled kids. When you demonize a man, it's necessary to cast about for evidence that HE'S the evil one, not the ones who bear false witness against him.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm a fan of single-payer healthcare. I don't worry that I might have to wait four months for a knee operation; I worry about those who, lacking access to healthcare, will die in four months, or tomorrow, from conditions that, with regular medical care, could normally be managed. Neither do I worry that in my old age, a panel of doctors and Feds will see if I'm ready to be offed; what I do worry about is what a single catastrophic illness would do to my family's future. And I'm not at all worried that sick children will be excused from "government" healthcare; I'm worried about the ones who already die, or grow to an unhealthy adulthood, from the private insurance system we have now.

Palin joins a distressing number of right-wing "Christians" who have no problem whatsoever with lying, bearing false witness, and encouraging chaos when the subject, or target, is Barack Obama. Palin and her fans know that nobody from the government will be in the room with her and her ob/gyn when her yearly exam comes around, but they have no problem running ads that suggest just that. The problem is twofold. First is that lying, bearing false witness, and encouraging chaos is sin. I'm pretty sure Leviticus 19:11 says it better than I could.

But the second problem is that many of the people who currently suffer the most from our bloated, greedy, unresponsive health care system, and who would benefit the most from guaranteed access to care, consistently advocate for anything Palin and her ilk have to offer -- even when it ultimately is against their economic and moral interest. Palin knows that. Just as she -- rich, white, educated -- will never suffer from bad care, no care, or care she can't afford, those who flock to her shamefully presume that anyone who claims Jesus as Savior must have it right, must know better, and, most of all, must be sincere. She doesn't, she doesn't, and the fruit of her walk suggest she isn't. Baby Trig has nothing to fear from the government, but perhaps has some difficulties ahead when he realizes he's been used as both a Party prop AND a red herring by his mom.

It's a pity and an outrage that hate for Obama and fear of liberalism causes people to accept such paltry, puny leadership from those who ought to know better -- and probably do, but prefer the shine of the spotlight over the light of the truth. Tragically, it's news to American Christians that they're in just as much trouble being led off a cliff by someone who talks about Jesus as they are by someone who doesn't. Carnage is carnage, as I suspect we'll all come to understand eventually.